From Policy to Sustainability: The Evolution of Sustainability in Public HRM in Aotearoa/New Zealand in the SDG Era

This study examines how sustainable human resource management (SHRM) has been incorporated into public sector HRM policy in Aotearoa/New Zealand before and after the introduction of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Drawing on a longitudinal qualitative analysis of HRM policies from 10 local councils between 2010 and 2021, it explores how sustainability concerns across social, economic, and environmental domains were integrated into public HRM. The findings show that sustainability entered public HRM primarily through incremental layering onto existing HRM frameworks rather than transformational change. Following the SDGs, policy attention to equity, diversity, and wellbeing increased; however, broader social justice commitments remained uneven, while environmental sustainability received limited attention. By examining HRM policies as organizational signals, the study contributes to public HRM and SHRM scholarship by showing how sustainability priorities are communicated before implementation and may remain constrained by institutional logics of compliance, efficiency, risk management, and organizational performance.