Not All Created Equal: A Look at Employment Mode Effects on Employee Attitudes

Abstract

The concept of differentiating human resource management (HRM) strategies in order to contribute to organizational value creation rests on the idea that employees will exhibit attitudes that are associated with better job and firm performance. However, employee attitudinal reactions to various strategies are not always considered in studies of differentiation. In this paper, we propose that differentiation by employment mode carries with it a designation of position-specific strategic value and results in various levels of three basic employee attitudinal outcomes: commitment, job satisfaction, and job involvement. We extend upon existing strategic HRM research by utilizing social exchange and perceived organizational support (POS) theories to propose relationships between various employment modes and attitudinal outcomes. Additionally, we propose the strength of the HRM system, the strength of the process by which HRM systems are administered, as a moderator of the relationship between employment mode and employee attitudinal outcomes.