Exploring the links between human resource practices, employee outcomes and performance at the individual and team levels

This paper introduces the construct of human resource (HR) practice saliency as a key moderating variable in the relationship between HR practices and employee outcomes. We propose that HR practice saliency can help provide an explanation for the variability in the effects of HR practices on employee outcomes. Specifically, we argue that HR practice saliency assessments themselves and also in interaction with employee satisfaction with HR practices influence the nature of the relationship between HR practices and psychological climate, which, in turn, influences employee outcomes. Implications for HR literature and practice are offered.

HR practices for managing aging employees in organizations: the case of Thailand

The study examined the influence of Human Resource (HR) practices on job satisfaction in the decentralized health service delivery in Shinyanga region, Tanzania. The influence of HR practices on job satisfaction is vastly examined by different scholars. Their findings revealed mixed results ranging from significant positive to adverse influence on job satisfaction. Thus, to bridge the knowledge gap, this study examined the specific HR practices in the specific area context. The specific HR practices tested in this study included human resource planning (HRP), supervision, performance appraisal, training and compensation. The region was selected because over different periods of time, it experienced unsatisfactory performance in health service delivery. This was reflected by inability of the region to attain 50% of the Mellenium Development Goals related to health and lowest achievements in health service delivery as reflected in the preparatory stage in launching the Results Based Financing in which the region ranked the last in the then 21 regions of the country. An explanatory Survey research design with mixed research approach was employed for the study. The survey data were collected from 287 respondents and supplemented by the qualitative data. The study found that all the five HR practices had some chances on job satisfaction. However, HRP and supervision revealed significant chances of having job satisfaction implying that they were effectively undertaken. Nevertheless, these practices were constrained by the ineffective employees’ participation in HRP and the inability of the Council Health Management Teams (CHMTs) to provide supportive supervision in health facilities. It was thus recommended to enhance employees’ participation in HRP and supervision for improving job satisfaction. Likewise, it is also important for the facilities to continuously appraise human resource performance and use the results in making human resource decisions.

This article examines human resource management (HRM) practices in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In particular, by examining the issue of causal order, it addresses a significant gap in the extant HRM–performance literature within the context of such firms. Significant simultaneous and longitudinal relationships between HRM practices and specific performance indicators are found. Controlling for past performance and thus, testing for the potential for reverse causality does not eliminate the significant relationship between human resource practices and performance. In sum, the use of human resource practices is found to positively enhance sustained competitive advantage. By explicitly examining the issue of causality in the human resources –performance relationship, this article makes a contribution to both the human resource and SME literatures.

There is a growing consensus that human resource (HR) practices provide an economically and direct contribution to firm performance. The underlying reason is that a well-designed and implemented system of HR management practices can create a source of sustained competitive advantages by attracting talented employees and motivating their behaviors. Understanding employee motivations and providing sufficient HR support are the focal job of HR professionals. Employee motivation is multidimensional and takes different forms in the nature of the individual mindset. By distinguishing employees’ promotion-/prevention-focused motivations, the regulatory focus theory provides a basis for understanding employees’ goal setting. To motivate employees, companies not only need a well-structured HR practices but also to implement the practices in a quality way, i.e., providing efficient and effective HR service, that meets employees’ multidimensional motivations. Utilizing the regulatory-focus theory as the mechanism linking HR practices and HR service-quality to employee behaviors, we show that (1) promotion-focused motivation mediated the relationship between discretionary HR practices and employee outcomes (including in-role performance, organizational citizenship behavior, and turnover intention); furthermore, (2) only HR service-effectiveness was found to moderate the mediated relationship between discretionary HR practices and employee outcomes via employees’ promotion-focused motivation.

Managers' integrity is increasingly considered a crucial topic in organizational studies, as it has been linked to companies' profitability and success. Employees' perceptions of the consistency between leaders' deeds and their words seem, in fact, to influence their attitudes towards an organization, enhancing their supportive behaviour. This study addresses the issue by examining the role of behavioural integrity in the chain linking human resources (HR) practices to employee attitudes. An important novelty of the study is that it explicitly distinguishes between intended and experienced HR practices in conducting the analysis. The aim of the study is to analyse whether managers' behavioural integrity moderates the link between intended HR practices (practices as designed by the organization) and experienced HR practices (practices as perceived by the employees). The study also tests whether experienced HR practices mediate the relationship between intended HR practices and positive employee outcomes, such as affective commitment and job satisfaction. The results of this study, conducted with more than 6,000 employees, show that managers' perceived behavioural integrity plays two major roles: it promotes a positive relationship between intended and experienced HR practices, and boosts employees' affective commitment and job satisfaction both directly and indirectly. The analysis also reveals an intervening role for experienced HR practices, which mediate the joint impact of intended practices and behavioural integrity on the two employee outcomes.

