Strategic Human Capital Resources Research Articles

Building strategic human capital resources: The effects of strategic entrepreneurship on employee recruitment and retention

ABSTRACT Although strategic entrepreneurship (SE) and strategic human capital are both crucial for competitive advantage, there is limited knowledge of how SE affects human capital levels within a firm. This study examines the relationship between SE and both employee recruitment and employee retention by drawing on an integrated framework of strategic human capital and incorporating a uniquely created direct construct for measuring SE’s complete domain. Results from survey data of 576 UK-based small- and medium-sized firms indicate that SE is positively related to both employee retention and recruitment. We document the moderating effects of corporate reputation and competitive intensity on those relations.

CEO Dismissal and Succession: The Implications for the Firm’s Strategic Human Capital Resources

CEO Dismissal and Succession: The Implications for the Firm’s Strategic Human Capital Resources

Exploring the born global firms from the Asia Pacific

AbstractThis study aims to synthesize the extant research on the Born Global Firms (BGF) phenomenon, mainly focusing on the Asia Pacific region (APAC). We adopt the systematic literature review methodology to identify the main context-specific drivers (‘success factors’) and outcomes of BGFs’ accelerated internationalization and the challenges they face before, during, and after global expansion. The analysis and evaluation of relevant studies reveal several critical variables that need to be extensively investigated (separately and in tandem) by scholars in order to advance existing theories and, at the same time, explain the out-of-pattern behaviors of BGFs outside the typical ‘Western economy’ context. Among the core variables are international entrepreneurial orientation and culture adoption, organizational learning and networking strategies, global strategic human capital and network resources (as predictors of BGFs’ international performance) and resource constraints, institutional and cultural distances, and liabilities of newness, smallness, foreignness, outsidership, and emergingness (as constraints to BGFs’ success). By identifying the research gaps and proposing a comprehensive framework with promising avenues for future research into the phenomenon of BGFs from the APAC region, this study helps enhance our understanding of the global strategy formation and execution processes of international new ventures from ‘the East’ and stimulate interdisciplinary dialogue between international business, strategy, and entrepreneurship scholars.

Built to Last: A Human Capital Resource Formation Perspective on Diversity and New Venture Survival

New venture team diversity and entrepreneurial success or failure remain critical topics in the field. Utilizing a strategic human capital resources framing, this study leverages data from the Kauffman Firm Survey to assess the degree to which racial diversity and human capital within the founding team affect new venture survival. In a study of 2,459 ventures, results indicate that industry-specific human capital (ISHC) moderates the relationship between racial diversity in the founding team and hazard of failure. The relationship is such that for teams with a high level of ISHC, racial diversity helps reduce the likelihood of entrepreneurial failure. Similar results did not hold for generic human capital (GHC) operationalized as percentage of team members with a bachelor’s degree; however, an effect was demonstrated when the measure used the percentage of team members with a master’s degree or higher. In addition, the three-way interaction between ISHC, GHC and racial diversity is significant, suggesting that teams benefit most from diversity when human capital stocks are high in the team. This result supports human capital resources theory by demonstrating the utility of the emergence of complex unit-level resources within the new venture team. Implications suggest that the make-up of the founding team plays a role in venture performance and that potential challenges associated with diverse teams may be countered with higher levels of human capital.

Multiculturals as strategic human capital resources in multinational enterprises

Multiculturals as strategic human capital resources in multinational enterprises

Resources for What? Understanding Performance in the Resource-Based View and Strategic Human Capital Resource Literatures

Barney’s presentation of the resource-based view (RBV) profoundly shaped the trajectory of management scholarship. This article considers the RBV’s impact specifically on the field of strategic human capital resources. Although Barney is still highly relevant, I suggest that research has not sufficiently appreciated the role that individual and collective performance behavior and outcomes play in linking human capital resources to competitive advantage. An alternative, what might be called RBV2.0, posits that research needs to recognize that human capital resources are distinct from performance behavior and outcomes. Such an observation raises the question, “Resources for what?” Answering this question leads to several important insights. First, a given type of human capital resource is only important to the extent it is related to performance behavior and outcomes that contribute to competitive advantage. Second, performance behavior is largely strategy-specific and thus firm-specific. Third, firm specificity is not a characteristic of human capital resources but rather a function of the proximity of the resource to firm-specific performance behavior and outcomes. Consequently, “Performance” is the answer to the question, “Resources for what?” This emphasis on understanding human capital resource-performance relationships adds considerable precision into the RBV, helps resolve puzzles in the strategic human capital literature relating to firm specificity and performance mobility, and promotes a deeper understanding hiding latent within Barney’s original view.

Evaluating the influence of error management culture factors on human resources productivity and strategic human capital - the case of Mobarakeh Steel Company

The main aim of this study is to determine factors influencing the error management culture and investigating the impact of such factors on the development of strategic human capital and human resources productivity. Mobarakeh Steel Company has been selected as the case study and mixed (qualitative-quantitative) method has been applied for data analysis. In the qualitative and quantitative analyses, 25 executive managers and 153 experienced employees have been selected, respectively. The influencing factors as prerequisites for effective management of error in the organisation's culture were determined as changing the attitude and belief of management toward error, paying attention to all dimensions of error management, balanced learning in all departments of the company, integrated actions for establishing an error management culture and a fundamental development in the human resources system of the company. Findings indicate that the managers focused on the importance and stronger support of the importance of the main factors affecting the error management culture. Also, a platform was created for the development of strategic human capital with a learning-from-errors approach and encouraging the organisation to improve human resource productivity.

