Opportunity-enhancing Practices Research Articles

High-performance work systems and organizational ambidexterity: the mediating role of knowledge management systems—evidence from the Egyptian public-telecommunication sector

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the mediating role of the quality-based knowledge management systems (KMSs) in explaining the relationships between AMO-based high-performance work systems (HPWSs) and organizational ambidexterity (OA).Design/methodology/approachUsing cross-sectional survey, the authors collected data from 277 employees working at the Egyptian public-telecommunication sector and analyzed the hypothesized model using the partial least square structural equation modeling technique. Interviews were conducted with 39 key positions and mirrored against the quantitative data. The qualitative data were analyzed using the thematic analysis technique.FindingsThe authors found that the HPWSs dimensions (i.e., ability and opportunity-enhancing practices) explain the OA level. The HPWSs dimensions (i.e., ability, motivation, and opportunity-enhancing practices) have a significant positive effect on the KMSs quality. The KMSs (i.e., system, service, and information quality) have a significant positive effect on OA and mediate the relationship between HPWSs and OA.Originality/valueThis study is among the first to add significant information on how the quality-based KMSs (as mediator) explain the complex relationship between HPWSs dimensions and OA.Research limitations/implicationsLimited attention was paid to investigating the OA enablers. This study bridges the aforementioned research gap by providing in-depth explanations on how the working systems atmosphere emphasizing ability, motivation, and opportunity-enhancing practices alongside the quality-based KMSs enable OA.Practical/managerial implicationThe findings provide the decision makers in public-telecom sector with a clear guideline for achieving ambidexterity in turbulent business environment.

The impact of ability‐, motivation‐ and opportunity‐enhancing HR sub‐bundles on employee wellbeing: An examination of nonlinearities and occupational differences in skill levels

AbstractExisting research examines the impact of human resource (HR) practices on employee wellbeing by considering each practice in isolation or multiple practices as a bundle, focusing on linear associations. Drawing on the too‐much‐of‐a‐good‐thing (TMGT) meta‐theory, we examine possible nonlinear effects of Ability‐Motivation‐Opportunity (AMO) sub‐bundles on job satisfaction and job stress. We, also, examine boundary conditions on whether and how the nature of the identified curvilinear associations varies across employees in high‐, medium‐, and low‐skilled occupations. Using data from the Workplace Employment Relations Study (WERS2011), we uncover an inverse U‐shaped association between motivation‐enhancing (ME) practices and job satisfaction and a U‐shaped association between opportunity‐enhancing (OE) practices and job stress. No evidence of a curvilinear ability‐enhancing (AE) practices‐wellbeing association emerges. Additionally, occupational differences in skills levels moderate the curvilinear ME practices‐stress association. Likewise, occupational skills differences moderate the associations between OE practices and job satisfaction, and work stress. There is no suggestion that occupational differences moderate the AE practices‐wellbeing association. These findings underline the contingent nature of the TMGT effect and call for a more nuanced investigation of the HR‐wellbeing association.

Strength of Audit Firms’ Human Resource Systems and Client-Level Audit Outcomes: Evidence from a Multiple Source Study

SYNOPSIS We examine whether differences in HR systems among audit firms can affect client-level audit outcomes. Based on the audit quality framework of Knechel, Krishnan, Pevzner, Shefchik, and Velury (2013b) and the strategic HRM literature, we posit that audit firms with stronger HR systems are likely to deliver more desired audit outcomes, ceteris paribus. Building on systems theory, we outline and capture a wholistic picture of the audit firm HR system as consisting of three dimensions: competency-, motivation-, and opportunity-enhancing practices. We draw on two distinct data sources for our analyses: a survey allowing us to tap into the HR systems of large audit firms servicing PIE clients in The Netherlands and corresponding client-level archival data to measure audit outcomes. Our results suggest that HR systems are an internal context factor affecting client-level audit outcomes. Supplemental analyses indicate that competency- and opportunity-enhancing HR practices are associated with more desirable audit outcomes. Data Availability: Part of the data are available from the sources cited in text. JEL Classifications: M42; O15.

