A paradox and contextual perspective of HRM

Purpose This paper examines the human resource (HR) strategies and practices that are considered to be particularly beneficial for aging employees in organizations in Thailand, which is an underresearched developing economy, from an employee perspective and the implications of national institutions and cultures for the adoption and implementation of those HR strategies and practices across organizations. Design/methodology/approach The results of the study, based on a cross-case analysis of seven organizations across industries, are primarily drawn from structured interviews and focus groups with aging employees, field visits and a review of archival documents and web-based resources, including newspaper reports and magazines. Findings This paper proposes that HR strategies that are appropriate for managing aging employees in organizations in Thailand’s developing economy can be classified into four bundles: growth, maintenance, recovery and regulation. Each bundle of HR strategies consists of several HR practices that are appropriate for managing aging employees in organizations. In particular, from the perspective of aging employees, these HR practices help aging employees upgrade their skills, prepare them to have a sufficient amount of financial savings after retirement, ensure that they are safe, secure and healthy, help them feel that their tacit knowledge and experience are still valuable, and help them perform jobs that are appropriate for their physical health conditions. Additionally, the adoption and implementation of the proposed HR strategies and practices tend to be influenced by national institutions in terms of deficiencies in the national skill formation system, healthcare institutions, regulatory institutions and welfare state regime and by the national culture in terms of reciprocity and respect for elderly people (i.e. aging employees). However, there are five important HR practices that are specifically appropriate for managing aging employees in Thailand and other developing economies where the level of household debt and/or personal debt is high, where the increasing number of aging employees leads to high demand for medical services when the medical services offered by private hospitals are expensive, and where tacit knowledge and experience are important for creating and maintaining firms’ competitive advantage: (1) the facilitation of financial planning, (2) safety and health training, (3) annual health check-ups, (4) the appointment of aging employees as advisors/mentors and (5) knowledge transfer/job enrichment. Research limitations/implications One of the limitations of this research is its methodology. Because this research is based on case studies of seven firms located in Thailand, the findings may not be generalizable to all other firms across countries. Rather, the aim of this paper is to further the discussion regarding HR strategies and practices for managing aging employees in organizations. Another limitation of this research is that it does not include firms located in several other industries, including the agricultural and fishery industry and the financial services industry. Future research may explore HR strategies and practices for managing aging employees in organizations located in these industries. Moreover, quantitative studies using large samples of aging employees who work in firms across industries might also be useful in deepening the understanding of HR strategies and practices for managing aging/retired employees in organizations. Practical implications This paper provides practical implications for top managers and/or HR managers of firms in Thailand and other developing economies where the level of household debt and/or personal debt is high, where the increasing number of aging employees leads to high demand for medical services when the medical services offered by private hospitals are expensive, and where tacit knowledge and experience are important for creating and maintaining firms’ competitive advantage. In particular, the aging employees in this study identified the HR practices that they perceive as being appropriate for aging employees and that were already available in firms or that they expect their firms to have but are currently missing. In this regard, HR managers should take note of these good and appropriate HR practices to ensure that they become part of official, structured HR strategies and practices. This would ultimately help line managers and aging employees think more positively about the future of aging employees within the company and help retain invaluable aging employees over time. Social implications This paper provides social/policy implications for the government and/or relevant public agencies of Thailand and several other developing economies where the majority of aging people do not have sufficient savings to support themselves after retirement, especially when these countries are becoming aging societies, where the increasing demand for medical services cannot be adequately addressed by existing public hospitals while private hospitals’ medical prices are quite expensive, and where intellectual property right (IPR) protection laws are weak. That said, such governments should encourage firms located in their countries to implement these HR strategies and practices for developing, maintaining, deploying and supporting aging employees. Originality/value This paper aims to contribute to the literature on human resource management (HRM), specifically on HR practices for aging employees, in the following ways. First, this study is different from the previous studies in that it examines HR practices for managing aging employees from an employee perspective, while most of the previous studies in this area have focused on the management of such employees from an employer perspective. In this case, it is possible that formal company policies may be different from actual HR practices as perceived by aging employees (Khilji and Wang, 2006). Second, this paper explores the implications of national institutions and cultures of Thailand’s developing economy for the adoption and implementation of HR strategies and practices that are appropriate for managing aging employees in organizations. Finally, this paper examines HR practices that are specifically appropriate for managing aging employees in Thailand and other developing economies. The literature on HR practices for aging employees has overlooked developing economies, including the underresearched country of Thailand, as most of the studies in this area have focused on developed economies. In fact, developed economies and developing economies are very different in several respects, which may influence the HR strategies and practices that are appropriate for managing aging employees in organizations.

