HR Configurations Research Articles

Mediation of knowledge management processes in enabling strategic HR practices to achieve differentiation and cost-effectiveness

PurposeThis study explores how strategic human resource practices enhance the competitive capability of differentiation and cost-effectiveness by leveraging knowledge resources in Indian IT/software organizations. It examines the mediating effect of knowledge management (KM) processes in the relationship between strategic HR practices, competitive differentiation and cost-effectiveness capabilities.Design/methodology/approachAn online questionnaire survey collected data from 380 knowledge workers in 25 IT/software and consultancy firms. The authors checked data reliability and validity by conducting exploratory factor analysis in SPSS and confirmatory factor analysis in AMOS. The authors evaluated hypotheses using path analysis in structural equational modeling in AMOS.FindingsStrategic HR practices significantly and positively affect KM processes and competitive capabilities-differentiation and cost-efficiency. Both strategic HR practices and KM processes have a closer association with differentiation than cost-effectiveness. Knowledge management processes significantly and positively mediate between strategic HR practices and competitive capabilities. The mediation is more substantial in predicting differentiation than cost-effectiveness.Research limitations/implicationsIt is a cross-sectional study with a constrained capacity to predict accurate causal inferences; The authors call for future studies with longitudinal design and objective measures. Further studies are required to explore the impact of various strategic HR configurations on KMP to understand how different routes stimulate a particular competitive strategy. This conceptual framework can be validated across different industry types and sizes.Practical implicationsThis study provides practical insights to HR and knowledge managers regarding devising HR and KM processes to accomplish the goals of differentiation and cost-effective, competitive strategies. This study highlights that leveraging human capital for effective KM is crucial for gaining a competitive advantage.Originality/valueThe paper adds to the strategic HR and KM literature by exploring the mediating role of KM processes in enabling strategic HR processes to enhance differentiation and cost-effective, competitive strategies. It provides original empirical evidence from knowledge-intensive IT/software consultancies, particularly in India's emerging economy. It indicates the current state of HR practices adopted for optimum utilization of knowledge resources and the importance of differentiation strategy for Indian knowledge-intensive IT/software firms.

HR Configurations and Innovation: Mediating Role Capacity for Learning and Transformation

HR Configurations and Innovation: Mediating Role Capacity for Learning and Transformation

How does human resource management balance exploration and exploitation? The differential effects of intellectual capital‐enhancing HR practices on ambidexterity and firm innovation

AbstractAfter decades, dialogues on human resource management (HRM), intellectual capital (IC), and ambidexterity still continue, mirroring that the role of ambidextrous capability in translating the impact of HRM into superior performance remains unclarified. At this juncture, the current study proposes a novel theoretical framework to extend research on the relationship between IC‐enhancing HR practices and innovation. It is done sophisticatedly by examining how firm exploitative and exploratory capabilities mediate the relationship between different combinations of HR configurations and firm innovation. To this end, we designed rigorous time‐lagged research with three waves of data collection from the Iranian healthcare sector. Our analyses revealed that firm explorative and exploitative capabilities significantly mediate the relationship between human, social, and organizational capital‐enhancing HR configurations and firm innovation. More conspicuously, by unraveling interaction patterns among distinct HR configurations, our study revealed the intricacies of the functioning of IC‐enhancing HR practices in fueling firm ambidexterity. Hence, our study offers design options to navigate through exploitation and exploration in light of the firm's core innovation strategy. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings and suggest future research avenues.

Design Considerations for a Serious Game on using HR to Shape Employee Behavior for the Digital Transformation

