Critical factors in human resource practice implementation: implications of cross-cultural contextual issues

Abstract

In most firms, the human resources department is responsible for the development of effective human resource practices that help the organisation meet or exceed its business objectives. However, the implementation of those practices ultimately falls to the firm’s line managers. This paper uses social context theory and the theory of planned behaviour to propose that line managers’ implementation of effective HR practices is influenced by a variety of contextual and individual factors. Using data from line managers working in a 300 bed not-for-profit community hospital in the southeastern USA, the results of an exploratory factor analysis and a multiple regression test of the suggested model showed that contextual/organisational and individual factors had a significant impact in predicting line managers’ HR practice implementation levels. Implications of these findings are discussed, as are directions for future research.