Based on stakeholder theory, we examined whether perceptions and actual relationships between human resource (HR) and line managers influence perceived future firm performance as rated by line managers. With a matched sample of 105 HR managers and line managers working in Hong Kong, we found that when line managers perceived HR as an effective function, a higher level of HR involvement in the strategic planning process was positively associated with perceived future firm performance. Moreover, HR managers rated HR effectiveness higher than line managers. The discrepancy of perceived HR effectiveness between HR managers and line managers was negatively associated with perceived future firm performance. Furthermore, HR managers, in contrast to line managers, perceived horizontal collaboration as being positively related to perceived future firm performance. Limitations and managerial implications are discussed.

PurposeThis paper aims to examine two types of age-related human resources (HR) practices, i.e. age-specific and age-inclusive HR practices and firm-level (meso-level) factors that foster or hinder the implementation of these two types of practices.Design/methodology/approachBased on a cross-case analysis of four firms across industries in Thailand, a developing country, the empirical evidence draws on semi-structured interviews with the top managers, HR managers and aging employees of four firms; field visits; nonparticipant observations; and a review of archival documents and Web-based reports and resources.FindingsThis paper proposes that age-specific HR practices primarily include those HR practices under the regulation HR bundle and some HR practices under the maintenance and recovery HR bundles. Additionally, the factors fostering the implementation of age-specific HR practices in firms include group corporate culture, nonunionism within the workplace, paternalistic leaders, a focus on the development of internal labor markets within firms and the need for tacit knowledge transfer from aging employees to younger-generation employees, whereas the factors hindering the implementation of age-specific HR practices in firms include age biases within firms. Moreover, age-inclusive HR practices primarily include HR practices under the development HR bundle and some HR practices under the maintenance and recovery HR bundles. Additionally, the factors fostering the implementation of age-inclusive HR practices in firms include the procedural justice climate, the transition from a family ownership structure to a professional ownership structure and result-/output-based corporate culture, whereas the factors hindering the implementation of age-inclusive HR practices in firms include experience-/seniority-based corporate culture. In fact, some of the meso-level factors that foster or hinder the implementation of age-specific and age-inclusive HR practices tend to be influenced by the national institutional and cultural contexts of the developing country where firms that implement such HR practices are located.Originality/valueThis paper aims to fill the research gap by examining both age-specific and age-inclusive HR practices. Additionally, this paper analyzes the factors fostering or hindering the implementation of these two dimensions of age-related HR practices across firms by using a case study of firms in Thailand, a developing country. To date, most studies in this area have focused on one of these dimensions, while comparisons between different HR dimensions are rather scarce. Finally, this paper contributes to the prior literature on strategic HR and comparative institutional perspective on HR strategies and practices as proposed by Batt and Banerjee (2012) and Batt and Hermans (2012) that future research should go beyond the meso-level (organizational) context. In this regard, some of the factors that foster or hinder the implementation of age-specific and age-inclusive HR practices tend to be influenced by the national institutional and cultural contexts of the developing country of Thailand.

This paper explores the general hypothesis that effectiveness of human resource (HR) practices will help to explain the well-documented association between human resource management and performance. This paper adopts a stakeholder perspective, hypothesising that the ratings of HR effectiveness of senior line managers will be more strongly associated with the outcomes than those of HR managers. Furthermore, building on Bowen and Ostroff's concept of consensus as part of a ‘strong’ HR system, it is hypothesised that shared perceptions of (high) effectiveness will be associated with higher performance. This study is based on a sample of 237 matched pairs of senior line managers and HR managers, and measures a range of subjective and objective outcomes. The analysis confirms the association both between more HR practices and higher HR effectiveness and a range of performance outcomes. The associations are mostly stronger for HR effectiveness. There are low levels of agreement between HR and line managers about HR effectiveness and where agreement exists, it is not associated with superior outcomes. This study, therefore, confirms the importance of HR effectiveness, but fails to support any impact of consensus.