Examining high-performance work practices in academia: role of administrative workload and support staff

PurposeThe study aims to explore the effectiveness of performance-oriented practices like high-performance work practices (HPWPs) in higher education (HE), given its explicit focus on performance these days.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses hierarchical linear modeling using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS 22.0) to test the hypotheses. An intertwined framework of the ability–motivation–opportunity (AMO) model and the job demand-resources (JD-R) model was proposed. The study considered strategic hiring, recognition and participatory decision-making as ability, motivation and opportunity-enhancing practices respectively. Further, the study addressed the impact of institutional level moderators, like administrative workload (AWL) and support staff (SS).FindingsThe findings based on the responses of 385 faculties and 443 students from 36 Indian institutes, indicated that HPWPs enhanced the education performance (EP) of HE institutes. Further, results revealed that both AWL and SS had differential effects on the relationship between HPWPs and EP. Contrary to authors’ expectations, SS showed a negative effect of the relationship between HPWPs and EP.Research limitations/implicationsThe increased AWL was debilitating the beneficial effects HPWPs. The negative interaction effect of SS sheds light on the hidden issues surrounding SS in HE institutes. Based on findings, the study offered important theoretical and practical implications.Originality/valueTo the best of authors’ knowledge, the impact of innovative human resource (HR) practices in academia remains relatively under-researched, and the current study is an attempt to fill this void.

Unlocking the black box of HPWPs-performance relationship in Vietnamese higher education context: the case of Ho Chi Minh City’s universities

ABSTRACT Resting on social exchange theory and the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity framework, this research examined the causal relationships between high-performance work practices, climate for engagement, job engagement, and job performance in the context of Vietnamese higher education. A multiphase, multisource data collection method was applied to 394 pairs of full-time academic staff and their line managers or supervisors working for 14 public and private universities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Using SEM and MSEM to analyze the data, the research pinpointed that of the three dimensions of high-performance work practices, ability-enhancing and opportunity-enhancing practices had significant and positive influences on Vietnamese university academic staff’s job engagement. Climate for engagement was a crucial mediator in the influences of ability-enhancing and motivation-enhancing practices on Vietnamese university academic staff’s job engagement. As their job engagement increased, it led to an improvement in their job performance. These significant findings explain how high-performance work practices promote Vietnamese university academic staff’s job performance.

How HR Practices influence Managers and Organisational Ambidexterity in Pakistani Firms: The Mediatory role of Self-Efficacy and Motivation in a Multilevel Integrated Framework

Organizational ambidexterity originates from operational managers that follow together exploitative and exploratory activities. In a way from side to side which mechanisms, HR performances in Pakistan might really ease operational manager ambidexterity and further result in organizational ambidexterity is still an open question? For this, we applied (Mom, Chang, Cholakova, & Jansen, 2019) model to different sized firms of Pakistan. We hypothesize that ability and motivation enhancing HR practices effects operations manager ambidexterity through enhancing role breath and basic motivational orientation. Manager ambidexterity would further induce Organizational Ambidexterity. Moreover, Opportunity enhancing HR practices plays a complementary role in producing influencing of manager ambidexterity on Organizational Ambidexterity. A survey was directed by using a close-ended questionnaire which recognized the empirical validity. A multi-source and multilevel data were collected from 210 employees of the HR department belonging to 70 different sized firms and it was examined by means of confirmatory factor analysis and also organized equation modeling. For this, we gave 3 questionnaires to each firm. The result suggested that Ability Increasing these Practices directly and positively affect Operational Manager Ambidexterity along with the mediatory factor of Role Breadth Self-Efficacy. Operational Manager Ambidexterity in turn has a positive influence on Organization Ambidexterity. Manager and organizational Ambidexterity is also directly and positively affected by Role Breadth Self-Efficacy, Motivation Enhancing Practices, and Ability Enhancing Practices. Organizational Ambidexterity is also influenced by Opportunity Enhancing Practices. Lastly, Motivation Enhancing Practices have a positive and significant result of the mediatory factor of Intrinsic Motivation Orientation. We, however, didn’t find any significant evidence of complementarities between managers’ Ambidexterity and Opportunity enhancing HR practices in explaining Organizational Ambidexterity. The result suggests that the relationship among organizational ambidexterity along with the operational manager is liable on a firm that enhances HR practices. Along with that, our study that we scrutinized provides us important and new multilevel insights into the efficiency of strategic HR systems and in support of an individual and organizational ambidexterity.

AMO model for neuro-inclusive remote workplace

PurposeThe aim of this article is to extend current debates on organizational equality, diversity and inclusion to a consideration of neurodivergence in the remote workplace context.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on the ability, motivation, and opportunity (AMO) model and an emerging strength-based approach to neurodiversity, this conceptual paper integrates research on neurodiversity at work and remote working to provide a novel AMO model for a neuro-inclusive remote workplace.FindingsThrough a theoretically informed discussion of barriers to effective remote work from the perspective of neurominorities, the AMO model for the neuro-inclusive remote workplace is offered to assist organizations in creating an inclusive remote work environment where both neurominorities and neurotypicals can equally contribute to organizational success. Specific examples of how certain barriers to effective remote work can be mitigated are outlined and explained.Practical implicationsThe conceptual model presented in this paper can assist HR practitioners in developing a comprehensive approach to skill, motivation, and opportunity-enhancing practices that are tailored to the unique needs of neurominorities in a specific context of remote work to generate mutual gains.Originality/valueThe model of interactions between individual and system factors offered enables a better theoretical understanding of the conditions under which high performance of neurodivergent individuals could be achieved with an associated positive impact on their well-being. The paper contributes to recent calls for more equitable and empathetic approaches to investing in employees with different cognitive profiles and does so in the underexplored context of remote work.