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.

There is scant research on the relationship between human resource (HR) practices and employee performance in healthcare settings. This study examines the relationship between HR practices and perceived employee performance in the health sector of Pakistan. The HR practices discussed in this study are compensation, performance appraisal, employee relations, job security, promotion, employee participation and pension fund. Furthermore, satisfaction with HR practices is a moderating variable between employee performance and HR practices. Data are collected from 220 employees of autonomous medical institutions of Pakistan (Punjab) through questionnaires. Respondents include top, middle and lower level employees of the Institutions/Hospitals. The results indicate that performance of health sector employees is affected by the compensation, employee relations, job security, promotion, and pension. However, the employee participation and performance appraisal have no significant impact on the employee performance. The study also specifies that satisfaction with HR practices is a moderating variable between HR practices and perceived employee performance. Key words: Health sector, human resource (HR) practices, autonomous medical institution, perceived employee performance, Pakistan.

Background In response to recent calls in the literature to decompose both the human resources system and performance, this study has examined the effects of ability-, motivation- and opportunity-enhancing human resources practices on the effectiveness, efficiency and fairness of public organizations, with job satisfaction considered as a mediating variable. Aim Insights from Human Resource Management and performance research, mostly conducted in the private sector, have been combined with public management literature in order to gain insight into the Human Resource Management–performance relationship in the public sector. Method Regression analysis with a bootstrapping method was used to test the mediating effects. Results The analysis showed that the three human resources components heterogeneously impact upon the three performance outcomes. Further, the results showed that ability-enhancing and opportunity-enhancing human resources practices are more strongly related to performance outcomes than motivation-enhancing human resources practices. Conclusion Decomposing Human Resource Management and performance provides greater insight into the Human Resource Management–performance relationship. Points for practitioners The results show that investing in Human Resource Management positively influences performance outcomes. Moreover, our results show that various aspects of public performance require different human resources approaches. Investing in ability-enhancing human resources practices seems to be particularly relevant if one wants to enhance effectiveness. All the human resources practices, but especially ability-enhancing ones, are relevant to enhancing efficiency. However, investing in motivation-enhancing human resources practices seems to make little sense if one is seeking to enhance fairness.

The paper aims to clarify the relationship between human resource (HR) practices and performance. Based on the self-determination theory, we developed and tested a theory of how human resource practices affect employee psychological empowerment and resultant employee energy in the work in this study. A survey of 227 employees from different companies showed that the human resource practices were positively related to the employee psychological empowerment including the feeling of meaning, impact, autonomy and competence. In turn, employee psychological empowerment played partial mediating role between human resource practices and employee energy in the work. Taken the 80's and 90's generation employees into account, results of the analysis indicated that employee energy in the organizations are influenced by the individual psychological condition significantly. The meaning, impact, autonomy and competence employees perceived in the work are related to the higher level of energy in the work.

PurposeUnderstanding employees’ multi-dimensional motivations is at the core of realizing the potential of a well-designed human resource (HR) system. This study aims to investigate whether the effects of HR practices on employee motivations, and their performance would be dependent on the service orientation of HR department.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected data in two surveys: a pilot survey and a main survey with a two-wave design. The pilot survey with 93 respondents was to verify the newly developed HR service orientation scale. In the main survey, a total of 276 supervisor-subordinate pairs from 48 companies were valid for analysis.FindingsThe authors find support for their hypothesis that promotion-oriented motivation mediates the relationship between discretionary HR practices and employee outcomes [in-role performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)]. Furthermore, the indirect effect of discretionary HR practices on employee outcomes is stronger when the HR service orientation is higher. Transactional HR practices, however, are not evidenced to relate to employee prevention-focused motivation and outcomes.Practical implicationsThe findings illustrate a comprehensive process of HR practices on employees’ multi-dimensional motivations. High service skills of HR professionals in handling internal employees’ needs could amplify employees’ promotion-focused motives, which in turn increase their in-role performance and OCB.Originality/valueIn sum, the authors' study contributes to both human resource management (HRM) and employee motivation literature by demonstrating the different impacts of discretionary and transactional HR practices on employees’ motivations. In addition, by revealing HR service orientation as an important contingency factor, the authors shed greater light on when and how HR practices can motivate employees.

