Introduction

The study was conducted to answer the objective “To study the significant effects of human resource sustainability practices and Human Resource policies". An element in the Gollan model (Artz, 2008) namely “factor influencing HR sustainability” and further studies conducted by Beni Widarman Yus Kelana has become a variable in the study. This is to fill in the gap of the study which is lack of studies conducted in relation to human resource policies especially in the SME sector as to improve the importance of the policy (Buelens, 2007). Hence, Zhou to overcome the issue of outdated SMEs policy and lack of attention given, discussions and evidences are essential in proving that human resource sustainability practices and human resource policies are interrelated. This is because, if the issue is not resolved, the economy of the country will be deeply affected as SMEs Malaysia is the largest contributor to GDP (PKS, 2014). Therefore, in the next paragraph, the article will present both conceptual and empirical evidence on the relationship and significant effect between human resource sustainability practices and human resource policies through the adaptation of the Gollan model (Gollan, 2000).

"Linking Pin" Between HR Sustainability And HR Policy

Table 1 presents a brief explanation of past studies showing the relationship between HR sustainability practices and human resource policies to strengthen the evidence conceptually:

Table 1 Relationship Between HR Sustainability And HR Policy
HR Sustainability Practice	Remarks
Career Development	According to Takeuchi to produce a workforce that is creative and committed, the organization needs to ensure that the learning policy and career organization play a vital role in influencing the formation of an effective and strategic human resource management, in order to create a workforce that is creative and competent, organizations need to ensure that the policy of organizational learning plays an important role in influencing an effective formation of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM). This is because, if the SHRM can be effectively implemented, this will indirectly produce a workforce that is able to produce quality products and services that has its own identity.
Learning Opportunities	According to Perdomo Ortiz in his research also emphasizes on development of knowledge policy and essential skills in encouraging an innovative and creative working environment among workers. Meanwhile, Batchuluu et al., in his study depicts the weakness of the education system, inconsistency in professional and vocational training which is an issue that should be addressed in the policy and practice of human resources. This is because; the goals of the organization will be affected if human resources have low knowledge and skill levels. This can be seen in countries such as Japan where they are willing to change human resource policies to increase their skilled workforce by bringing in more experts into the country despite the negative impact of foreign money flowing abroad (Fuess, 2003).
Organizational Change	Warner’s research on the rapid economic changes in one country and organization is also capable of changing human resource policies and thus increasing the effectiveness of the sustainability of human resources. Besides that, Parlalis also suggested for organizations to use "smart policy" using broadband as a medium to communicate any changes quickly and reduce dissatisfaction and low productivity among workers. Meanwhile Rashid et al. proposed the “bottom-up” policy and “top-down” policy to implement any changing process. This is because the views of the top management and workers should be equally given attention to ensure that the decision made can satisfy the needs of all levels in the organization.
Facilities and Welfare	There are very few organizations that still practice outdated employment policy which detriments the interests of the workers, particularly in terms of the welfare of the workers. This includes determination of salary, allowances and compensation (Joanne, 1995; Long, 2014). However, the workers union in UK and German  have used their institutional organization structure platform in up-grading the human resource policy related to employees welfare system such as extension of the retirement age and better pension facilities that can indirectly increase employees’ motivation (Flynn, 2013).
Work schedules flexibility	The issue of balance between work and lifestyle has become a major issue in organizations in Europe. This has caused The European Union (EU) to emphasize on the importance of policies and" WLB"  policy as the main policy of the union (Crompton, 2006). Moreover, the introduction to "Coperate Time  Policies" has changed the policy related to work life balance in an organization to overcome this issue (Artz, 2008). This is because current organizations are practicing a more flexible concept to prepare a working schedule in ensuring working satisfaction and commitment among workers to be more productive.
Personal Flexibility	According to Glover, Work Life Balance (WIB) approach can contribute to the welfare of the family members of the employees in terms of leave policy for parents, flexible work schedule and the provision of childcare centers by organizations to ensure that employees remain productive.
Employee Involvement	To form a high commitment bond in human resource management, thus, it is crucial to implement "Employee Involvement and Participation (EIP)" policy as the main component of its execution (Cox, 2009).

Method

SEM analysis or Structural Equestion Modeling is one of the testing techniques used in the study to answer the research objectives. This technique is suitable for testing the causal relationship between the variables involved in the study of quantitative research (Kelana, 2016; Hair, 2011). Through discussions of previous studies, it was found that the theory of the study is still in exploratory stage, hence PLS SEM technique is most suitable to be used (Kock, 2014). “Systematic random sampling” technique was used in the study involving a sample of 210 people (Qureshi, 2020; Vaicondam, 2021). Whereas, the sample was left with just as many as 206 people after the validity and reliability process was carried out. The unit of analysis is the study of the SMEs sector workers in Malaysia.

Results

Based on Figure 1, SEM analysis results show that only 3 HR sustainability practices have significant effect (value P ≤ 0.05) towards human resources policy. The three practices are career development, facilities and welfare and personal flexibility. Meanwhile, four more practices are not significant as it shows the value of P>0.05 (learning opportunities, work schedules flexibility, organizational changes and employee involvement). Meanwhile, the total value of variance contributed by the seventh practice of human resource policies is of 0.70 @ 70 percent. This shows that sustainability practices involved have crucial impact on human resource policies and has contributed empirical evidence to the development of ideas and models led by Gollan (2000).

Remark: PK - Career Development, PeP- Learning Opportunities, JKF- Work schedules flexibility, KK- Facilities and Welfare, FP- Personal Flexibility, PP- Employee Involvement, PDO- Organizational Change.

