Composite Analysis of Human Resource Change Leadership and Professionalism: A PLS-SEM Application in Vietnamese Sustainable Enterprises

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.28924/2291-8639-23-2025-337
Published: Dec 12, 2025
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Pham Thi Diem, Bui Thanh Khoa, Composite Analysis of Human Resource Change Leadership and Professionalism: A PLS-SEM Application in Vietnamese Sustainable Enterprises, Int. J. Anal. Appl., 23 (2025), 337.

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Pham Thi Diem, Bui Thanh Khoa

Abstract

Scholars assert that human resource management is essential for organizational sustainability and that human resource professionals are institutional entrepreneurs who lead organizational changes toward sustainability. However, human resource (HR) professionals are currently leading sustainability efforts in a limited, piecemeal, and anecdotal manner, which may be caused by a lack of competencies. Therefore, based on the literature review, a model was built to explore the relationship between HR change leadership role and HR professionalism. Qualitative research (in-depth interviews with five experts) was employed to generate and filter the initial items of the scales. Quantitative research with a sample of 1,058 employees working at 24 sustainable enterprises in Vietnam was used to validate the scale and test the hypothesis through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory composite analysis using the PLS-SEM method. The results demonstrate that the HR change leadership role positively influences HR professionalism. This result means that  HR professionals should be capable of being strategic positioners, credible activists, capability builders, technology proponents, and interpersonal leaders to play their change leadership role in a sustainable context. Therefore, the HRM department should redesign the set of sustainable competencies for recruiting and evaluating HR professionals and plan short- and long-term strategies to train and develop sustainable competencies for HR professionals.

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