Purpose The purpose of this study to examine the impact of strategic human resources (HR) practices (selective staffing refers to recruitment, selection and placement), training practices, performance appraisal and reward systems on intellectual capital components (human, social and organizational) in Oromia Regional public service organizations. Design/methodology/approach The authors used a quantitative method and used basic random and stratified sampling procedures to deliver 450 questionnaires to the directorates, team leaders and employees of 12 sampled bureaus. For the final data analysis, 402 correctly completed questionnaires were used. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 26 and structural equation modeling, as well as the analysis of moment structures version 23. Findings The study’s findings revealed that for enhancing human and organizational capital in public service organizations, selective staffing, training and performance appraisal are important human resource practices. The study findings also revealed that selective staffing and performance appraisal are important human resource practices for enhancing social capital. This study found that the reward systems did not significantly impact three intellectual capital components. However, these strategic HR practices, such as selective staffing, training, performance appraisal and reward systems, explain 56% of the variance in human capital, 49% in social capital and 52% in organizational capital. Research limitations/implications The study was limited to Oromia regional public service organizations and examined the impact of SHR practices from the perspective of selective staffing, training practices, performance appraisal, and reward systems on intellectual capital (human, social, and organizational capital). As a result, this study may not generalize. Practical implications To improve intellectual capital (human capital, social capital and organizational capital), public service organizations should focus on selective staffing, which involves attracting qualified applicants, choosing and assigning the person with the necessary qualifications, offering training based on the skills gap that has been identified, measuring employee performance using standardized tools and giving developmental aspect performance feedback. Originality/value The importance of this study lies in the fact that little of the existing literature explores the impact of strategic human resource practices on intellectual components in Oromia/Ethiopia.

The purpose of this study is to find out whether human resources (HR) practices in cooperatives in Bali have adopted Balinese cultural values. How Balinese cultural values are applied to HR practices in cooperatives in Bali has never been studied. The title of this research is Exploration of HR Practices Based on Local Cultural Values in cooperatives in Bali. The number of respondents 79 who are managers of cooperatives in Bali. The analytical technique used is statistical analysis techniques. The results of the study show HR practices in cooperatives in Bali have been implemented based on local Balinese cultural values with high criteria. It can be said that HR practices in cooperatives are in a strong category. The results of the identification of HR practices based on local culture which include (1) Dimensions of performance appraisal, (2) Dimensions of career development, (3) Dimensions of compensation, (4) Dimensions of training and development, (5) Dimensions of the selection process. Implementation of HR practices that are in accordance with Balinese Cultural Values, among others: HR practices contained in the concept of menyamabraya are reflected in the dimensions: performance appraisal, career development, and the selection process. HR practices contained in the concept taksu, namely in the selection and recruitment process, HR practices contained in the concept of jengah: Implemented in selecting and awarding compensation.

The following paper provides a survey based on studies of relationships between Human Resource diversity and performance at different organisational levels. The importance of diversity in companies and society is becoming more and more important, therefore there is a need to identify circumstances and types of diversity, projects and teams, in which diversity can make an impact on company´s and working group success. The first part of the article is focused on the concept of diversity and Diversity Management in HR practices from the scientific and practical view. The second part is dedicated to the topic of performance and presents certain possibilities and indicators for performance measurement. The main report about the link between different types of diversity and performance at the organisational level, team level and the level of individuals will be produced in the third part. The findings from the studies show that diversity brings benefits and increases the performance in specific cases and under the certain circumstances. Moreover there is evidence that the positive effect of diversities is influenced or even caused by the presence of other factors.

The purpose of the chapter is to present the empirical findings from a study that assessed “what works at work” across three different industries but with focus on healthcare. In this chapter, the authors describe the conditions under which particular HR practices translate into effective performance and the desired performance outcomes. This is important given the role of human resource (HR) practices and policies on performance measures and work outcomes established in the literature and the need for meaningful HR measures in healthcare organizations. Specifically, the study (i) examined the role of HR climate as an intervening variable, moderating the relationship between HR practices and HR outcomes in organizations, and (ii) examined the degree to which the links between HR practices, the climate in which they are introduced, and outcomes for organizations and employees can be universally identified or vary significantly between organizations.