Organizations increasingly embrace the digital transformation (DT): organizational change shaped by the widespread diffusion of technology. This results in specific demands in terms of employee behavior. Organizations need to adapt to technology-driven work methods and proactively set out to reap the benefits of new technology. Shaping employee behavior conjures a significant challenge for organizations. While aligned HR configurations shape employee behavior, the number of interrelated HR practices to select from is vast. Currently, no tool aids professionals with the design of an HR configuration that shapes DT behaviors. DITInLine is a serious game that captures this challenge; it invites professionals to design an HR configuration that shapes the DT behaviors of employees. Departing from the state of the art HRM literature, it presents professionals with a set of granularly defined HR practices that can combinedly be implemented during the game. The game provides feedback on the impact of their decisions. Professionals are challenged to combine those HR practices into a strategy-aligned HR configuration that shapes the employee behaviors most effectively. After each round, feedback on the HR configuration design is provided to the players. By providing an abstract representation of the HR and DT challenges that organizations face, DITInLine constitutes a valuable tool for professionals tasked with designing aligned HR configurations. DITInLine forces managers to be explicit about their HR decisions. It provides a risk-free environment for them to experiment with HR practices and gauge the effects of their decisions, potentially enabling learning. From a research perspective, the HR choices of these professionals are made explicit. It enables studying HR decisions. Furthermore, the serious game introduces a promising level of detail, providing a falsifiable theoretical framework on the impact of HR for DT.

Is the Synergism Between SHRM and Firm Ambidexterity Still of a Matter?

Recent studies have addressed the significance of the HR system concerning organization ambidexterity and firm innovation performance, however, research overlooked the influential power of intellectual capital-enhancing HR configurations both on firm innovation performance and ambidexterity. We designed rigorous time-lagged research with three waves of data gathering. We have found that firm explorative and exploratory capabilities significantly mediate the relationship between human, social and organizational capital-enhancing HR configurations and firm innovation performance. In fact, our study mirrors that how such a specific form of HR system has the capacity to fuel firm ambidexterity toward innovation performance and answers the ongoing debates on firms’ contradictory demand for exploitative and exploratory capabilities. By well-articulating the importance of IC-enhancing HR practices and by identifying the mediation effect of firm exploitative and exploratory capabilities in linking IC-enhancing HR practices to firm innovation performance, this study extends prior research and contributes to the field of HRM and ambidexterity. We also provide a synthesis of future research suggestions.

More Roads Lead to Rome. HR Configurations and Employee Sustainability Outcomes in Public Sector Organizations

In linking human resource management (HRM) to organizational sustainability, linear variance-based methods are not suited for addressing the complexity of how various HRM practices interact and have an impact on sustainability outcomes for multiple stakeholders. However, so far, empirical evidence for a configurational approach, acknowledging synergy and equifinality between various practices, is scant. Therefore, this study aims to provide empirical evidence for synergistic effects and equifinality in the link between sustainable HRM practices and employee sustainability outcomes. Building on the Ability Motivation Opportunity (AMO) model, this study adopts a configurational approach to unveil how sustainable HRM practices, in various combinations and in different ways, can impact employee sustainability outcomes (commitment and job satisfaction). The study applied a fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) on a secondary data set consisting of employee surveys in 30 Dutch public sector organizations. The findings reveal that combinations of various AMO-enhancing practices are especially conducive to commitment and job satisfaction. Moreover, aligning these practices with work context factors (transformational leadership style and low work pressure) can lead to relatively high levels of commitment and job satisfaction. This study indicates that configuration matters and that there is not one best way to achieve employee sustainability outcomes. This leaves ample leeway for human resource managers to design a suitable and integrative HRM system for their own organization.

Contract Human Capital HR Architecture: A Framework for Managing Talent in the Gig Economy

We are witnessing a structural transformation of the 21st century economy due to disruptive technologies, global competition, changing demographics, and political uncertainties. As a result, organizations are fundamentally changing how they engage and hire multiple sources of talent. Today, an increasing amount of work is performed on a project basis whereby organizations hire workers temporarily or use a multitude of electronic platforms that link contact workers with organizational needs. As organizations increase their use of contract labor, an entire new labor force is emerging in what is now called the gig economy. Contract human capital are quickly becoming a powerful force in the economy contributing to the success of many organizations, so it is vital for researchers to enhance their understanding of how organizations engage and manage this component of their workforce. The goal of this study is to propose a framework that describes how organizations employ contract workers in terms referred to as contract human capital engagement modes, along with supporting HR configurations that can positively affect the performance of contract workers. A model is proposed that describes the strategic determinants of contract human capital engagement modes, and consists of two dimensions based on the levels of interdependency and criticality of the contract work, which provides a useful two-by-two matrix of four engagement modes called: project-based, knowledge-based, contract work and partnership. A second model consists of four HR configurations that are proposed to maximize the effectiveness of these four contract human capital engagement modes referred to as: productivity-based, knowledge-based, compliance-based, and collaborative-based. The results of this study indicate that both the levels of interdependency and criticality of contract work were significantly related to how organizations engage contract human capital. Moreover, the level of criticality of the work being performed by contract workers was a significant factor affecting how they were managed. Lastly, the proper alignment of HR configurations and engagement modes had a significant positive impact on performance.

