Inducement human resource practices and employee entrepreneurship: a double-edged sword

Abstract

Employee entrepreneurship is an important and specific type of turnover behavior that is increasingly viewed as a significant challenge for human resource (HR) management practices in many organizations due to the lack of in-depth studies of turnover destinations in the current literature. By highlighting the heterogeneity of employee entrepreneurship and employee mobility, this study develops an integrative model to examine the double-edged sword effects of inducement HR practices on employee entrepreneurship through different dimensions of job embeddedness and the moderating effects of perceived institutional environment of entrepreneurship on these relationships. The results of two time-lagged studies reveal that, different from their negative impact on employee mobility, inducement HR practices positively impact employee entrepreneurship by enhancing the links and fit of employees and negatively impact employee entrepreneurship by increasing the sacrifice made by employees. Furthermore, the findings also demonstrate that the positive impact is stronger and that the negative impact is weaker when the institutional environment is perceived as favorable for entrepreneurship. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.