This study is based on the assumption that human resource (HR) practices are implemented through interactions between a variety of actors involved in the process. Novel insights emerge from the analysis of how interactions between HR managers, line managers (LMs) and employees result in effective implementation of HR practices. Drawing on the ability-motivation-opportunity (AMO) framework, the aim of the study is twofold. First, we investigate the extent to which HR department initiatives—classified into HR ability-enhancing, HR motivation-enhancing and HR opportunity-enhancing—increase LMs’ perceived ability, motivation and opportunity to perform in human resource management (HRM). Second, we analyse the role of LMs’ AMO on the effective implementation of HR practices assessed in terms of employees’ satisfaction with HR practices. We collected data from the HR manager, the line manager and between two and five employees (in total 302 employees) in each of the 100 Spanish companies in our sample. Our results reveal that HR motivation-enhancing initiatives increase LMs’ motivation; and HR opportunity-enhancing initiatives improve LMs’ perceived ability, motivation and opportunity, and indirectly the effectiveness of HRM implementation. We also found that LMs’ opportunity is a crucial factor in improving the effectiveness of HR practice implementation. Implications for research and practices are discussed.

Purpose Human resource analytics (HRA), a strategic tool for data-driven personnel decisions, is widely adopted in developed countries. However, limited research addresses the challenges human resource (HR) managers face in adopting HRA in developing countries such as Morocco, where adoption remains low. This qualitative study aims to explore the lived experiences of HR managers in adopting HRA across various industrial sectors in Morocco. Design/methodology/approach We conducted 31 semi-structured interviews with HR managers working in various Moroccan industries. Theory-driven data analysis was performed in NVivo. Findings We develop a framework that highlights the reinforcing cycle of multi-faceted and multi-level challenges in HRA adoption as experienced by HR managers. This framework illustrates how external constraints, such as subjective sociocultural norms and underdeveloped technological infrastructure, interact with internal dynamics, including unstandardized HR practices and inadequate data governance policies. This integrated framework demonstrates the interplay between external and internal challenges HR managers encounter when adopting HRA in developing countries. We emphasize the need to consider the sociocultural context in HRA adoption and highlight how norms such as faith-based discouragement of exposing wrongdoing influence organizational attitudes and practices. Practical implications We suggest better HRA adoption can be achieved when HRA providers conduct culturally sensitive campaigns that showcase the benefits and possibility to respect sociocultural norms. Collaborative training programs for HR managers can address their resistance to change. Originality/value Our study makes an original contribution to the HRA and human resource management literature by utilizing open systems theory to examine contextual constraints, highlighting the interplay of intrinsic (culturally influenced) and extrinsic (systemic) factors that create cyclical barriers to HRA adoption.

Turbulent times and crises force many human resource (HR) managers to adapt human resource practices (HRP) to a rapidly changing reality. The modification of HRP in a very stressful environment poses enormous challenges for HR managers. This study looks at the mechanisms through which HRP was adapted to unexpected changes to attain resilience during worldwide crises. Based on qualitative data collected from 72 Israeli HR managers, the findings reveal that HR managers’ social capital (SC) serves as a mechanism for adapting HRP to attain resilience. HR managers employed personal, intra-organizational, and extra-organizational levels of SC that lead to compatible types of resilience: employee, organizational, and interface resilience. Although personal and intra-organizational SC were used frequently, the HR managers used extra-organizational SC to cope with the upheavals caused by the crises to a lesser extent, and, therefore, less interface resilience was attained through HRP. The findings contribute to the literature by suggesting that HR manager SC serves as a mechanism fueling the adaptation of HRP during crises and leads to resilience. It also extends the resilience literature by suggesting that the adaptation of HRP through HR manager SC influences different types of organizational resilience.

Recent research provides evidence that, contrary to implicit assumptions in much of the strategic human resource management (SHRM) literature, human resource (HR) systems and practices are in fact enacted with substantial variation across units even within organizations, with such variation largely a function of the line managers involved in implementing HR practices in the units under their supervision. While instrumental in demonstrating the critical role that line managers play in facilitating the causal chain linking organizations' HR practices with intended employee and organizational outcomes, we contend that the focus of this research on HR practice implementation as a singular and unidimensional characterization of line managers' involvement in human resource management (HRM) represents an oversimplification on several counts. Broadly, we propose that this focus fails to account for the varied nature of line managers' downward influences in the context of HRM. Thus, we integrate insights from research on HR practice implementation, workforce differentiation, and autonomous strategic behavior to develop a more complete understanding of line managers' downward involvement in HRM. Based on our synthesis of relevant insights from these literatures, we propose a research agenda focusing on questions spanning four broad areas with the aim of fostering and guiding future SHRM scholarship to further our understanding of the antecedents, processes, and consequences associated with line managers' influences on HR system content and process in organizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