Regionally refined test bed in E3SM atmosphere model version 1 (EAMv1) and applications for high-resolution modeling

Abstract. Climate simulations with more accurate process-level representation at finer resolutions (<100 km) are a pressing need in order to provide more detailed actionable information to policy makers regarding extreme events in a changing climate. Computational limitation is a major obstacle for building and running high-resolution (HR, here 0.25∘ average grid spacing at the Equator) models (HRMs). A more affordable path to HRMs is to use a global regionally refined model (RRM), which only simulates a portion of the globe at HR while the remaining is at low resolution (LR, 1∘). In this study, we compare the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) atmosphere model version 1 (EAMv1) RRM with the HR mesh over the contiguous United States (CONUS) to its corresponding globally uniform LR and HR configurations as well as to observations and reanalysis data. The RRM has a significantly reduced computational cost (roughly proportional to the HR mesh size) relative to the globally uniform HRM. Over the CONUS, we evaluate the simulation of important dynamical and physical quantities as well as various precipitation measures. Differences between the RRM and HRM over the HR region are predominantly small, demonstrating that the RRM reproduces the precipitation metrics of the HRM over the CONUS. Further analysis based on RRM simulations with the LR vs. HR model parameters reveals that RRM performance is greatly influenced by the different parameter choices used in the LR and HR EAMv1. This is a result of the poor scale-aware behavior of physical parameterizations, especially for variables influencing sub-grid-scale physical processes. RRMs can serve as a useful framework to test physics schemes across a range of scales, leading to improved consistency in future E3SM versions. Applying nudging-to-observations techniques within the RRM framework also demonstrates significant advantages over a free-running configuration for use as a test bed and as such represents an efficient and more robust physics test bed capability. Our results provide additional confirmatory evidence that the RRM is an efficient and effective test bed for HRM development.

Strategic human resource management and its impact on performance – do Chinese organizations adopt appropriate HRM policies?

PurposeThis paper aims to separately consider studies from the three major economies, the USA, Europe and China, to illustrate differences and similarities. A comparison of these three clusters allows the author to conclude that the US human resource management (HRM) model was adopted by European and, subsequently, Chinese organizations through the mechanism of mimetic isomorphism. In addition, the majority of studies have confirmed that certain HR procedures have a positive impact on organizational performance.Design/methodology/approachThe essay reviews and reappraises existing empirical studies in the field of HRM and organizational performance.FindingsAs European organizations adopted HRM configurations and the notion that HR should play a more strategic role from US organizations, the review suggests that Chinese organizations are now imitating US and European HRM. In all summarized studies, there is robust empirical evidence that the HR function is able to directly add value and improve organizational performance.Originality/valueThe study compares Chinese to Western HR functions and examines the effectiveness of strategic HRM by evaluating the existing research. At a minimum, in response to the title of the manuscript and the question, “do Chinese organizations adopt appropriate HRM policies?”, the general answer is yes. Given the mechanism of mimetic isomorphism, it can be assumed that Chinese organizations adopt the most efficient HR configurations from Western organizations. The summarized studies also support the prediction that subsidiaries of Western multinational organizations accelerate the development of the Chinese HR functions.

