The Hidden Cost of Urban Pollution: Environmental Exposure, Health Depletion, and Workforce Productivity in Emerging Economies

Abstract

Urban air pollution represents an emerging challenge for workforce sustainability, yet management research has paid limited attention to how environmental exposure influences human capital productivity, particularly among outdoor workers in rapidly urbanizing emerging economies. Drawing upon the Resource-Based View (RBV), this study examines how pollution exposure affects workers’ productive capacity by exploring the relationships among pollution exposure intensity, health-related consequences, behavioral responses, and work productivity impairment. The study adopts a quantitative cross-sectional survey design and collects data from 384 outdoor workers in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal, including street vendors, construction workers, delivery workers, and traffic police personnel. A structured questionnaire containing 47 measurement items across eight constructs captures workers’ exposure experiences, health symptoms, protective behaviors, awareness levels, and productivity outcomes. The study applies Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) through SmartPLS to analyze direct, mediating, and moderating relationships among the research constructs. The findings show that pollution exposure intensity significantly increases work productivity impairment, while pollution-related health symptoms partially explain this relationship. Heat and environmental stress also increase productivity impairment. However, AQI awareness and adaptive preventive behavior do not significantly reduce productivity impairment, highlighting the limitations of individual-level coping responses. The study extends RBV by positioning environmental exposure as a resource-depleting mechanism that influences human capital sustainability and emphasizes the importance of organizational and policy interventions to protect workforce capability.