This paper analyses some of the difficulties that human resource (HR) managers have in responding to problems of labour turnover and labour shortages.It provides a brief overview of the complex environments in which Singaporean HR managers operate. This paper suggests that, when the roles of management and personnel are ambiguous or when there is tremendous change, line managers and executives take over some of the functions of HR managers, a practice which is seen as a problem for HR managers. However, content analysis of interviews with HR managers shows that this encroachment becomes a problem only when the HR managers lack the skills necessary to perform their duties competently. Thus, it is suggested that HR managers should adopt an HRM approach which focuses on roles and skills necessary to manage ambiguity. In this respect, a more inclusive model should involve roles such as: reconciliation, recruitment and retention, employee relations, planning and internal management.

In recent years, SHRM scholars have devoted increasing attention to examining the critical roles of line managers in the delivery of organizations' human resource (HR) practices. In this chapter, we characterize the current state of SHRM scholarship on line managers' influence in the HR context across various levels of the organization. In doing so, we make several observations which lay the foundation for our recommendations for future research. First, research in this realm has been characterized by a disproportionate focus on line managers as implementers of HR practices, offering limited consideration of line managers' modification or introduction of HR practices. Second, extant work in this vein has often focused on line managers' HR practice delivery behaviors at the unit level, while offering little in the way of integrative insights from research in other areas (e.g., idiosyncratic deals, emergent strategy) that sheds light on line managers' involvement and influence at the individual and organization levels. Third, prior research has tended to overlook the fact that line managers' core responsibilities within their roles are generally not centered on HR practice delivery, but rather focus on maintaining the effective operations of their units or functions, raising important questions about how line managers perceive and manage the intersection of their primary roles with their responsibilities for HR practice delivery. In the course of our critical review, we discuss the implications of these observations and lay a foundation for future research.

This article explores the assumption that the level of human resource (HR) autonomy of an organisation influences line managers’ participation in HR decision-making, and it seeks to understand to what extent such a participation affects the effective implementation of HR practices. The results of an empirical study of HR policies and practices in three public hospitals in Pakistan reveal that greater level of HR autonomy of an organisation, with less pressure to comply with public personnel policies, leads to increased participation of middle managers in HR decision-making. This, in turn, helps to reduce the gap between the intended and implemented HR practices, which is important for human resource management (HRM) – organisational performance linkage. These findings contribute to ongoing discussions related to HRM in the public sector context and line management enactment of HR practices by highlighting the profound implications of the institutional context on the HR management of public hospitals. Additionally, this research proposes a bottom-up approach to HR practices, through its focus on the participation of managers in HR decision-making as a possible solution to better implementation of HR practices.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons behind human resource (HR) managers' participation in the international mergers and acquisitions (IM&A) process building on the general discussion of the factors explaining the roles of HR in organisations.Design/methodology/approachSix sets of factors can be found to affect the roles of HR managers in general: the orientation of top management to people management; the skills, abilities and competencies of HR managers themselves; the HR function and its characteristics; the expectations that line managers have of HR; external factors; and internal factors. This review forms the basis for subsequent data analysis in the context of IM&As. The factors that contribute to HR managers' participation are studied from HR and other management's perspectives. Based on interviews with 12 corporate level managers in three Finnish international industrial companies.FindingsThe results show that top management sees the participation of HR managers as being very important and agree that it should be a common policy. The factors explaining the roles in the case organisations focused on certain factor groups and were similar across the cases. Based on empirical analysis, this study finds that the most important contributing factors to HR managers' participation are HR managers' own capability and activity throughout the IM&A process.Originality/valueThis study has analysed the reasons related to the roles of HR managers in an IM&A context in general, not just the strategic role within. Based on the case studies it seems, however, that a seat on the management team and HR managers' business competencies as well as personal skills contribute to the strategic role.