The intertwined effect of HRM practices and transformational leadership on employees’ attitudes in an M&A context: Evidence from a collaborative and mixed-methods study

This mixed-methods study investigates transformational leadership in the context of a recent merger through a collaborative research project aimed at co-producing scientifically rigorous and practically relevant knowledge. Using qualitative and quantitative data, this study contributes to the growing stream of literature aimed at exploring how two key organisational levers, specifically leadership and HRM, impact the development of positive employees' attitudes, which is central to the success of any M&A process. In particular, this paper shows that in M&A contexts, HRM opportunity-enhancing practices (aimed at allowing employees to exercise their competencies and efforts in engaging with the organisation's decision-making processes) mediate the relationships between transformational leadership and both employees' job satisfaction and affective commitment. This suggests that organisations interested in developing employees' affective commitment and job satisfaction in merger and acquisition (M&A) contexts should complement transformational leadership with contextualized HRM practices to support employees coping with issues related to the perception of reduced opportunities. In addition, attention should be paid to leadership behaviours of local leaders, and not necessarily of those at the apex of the organisational hierarchy guiding the merger.

The potential and constraint of work gamification for employees’ creative performance

ABSTRACT Drawing on the affordance theory, this paper theorizes about how workplace creativity could be influenced by employees’ interaction with game design elements incorporated into work systems. To comprehensively capture possible relationships, two vital theoretical frameworks -ability-motivation-opportunity (AMO) and affordance theory, were employed to provide theoretical guidance and a basis upon which propositions were established. A review of literature in the field reveals that gamified work system, through the improvement of ability-, motivation- and opportunity-enhancing practices supports dimensions including employee’s motivation and competence which are prerequisites for a creative outcome. Furthermore, contrary to the common opinion, work gamification could constrain employees’ creativity at work. Theoretically grounded in existing theories and past literature, this conceptual paper touches on unpopular discussions in the literature, opens a research avenue for further studies by providing testable propositions and recommendations for practice.

HRM Practices and Organisational Performance

Purpose – The focus of this paper was on assessing the mediating influence of strategy alignment on the link between HRM practices and organisational performance.   Theoretical framework – Relevant literature provided a theoretical and empirical basis for understanding the concept through the resource based view.   Design/methodology/approach – Samples were drawn from 240 employees and HR managers from selected identity management firms in Nigeria. The data analysis was carried using partial least square structural equation modelling.   Findings – The study found that skill enhancing, motivational, and opportunity enhancing practices have a significant influence on organisational performance. Strategy alignment was found to mediate the relationship between HRM practices and organisational performance. Though the mediation was partial, it was significant.   Practical & social implications of the research – This study highlights the need for managers to focus more on improving the HRM practices in their organisations, while also ensuring that there is an organisational strategy fit that supports HRM practices in the organisation.   Originality/value – First, the paper contributes to advancing the research that captures HRM as a bundle using the varying practices in an organisation as well as to providing a vivid explanation of the role of each individual HRM practice in ensuring increased performance through strategy alignment. The study validates the resource based view as a contribution to the knowledge.   Keywords - HRM Practices; Strategy Alignment; Organisational Performance; Resource Based View.

Linking organisational values and sustainability: the role of AMO practices

PurposeThe aim of this study was to analyse the link between the values that govern the functioning of cooperatives and their sustainability. Furthermore, the authors propose that this relationship is mediated by AMO (ability, motivation and opportunity) practices, which generate different behaviours and attitudes in their employees, thus strengthening the message of sustainable management that the directors of this kind of companies aim to transmit.Design/methodology/approachThis article presents a theoretical and empirical research model about the relationship between organisational values, AMO practices and sustainability in social economy firms. The proposed model was tested using the multivariate method of partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) with a sample of 124 cooperative companies. The information was gathered through a questionnaire with questions composed of measurement scales that had been previously validated by the reference literature.FindingsThis work empirically demonstrates that the perceived support, respect and responsibility values are strongly related to sustainability, and that ability and opportunity-enhancing practices mediate the association of perceived support and responsibility with the sustainability of cooperatives.Originality/valueThis work contributes to covering the lack of studies about which values support and impact the sustainability of organisations, and it provides information about the mediating role of certain AMO practices in the search for a more sustainable organisation, demonstrating that some practices are more relevant than others.

