A Multiple-Constituency Model of Effectiveness: An Empirical Examination at the Human Resource Subunit Level

Abstract

This research was supported by a grant from the Organizational Effectiveness Program of the Office of Naval Research under grant N00014-84-K006, the Busines~ Associate Funds of the Fuqua School of Business, Duke University, and the Control Data Corporation. The author would like to thank the following individuals for their valuable comments on earlier drafts of the manuscript: Susan Ashford, Larry Cummings, Michael Hitt, Mike Keeley, Lyman Porter, Keith Weigelt, and Ray Zammuto. Finally, a special appreciation is extended to Associate Editor Marshall Meyer and three anonymous reviewers for their many insightful comments and constructive suggestions in refining the ideas in this paper. Using the human resource (HR) subunit as the focus for assessment, several core postulates of the multiple constituency model of effectiveness were examined empirically. Results supported the theoretical efficacy of the model. First, the relevant constituencies reported by the HR subunits were conceptually meaningful. Second, the subunit's effectiveness was influenced by both its adaptive responses, such as the use of human resource committees and control of employee absenteeism, and environmental context variables, such as assistance from corporate human resource groups and heterogeneity in the demographics of the constituents. Third, different adaptive response variables were associated with the effectiveness assessment of different constituencies, supporting the key postulate that effectiveness models of multiple constituencies are nonequivalent. The paper concludes with many suggestions for future research and conceptual extensions to the multiple-constituency model.'