Managing employees in Thai family firms: the mutuality perspective

For service businesses, a key goal is the consistent delivery of exceptionally high levels of service quality. A hospitality organisation that emphasises service in everything it says and does is more likely to achieve high levels of service quality, customer satisfaction and competitive advantage. This thesis applies a services management framework to the study of casinos. The research contributes to knowledge by examining the differential effects of employee interpretations of human resources (HR) practices on service climate and job-related attitudes. The research problem has three aspects. First, academics and practitioners need to better understand the internal dynamics that affect the development of an organisational climate for service. A positive service climate encourages desirable service-related behaviours. Second, although it is widely understood why human resource management (HRM) can contribute to positive organisational outcomes, it is not well understood exactly how HRM is connected with such desirable outcomes. In particular, this thesis explores the effect of the differential attributions that employees make regarding why their organisation has implemented its chosen set of HR practices. Third, research that addresses HR and service-related variables in the casino industry is lacking. Some evidence suggests that the casino industry has specific contextual characteristics that may set it apart from other industries in terms of organisational dynamics. The purpose of this thesis is to examine the impact of employee attributions regarding HR practices on perceptions of service climate and important work-related employee attitudes in the context of the casino industry. Further aims are to provide insight into the specific working conditions in the casino industry that have an impact on employee perceptions and attitudes, and to examine what causes these employees to make particular attributions regarding HR practices. The research questions to be addressed are: RQ1: What is the influence of employee attributions of HR practices on job satisfaction and organisational commitment? RQ2: How do employee perceptions of service climate explain the relationships between employee attributions of HR practices and job satisfaction and organisational commitment? RQ3: What are the salient features of the casino working environment that have an impact on employee HR attributions, perceptions of service climate, job satisfaction and organisational commitment? The study is premised on a post-positivist perspective, with a realist approach to knowledge. The research design included a mix of methods in a sequential explanatory design involving two stages. The study organisations were two Australian casino hotels, “Casino Ace” and “Casino Baccarat”. Both participating casino hotels are located in regional and remote locations. Employees of these two casino hotels were participants for each data collection stage. The first stage was quantitative and explored the first two research questions. The data collection instrument was a self-report questionnaire designed to measure each of the variables of interest: employee attributions of HR practices, perceptions of service climate, job satisfaction and organisational commitment. A total of 443 usable surveys were collected across the two data collection sites: 139 completed questionnaires at Casino Ace and 304 at Casino Baccarat (representing a response rate from the sample of 87% and 95% respectively). Data analysis techniques adopted to explore the research questions included confirmatory factor analyses, tests of validity and reliability, and structural equation modelling to assess the hypotheses. The second stage was qualitative and explored the third research question. A series of interviews was conducted with employees from both of the participating casino hotels. A total of 23 interviews were conducted – 11 at Casino Ace and 12 at Casino Baccarat. Thematic analysis techniques were used to analyse the data. Findings indicate that when employees attribute HR practices to a concern for employee well-being and a commitment to quality service delivery (the Internal Commitment HR attribution), higher levels of job satisfaction and organisational commitment result. In contrast, when employees attribute HR practices to either a desire to cut costs and exploit employees (the Internal Control HR attribution) or the need to comply with external regulations (the External Compliance HR attribution), there is little to no influence of job-related attitudes. A positive level of service climate is highly related to the Internal Commitment HR attribution. Service climate is also positively related to job-related attitudes. Contrary to expectations, there is limited evidence to suggest that service climate mediates the relationship between HR attributions and job-related attitudes. Implications of the study are wide-ranging. The newly emerging theory of HR attributions has merit, although there appear to be contingencies and boundary conditions on the hypothesised relationships. Further research into employee HR attributions is warranted. The remote location of the two casino hotels appears to have influenced the results. This unplanned finding highlights the need for a better understanding of the impact of operating in remote location on workplace outcomes.

PurposeScholars have adopted different theoretical perspectives to explain the influence of HR practice on employee outcomes. However, few studies have investigated the role of human resource (HR) practice in fostering higher in-role and extra-role employee performance by encouraging employee participation in job design, a process referred to as job crafting. Drawing on human resource management (HRM) process theory and the job crafting literature, this study aims to examine how work engagement and job crafting mediate the relationship between employee perceptions of HR practice and employee performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use survey on a sample of 455 employees working in five Chinese manufacturing firms to test their theoretical model.FindingsThis study finds that where management maintains a strong HR system, employees are more likely to be engaged in their work and participate in job crafting. In addition, job crafting on its own, and work engagement and job crafting together, are shown to mediate the HRM–performance relationship.Research limitations/implicationsIn a Chinese context, line managers (including supervisors) are both important implementers of HR policy and vary in their adoption of particular roles. Yet our research did not consider the role of these persons in facilitating work engagement or job crafting. Future studies could usefully explore how these managers vary in their attitudes towards job crafting and the roles they play in encouraging this important activity.Practical implicationsOne important implication is that strong HR system with distinctive, consistent and consensus HR practices should be used by managers to motivate employees to encourage work engagement and job crafting behaviours.Originality/valueThis study enriches the theoretical framework to explain the underlying mechanism between HRM and employee performance from job crafting perspective.