Examining the moderating role of HIHRP in the relationship between external integration and productivity

PurposeBased on the human resource (HR) and supply chain integration (SCI) literature, this paper aims to argue that high-involvement human resource practices (HIHRP) work as a complementary capability for SCI, and thus, HIHRP moderates the relationship between SCI and firm productivity. This moderating role is analyzed through the following HIHRP dimensions, namely, ability-enhancing, motivation-enhancing and opportunity-enhancing practices framework.Design/methodology/approachUsing empirical data collected from a survey of the agri-food sector (horticultural firms of southern Spain), the moderating effects of HIHRP on the relationship between supply chain external integrations (with customers and suppliers) and productivity are examined. Hierarchical regression analysis is used to test the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe results support that HIHRP has a moderating effect on the SCI/productivity relationship. However, these results are only significant in the case of supplier integration.Originality/valueThis study analyzes HIHRP as a complementary asset in the context of SCI and makes both theoretical and managerial contributions to the SCI literature by empirically analyzing the role of HR practices in enhancing the relationship between SCI and performance.

Trendsetters of HRM: a systematic review of how professional service firms manage people

PurposeHuman resource management in professional service firms (PSF) is one of the most important instruments for promoting sustainable competitive advantage. Despite the major growth of scholars' interest in human resource management (HRM) issues in PSF, the body of knowledge in this field remains highly fragmented and diversified. The purpose of this paper is to systematize key evidence on the use of HRM practices in PSF.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a systematic literature review of 90 peer-reviewed journal papers.FindingsThe review revealed typical ability-, motivation- and opportunity-enhancing practices used by PSF and outlined how these HRM practices may differ among various PSF.Originality/valueThe paper provides scholars with an updated and comprehensive research landscape and development process in this important field, thereby contributing to greater research interest and enthusiasm for future research.

Incentives Can’t Buy Me Knowledge: The Missing Effects of Appreciation and Aligned Performance Appraisals on Knowledge Sharing of Public Employees

This study examines whether incentives affect public employees’ intention to share knowledge. Tested incentives satisfy needs for either achievement or appreciation. Both treatments were tested on implicit as well as explicit knowledge sharing. A 2 × 3 factorial survey experiment was designed to observe within-person and between-person effects. Data were collected from public employees in the core administration and healthcare sector ( n = 623) in 2018. The analysis indicates that both treatments positively affect knowledge-sharing intention if it is explicit knowledge that ought to be shared. However, no effects of either treatment can be found in either type of knowledge sharing. No negative effect of the tested incentives on knowledge sharing was observed. Hence, incentives might not harm knowledge sharing but also do not pay off in organizational practice. In contrast to these motivation-enhancing human resource practices, ability and opportunity-enhancing practices should be tested to foster knowledge sharing.

Human resource management systems and intellectual capital: is the relationship universal in knowledge-intensive firms?

PurposeWhile prior research suggests that human resource management (HRM) practices are crucial drivers of a firms' intellectual capital, few studies have tried to deconstruct this relationship and investigate how HRM practices specifically affect intellectual capital resources. Furthermore, prior research treated this relationship as universal and rarely tried to introduce important contingent factors that may alter the mechanisms involved in how HRM practices influence firms' intellectual capital. In this study, the authors examine the relationships between the ability-, motivation- and opportunity-enhancing dimensions of HRM systems and human, social and structural capital and investigate how companies' codification and personalization knowledge management (KM) strategies may alter these relationships.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected using a telephone survey of 215 knowledge-intensive companies operating in Russia. The paper utilizes partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS–SEM) to evaluate the measurement model and test hypothesized relationships.FindingsThe findings indicate positive relationships between ability-enhancing practices and firms' human capital between motivation-enhancing practices and firms' human and social capital and between opportunity-enhancing practices and firms' social and structural capital. The authors’ results reveal the limited moderating role of KM strategies in the relationships between HRM and intellectual capital. While a personalization strategy had no impact on any of the proposed relationships, a codification strategy positively moderated the relationship between opportunity-enhancing HRM practices and firms' structural capital.Originality/valueThe study expands the debates in strategic HRM literature by looking “inside” the HRM–intellectual capital relationship. Additionally, the authors’ findings reveal the complexity of the contingent effect that KM strategies of codification and personalization have on the relationship between HRM practices and intellectual capital. Although some of the relationships were not moderated by the KM strategy of the firm, the HRM–intellectual capital relationship cannot be considered fully universal.

