The way of managing people aligned with Sustainable Human Resources Management (SHRM) processes represents the adoption of guidelines that embody long-term commitments to the cause of sustainability, compelling organizations to adopt HRM practices that enable the fulfillment of sustainability goals while simultaneously replicating the long-term HR base of action. The main objective of this study is to assess the impact of SHRM on workers’ turnover intention (TI), while evaluating the mediator roles of employee engagement (EE) and affective commitment (AC) in this relation.

A cross-sectional quantitative study using Structural Equation Models (SEM) was prepared. In total, 430 individuals have voluntarily participated in the study, from organizations in various sectors.

Main results show that SHRM is significantly correlated with EE, TI and AC. Additionally, both AC and EE exert a full mediating effect on the relationship between SHRM and TI. Confirmatory model tested revealed a good fit to the data (χ2 (114df) = 510.584, p ≤ 0.05; RMSEA = 0.08; CFI = 0.95; IFI = 0.95) with bootstrapping (n = 1000).

These results seem to support the usefulness of organizations investing in the adoption of SHRM practices due to its impact over turnover intention, via employee engagement and workers’ affective commitment.

HR professionals should consider that SHRM appears to be a significant way to enhance the quality of the worker-organization relationship and to avoid avoidance workers’ turnover intention. Incorporating sustainability concerns into the strategic human resource management planning seems advisable regarding prospective positive effects on workers’ attitudes in work locations and turnover intention avoidance, thus, supporting talented workers’ retention.

Daniel Roque Gomes is coordinator Professor at the School of Education of the Polytechnic University of Coimbra. He holds a Post-doc by SOCIUS - ISEG Lisbon School of Economics & Management, and a PhD in Work and Organizational Psychology by ISCTE-IUL. Researcher at CERNAS - Center for Natural Resources, Environment, and Society. Research interests include Leadership, Sustainable Human Resources Management, Organizational Behavior, Internal Marketing and Internal Communication