Human Resource Practices, Organizational Learning and Business Performance

Abstract

This paper deals with the relationship between high performance human resource practices, organizational learning and business performance. The hypotheses proposed here are tested on a sample of 195 Spanish companies employing over 200 people, and using structural equation modeling as a statistical technique. Our findings show that high performance human resource practices have a positive effect on organizational learning, which in turn has a positive influence on business performance. Nevertheless, a direct effect of human resource practices on business performance has not been observed. Thus, we can conclude that human resource practices by themselves are not a source of competitive advantage, since this will depend on their capacity to provide incentives for employees to put their knowledge into practice and thereby promote active cooperation.