Agile vs traditional project management approaches

PurposeAgile project management methods gain increasing attention of practitioners while they often remain neglected by scholarly research. Specifically, there is little known about how performance factors of agile firms differ from those of traditional firms. Scholars argue that these factors often relate to a firm’s human resource management (HRM). This study aims to analyze and compare the HRM architectures in agile and traditional project-based organizations that lead to high firm performance.Design/methodology/approachThe authors apply fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis on data of 154 project-based organizations of diverse professional service industries in Russia.FindingsThis study’s findings suggest that HRM architectures of high-performance agile firms imply a broad use of ability-, motivation- and opportunity-enhancing practices and a high degree of HRM process centralization, while traditional firms adopt more diverse HRM architectures.Originality/valueBased on this study’s results, the authors stress the importance of ensuring a good fit between a company’s project management approach and HRM architecture. The revealed configurations may also provide guidance for practitioners on designing effective HRM architectures in project-based organizations.

High-performance work systems and organizational performance across societal cultures

This paper assesses whether societal culture moderates the relationship between human resource management (HRM) practices and organizational performance. Drawing on matched employer–employee data from 387 organizations and 7187 employees in 14 countries, our findings show a positive relationship between HRM practices combined in High-Performance Work Systems (HPWS) and organizational performance across societal cultures. Three dimensions of societal culture assessed (power distance, in-group collectivism, and institutional collectivism) did not moderate this relationship. Drawing on the Ability–Motivation–Opportunity (AMO) model, we further consider the effectiveness of three bundles of HRM practices (skill-enhancing, motivation-enhancing, and opportunity-enhancing practices). This analysis shows opportunity-enhancing practices (e.g., participative work design and decision-making) are less effective in high-power-distance cultures. Nevertheless, in markedly different countries we find combinations of complementary HPWS and bundles of AMO practices appear to outweigh the influence of societal culture and enhance organizational performance.

Firm Actions to Develop an Ambidextrous Sales Force

While research on employee ambidexterity is growing, there is little investigation on what firms can do to enhance their competitiveness in this space. Leveraging a human resource lens, we advance a comprehensive model depicting three firm-level ambidexterities as key performance drivers that can help firms achieve bottom-line outcomes. Specifically, we focus on (1) ambidexterity in skill-enhancing practices (i.e., selection, training), which ensure employees have relevant service-sales knowledge, skills, and abilities; (2) ambidexterity in motivation-enhancing practices (i.e., metrics, incentives), which help motivate employees to perform service-sales activities; and (3) ambidexterity in opportunity-enhancing practices (i.e., data, tools use), which enable employees to perform service-sales activities. Our findings suggest that ambidextrous firms—or those that balance service- and sales-related elements when implementing their systems and processes—enjoy greater sales force and firm financial performance. Finally, we test boundary conditions for these relationships and find that competitive intensity enhances the positive effects of all ambidexterity constructs. We conclude with implications for theory and practice.

Impact of High-Performance Work System on Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, Job Complexities and Intention to Quit: A Karachi Based Study on Banking and Education Industry.

The aim of this study is to understand the influence of high-performance work system (HPWS) on Job Satisfaction (JS), Organization commitment (OC), Job complexity (JC) and intention to quit (QI). For this purpose, a quantitative method was used. Data was collected from a questionnaire administered to 110 employees who are associated in banking and education sectors in Karachi. Different statistical techniques were used for analysis such as descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The results demonstrate a synergistic effect of HPWS, meaning that the combined effects of three sets of HR practices (skill-enhancing, motivation-enhancing and opportunity-enhancing practices) is greater than the sum of each set taken individually. Overall the findings demonstrate the potential of implication of these HR practices to influence the attitudinal and behavioral outcomes and the organizational performance.

Role of HRM in knowledge integration: Towards a conceptual framework

Knowledge integration (KI) is a source of sustained competitive advantage for firms. This paper draws upon the knowledge-based view of the firm and ability-motivation-opportunity framework to develop a theoretical and empirical model showing the role of human resource management (HRM) practices in achieving KI. Findings suggest three ability-enhancing practices (training and development, focused hiring, and knowledge questioning values), four motivation-enhancing practices (project-specific performance, competency-based performance management, project-based information dissemination, and information and knowledge sharing forums) and five opportunity-enhancing practices (team working, information and knowledge sharing, verticalisation of business, geographical information and knowledge sharing, and structural change) that facilitate KI. The paper concludes with managerial implications, directions for future research and the study's limitations.