Technological Opportunity Matters? HR Configurations For Exploratory And Exploitative Innovation

Despite the growing popularity of research on the HRM- innovation relationship, little is known about how firms use different sets of HR practices to manage different groups of employees for various types of innovations. This research attempts to fill this gap. Using a multi-sourced data from 147 firms of multiple industries in an emerging economy, this study found that firms use commitment- and productivity-based HR configurations separately and simultaneously to facilitate both exploratory and exploitative innovations. Specifically, commitment-based HR configuration is positively related to exploratory innovation, while productivity-based HR configuration is positively related to exploitative innovation. At the same time, commitment-based HR configuration is negatively related to exploitative innovation, while productivity-based HR configuration is negatively related to exploratory innovation. Further, the findings reveal that the pattern of the relationship between commitment-based HR configuration and...

Representing ozone extremes in European megacities: the importance of resolution in a global chemistry climate model

Abstract. The continuing growth of the world's urban population has led to an increasing number of cities with more than 10 million inhabitants. The higher emissions of pollutants, coupled to higher population density, makes predictions of air quality in these megacities of particular importance from both a science and a policy perspective. Global climate models are typically run at coarse resolution to enable both the efficient running of long time integrations, and the ability to run multiple future climate scenarios. However, when considering surface ozone concentrations at the local scale, coarse resolution can lead to inaccuracies arising from the highly nonlinear ozone chemistry and the sensitivity of ozone to the distribution of its precursors on smaller scales. In this study, we use UM-UKCA, a global atmospheric chemistry model, coupled to the UK Met Office Unified Model, to investigate the impact of model resolution on tropospheric ozone, ranging from global to local scales. We focus on the model's ability to represent the probability of high ozone concentrations in the summer and low ozone concentrations, associated with polluted megacity environments, in the winter, and how this varies with horizontal resolution. We perform time-slice integrations with two model configurations at typical climate resolution (CR, ~150 km) and at a higher resolution (HR, ~40 km). The CR configuration leads to overestimation of ozone concentrations on both regional and local scales, while it gives broadly similar results to the HR configuration on the global scale. The HR configuration is found to produce a more realistic diurnal cycle of ozone concentrations and to give a better representation of the probability density function of ozone values in urban areas such as the megacities of London and Paris. We find the observed differences in model behaviour between CR and HR configurations to be largely caused by chemical differences during the winter and meteorological differences during the summer.

Managing multidimensional knowledge assets: HR configurations in professional service firms

The purpose of this article is to illustrate empirically how HR practices are configured to manage multidimensional knowledge assets. It contributes directly to the configurational approaches to HRM by identifying HRM systems that are used to manage various types of knowledge assets. First, we develop a framework from theory to categorise knowledge assets into human (industry and firm specific), social (entrepreneurial and co‐operative) and organisational capital (mechanistic and organic). Within this framework, we draw on data gathered in the 12 professional services firms to understand how HR practices enable the management of each knowledge asset. We identify two configurations of HR practices (organisationally and professionally focused). These configurations do not exist in isolation but are used simultaneously by organisations via either a targeted (different practices in different parts of the organisation) or a temporally segregated way (different practices for the same group of employees over time).

Theoretical and Empirical Investigation of Impact of Developmental HR Configuration on Human Capital Management

HR configurations facilitate flow of knowledge, which leads to sustainable competitive advantage. HR is always on the front line in developing the knowledge base in the organisation. HR practices are especially important in attracting, retaining and developing the skills and knowledge of employees. Hence the HR practices must be deliberately chosen and used strategically to maintain strong organisational boundaries to promote high levels of organisational and professional identity more specifically it encourages the retention of staff in a highly competitive industry. The study is carried on the basis field survey of Indian IT sector and found that a developmental HR configuration practices which is comprising of comprehensive training practices, promotion from within, developmental performance appraisal process, and skill based pay is positively related to an organisation’s level of human capital.

