Socially responsible human resources management and employee retention: The roles of shared value, relationship satisfaction, and servant leadership

Abstract

This study contributes to the growing body of research that focuses on the role of socially responsible human resource management (SR-HRM) and its effect on employee behaviors. Specifically, the research examines how and when SR-HRM could stimulate employees' shared value and retention, and in particular it explores the mediating role of shared value and relationship satisfaction and the moderating role of servant leadership. Based on the social exchange theory, the study develops a research framework to investigate these relationships. We employed a two-wave time-lagged survey of 350 employees working in multinational companies in Vietnam. The research findings revealed that SR-HRM is positively linked to employees’ shared value and to employee retention. Furthermore, shared value and relationship satisfaction can play parallel and serial mediating roles in the relationship between SR-HRM and employee retention. Interestingly, the research results showed that servant leadership moderates the relationship between SR-HRM and both shared value and employee retention, in such a way that those relationships are stronger when servant leadership is high and weaker if servant leadership is low. Finally, the study concludes by highlighting theoretical contributions, managerial implications, limitations, and further studies.