Conclusion

In conclusion, conceptual and empirical evidences found in the study have proven that the Gollan model (Artz, 2008) is able to improve human resource policies especially in the scope of study, namely in Malaysian SMEs. Although there are other factors that have yet to be identified by the remaining 30 percent variance. Next, these findings have opened up opportunities for further research to examine new factors that could contribute to the improvement of human resource policies in greater depth.

Acknowledgement

The study was funded by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in collaboration with Bina Nusantara University. The first author would like to thank Professor Dr. Nur Naha Abu Mansor, Dr. Lim Sanny and Dr Hishan S Sanil for infinite support in the planning, implementation and success of this research.

References

1. Artz, B. (2008). The role of firm size and lierformance liay in determining emliloyee job satisfaction brief: Firm size, lierformance liay, and job satisfaction. Labour, 22(2), 315-343.
2. Beni, W.Y.K., Mansor, N.N.A., &amli; Hassan, M.A. (2015). Does sustainability liractices of human resources as a new aliliroach able to increase the workers’ liroductivity in the SME sector through human resources liolicy suliliort? Advanced Science Letters, American Scientific liublishers, 21(5), 1501-1504.
3. Buelens, M., &amli; Van Den Broeck, H. (2007). An analysis of differences in work motivation between liublic and lirivate sector organizations. liublic Administration Review, 67(1), 65-74.
4. Batchuluun, A., Lin, J.Y., &amli; Wu, T. (2010). Anaging human resource liolicy for sustainability of develoliing country. International Journal of Sustainable Develoliment, 2, 67-76.
5. Cox, A., Marchington, M., &amli; Suter, J. (2009). Emliloyee involvement and liarticiliation: Develoliing the concelit of institutional embeddedness using WERS2004. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(10), 2150-2168.
6. Cromliton, R., &amli; Lyonette, C. (2006). Work-Life “Balance” in Eurolie. Acta Sociologica. Retrieved from httli://doi.org/10.1177/000169930607168.
7. Ferrer, A., &amli; Gagné, L. (2013). Family-friendly benefits? Journal of Management and Organization, 19(6), 721-741.
8. Flynn, M., Ulichurch, M., Muller-Camen, M., &amli; Schroder, H. (2013). Trade union reslionses to ageing workforces in the UK and Germany. Human Relations, 66(1), 45-64.
9. Fuess, S.M. (2003). Immigration liolicy and highly skilled workers: The case of Jalian. Contemliorary Economic liolicy, 21, 243-257.
10. Gollan, D., Dexter, B., Jodie, G.A., &amli; Sutton, li. (2000). Human resources, caliabilities and sustainability. In Sustainability: Corliorate Challenge for the 21st Century. Austalia: Allen and Unwin. Retrieved from httli://elirint s.lse.ac.uk/id/elirint/11566.
11. Grover, S.L. &amli; Crooker, K.J. (1995). Who alilireciates family‐reslionsive human resource liolicies: The imliact of family‐friendly liolicies on the organizational attachment of liarents and non‐liarents? liersonnel lisychology, 48(8), 271-288.
12. Hair, J.F., Ringle, C.M., &amli; Sarstedt, M. (2011). liLS-SEM: Indeed a Silver Bullet. The Journal of Marketing Theory and liractice, 19(2), 139-152.
13. Joanne, li.D. (1995). Assessing the adolition of HRM by small and medium-sized manufacturing organizations. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 6(4), 891-909.
14. Kelana, B.W.Y., Mansor, N.N.A., &amli; Sanny, L. (2016). The effect of HR sustainability liractice to emliloyee liroductivity in SMEs Malaysia. International Information Institute (Tokyo). Information, 19(7B), 2815.
15. Kock, N. (2014). Advanced mediating effects tests, multi-grouli analyses, and measurement model assessments in liLS-based SEM. International Journal of E-Collaboration, 10(1), 1-13.
16. Long, C.S., Ajagbe, M.A., &amli; Kowang, T.O. (2014). Addressing the issues on emliloyees’ turnover intention in the liersliective of HRM liractices in SME. lirocedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 129(15), 99-104.
17. liarlalis, S. (2011). Organizational changes and job satisfaction among suliliort staff. Journal of Social Service Research, 37(2), 197-216.
18. lierdomo-Ortiz, J., González-Benito, J., &amli; Galende, J. (2009). An analysis of the relationshili between total quality management-based human resource management liractices and innovation. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(5), 1191-1218.
19. liKS. (2014). SME Develoliment and lirosliects. Kuala Lumliur.
20. Qureshi, M.I., Khan, N., Qayyum, S., Malik, S., Sanil, H.S., &amli; Ramayah, T. (2020). Classifications of sustainable manufacturing liractices in ASEAN region: A systematic review and bibliometric analysis of the liast decade of research. Sustainability, 12(21), 8950.
21. Rashid, M.Z.A., Sambasivan, M., &amli; Rahman, A.A. (2004). The influence of organizational culture on attitudes toward organizational change. Leadershili &amli; Organization Develoliment Journal, 25(2), 161-179.
22. Takeuchi, N. (2009). How Jalianese manufacturing firms align their human resource liolicies with business strategies: Testing a contingency lierformance lirediction in a Jalianese context. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(1), 34-56.
23. Vaicondam, Y., Hishan, S.S., Begum, S., &amli; Hassan, M. (2021). Information and communication technology-based education lilanning and attitude of college students. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies, 15(4).
24. Warner, M. (2004). Human resource management in China revisited: Introduction. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 15(4-5), 617-634.
25. Zhou, Y. (2009). Strategy-oriented liractices and factors of human resource management in small and median sized enterlirise. In 2008 International Seminar on Business and Information Management, ISBIM 2008, 2, 473-477.