Role of HR Architecture on Intellectual Capital

HR configurations facilitate flow of knowledge, which leads to sustainable competitive advantage. HR practices have a central importance in knowledge intensive industries because they have immediate effect on the organisation's key resources. HR practices are especially important in attracting, retaining and developing the skills and knowledge of employees. HR strategy drives the long term strategy of the business. So HR practices must be deliberately chosen and used strategically to maintain strong organisational boundaries, to promote high levels of organisational and professional identity more specifically it encourages the retention of staff in a highly competitive industry. The study concentrates on, how the firms configure the entire HR system so that enhancement and exploitation of knowledge embedded in their people and in other forms of intellectual capital can be facilitated. A contingent configurational perspective is adopted in the study and hypothesised that the performance impact of HR configurations depends on the variables like human, social, or organisational capital. The study proposes a holistic HR practice and focuses on configurations of multiple HR activities that is vital for intellectual capital management.

Are human resource practices linked to employee misconduct?: A rational choice perspective

This paper explains how well intended HR practices associated with performance appraisal and compensation can be linked to employee misconduct. Based on a rational choice perspective to ethical behavior, different types of HR configurations are likely to either increase the perceived costs or benefits of employee misconduct. This paper links specific HR configurations with both perceived costs and benefits of employee misconduct. Finally, this paper concludes with recommendations that are designed to promote both effective job performance and minimize problems of employee misconduct.

Intellectual Capital Architectures and Ambidextrous Learning: A Framework for Human Resource Management

abstract Both researchers and managers are increasingly interested in how firms can pursue ambidextrous learning; that is, simultaneously exploring new knowledge domains while exploiting current ones. Ambidextrous learning is derived from intellectual capital architectures that underlie unique configurations of human, social, and organizational capital. We identified two distinctive architectures of intellectual capital that facilitate ambidextrous learning. Refined interpolation is an architecture comprised of specialist human capital supplemented by cooperative social capital, and complemented by organic organizational capital. Disciplined extrapolation is an architecture comprised of generalist human capital, supplemented by entrepreneurial social capital, and complemented by mechanistic organizational capital. As organization contexts to support these architectures, we have also identified two alternative HR configurations that facilitate ambidextrous learning. One HR configuration combines job or function‐based development, ILM‐based employee relations, and error embracing performance/control systems to support refined interpolation. The other HR configuration combines skill‐based development, market‐based employee relations, and error avoiding performance/control systems to support disciplined extrapolation. Our framework may provide valuable theoretical implications for HRM systems regarding the issues of internal fits and best configurations.

Strategic HRM in China: Configurations and competitive advantage

AbstractThe strategic HR literature suggests that a firm will perform better through internal appropriate fit among HRM practices (the configuration fit) and through external appropriate fit between a firm's HRM practices and business strategy. The present study adopts a configuration approach to identify unique patterns of HR practices and business strategy that are posited to be maximally effective. The proposed relationships were empirically tested by surveying with a sample of 241 business firms in Guangzhou, South China, to find out the extent that four HR configurations could be successfully adopted in the Chinese context. The results revealed that HR configurations are significantly related to effect in predicting overall outcome performance and turnover, but not significantly related to effect on sales growth and profit growth rates. Research findings showed not only competitive strategies are significantly related to effect on HR configurations. The results also showed significant interaction effects between HR configurations and business strategy in their effect on profit and sales growth. These results further extended support for a contingency perspective in strategic HRM to the Chinese context, with significant practical implications for managing HRM in China. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Strategic HR configurations and organizational performance

Over time organizations form stable operating configurations that influence their actions in the marketplace. These configurations are shaped by interactions among variables in four areas: operating environment, business strategy, HRM practices, and senior managers' values and behaviors regarding employees. More often than not they emerge in a piecemeal rather than planned fashion. However, once established, the configurations or patterns guide employee behavior, are resistant to change, and are associated with different levels of organization effectiveness. HR managers may use these configurations to diagnose their organizations' present state and orchestrate changes to increase competitive advantage. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Strategic HR configurations and organizational performance

Over time organizations form stable operating configurations that influence their actions in the marketplace. These configurations are shaped by interactions among variables in four areas: operating environment, business strategy, HRM practices, and senior managers' values and behaviors regarding employees. More often than not they emerge in a piecemeal rather than planned fashion. However, once established, the configurations or patterns guide employee behavior, are resistant to change, and are associated with different levels of organization effectiveness. HR managers may use these configurations to diagnose their organizations' present state and orchestrate changes to increase competitive advantage. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.