Evaluating the influence of error management culture factors on human resources productivity and strategic human capital - the case of Mobarakeh Steel Company

The main aim of this study is to determine factors influencing the error management culture and investigating the impact of such factors on the development of strategic human capital and human resources productivity. Mobarakeh Steel Company has been selected as the case study and mixed (qualitative-quantitative) method has been applied for data analysis. In the qualitative and quantitative analyses, 25 executive managers and 153 experienced employees have been selected, respectively. The influencing factors as prerequisites for effective management of error in the organisation's culture were determined as changing the attitude and belief of management toward error, paying attention to all dimensions of error management, balanced learning in all departments of the company, integrated actions for establishing an error management culture and a fundamental development in the human resources system of the company. Findings indicate that the managers focused on the importance and stronger support of the importance of the main factors affecting the error management culture. Also, a platform was created for the development of strategic human capital with a learning-from-errors approach and encouraging the organisation to improve human resource productivity.

Pay for Performance and Pay Level as Antecedents of Strategic Human Capital Resources

This paper examines the impact of a firm’s compensation practices on its strategic human capital resources. Strategic human capital resources are the firm’s strategic capabilities that emanate from...

The Strategic Organizational Behavior and Human Capital Resources Relationship: A Multi-method Study

While the importance of human capital resources for competitive advantage is well established, the antecedents of human capital resources remain understudied. Motivated by the recognition that the ...

Multiculturals as Strategic Human Capital Resources in Multinational Enterprises

There is a shared assumption that multiculturals, known for their cultural competence and skills, positively contribute to MNE performance and ultimately lead to global competitive advantage. In this paper we nuance this generic belief and argue that whether or not multiculturals become true strategic human capital resources for MNE competitive advantage depends on the presence of certain contextual influences. Using a ten months ethnographic fieldwork in two firms in different industries we explore those contextual influences.

Human capital resources: a review and direction for future research

This article reviews the literature on human capital resources and develops a conceptual model incorporating social capital, relational capital and knowledge as the components of human capital resources and linking these to competitive advantage. Scholars from various disciplines expanded our understanding of human capital as important organisational resources but research in this field remains fragmented. Building on past research this review contributes to existing knowledge in human capital resources by introducing an integrated conceptual framework comprising both micro-level human capital and macro-level strategic human capital resources. In so doing it provides alternative definitions for human capital resources with the aim to make their assessment and understandability more meaningful and clearer than what has been offered so far. Moreover, by bringing knowledge, social capital and relational capital under human capital, this review encourages a dialogue among scholars from various disciplines to investigate the creation and accumulation of strategic human capital resources holistically.

Investing in transferable strategic human capital through alliances in the luxury hotel industry

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is explore an organizational design that allows firms to invest in transferable strategic human capital. Strategic human capital requires considerable investment in training costs, effective compensation, opportunities for professional development and expectancy of long employment relationship within a firm. A firm can undertake investment in strategic knowledge and workers can engage in learning only in these circumstances. However, there are a number of risks that are associated with investment in strategic human capital within a firm. In this paper, the author argues that providing strategic human capital to other firms within alliances could be a strategy for leveraging resource. Strategic knowledge facilitates transactions between firms possessing co-specialized human capital and tangible resources. Organizational design of an alliance based on co-specialization allows to balance costs and returns for the human capital supplier, as well as for beneficiary and workers. Within an alliance, the human capital supplier provides workers to a beneficiary firm and coordinates their activities. Supplier specialized in human capital investment ensures improved performance, productivity and efficiency of workers. Possibility to form a greater pool of labor force and to centralize training allows optimizing cost and sharing risks associated with investment activity among alliance participants. Human resource practices in an alliance system foster long-term employment relationship. Entering an alliance increases number of job positions, professional development opportunities through horizontal mobility, promotion and learning opportunities for workers. Finally, alliances allow leveraging investment in human capital beyond a single organization.Design/methodology/approach– This paper conceptualizes the use of alliance based on co-specialization as a strategy to optimize investment in strategic human capital resource. It draws upon the resource-based view (Barney, 1991; Wernerfelt, 1995) and transaction cost theory (Coase, 1937; Williamson, 1981) to examine an alliance as a strategy for leveraging the human capital resources for accessing new markets, building reputation and sharing the risks across more than one organization.Findings– First, the paper reviews the theoretical literature on human capital as a strategic resource (Becker, 1962; Coff, 1997), its sourcing on internal and external labor markets and respective employment systems (Delery and Doty, 1996; Doeringer and Piore, 1971). Second, it focuses on the features of human capital resource (Barney, 1986; Chi, 1994; Doz and Hamel, 1998). Third, it conceptualizes the use of alliances based on co-specialization as organizational structures for investment in human capital across organizations and examines respective employment system and HR practices (Delery and Doty, 1996; Doeringer and Piore, 1971). As result, the author argues that an alliance can be an alternative mean to optimize returns on investment in human capital with strategic transferable knowledge. By consequence, the author describes an alliance employment system and illustrates the arguments with a case of human capital trading in a co-specialization alliance under a long-term management contract in the luxury hotel industry.Originality/value– This paper discusses collaborative ventures as a sourcing strategy of the human capital. An alliance strategy is relevant for sourcing the strategic human capital resources. Human capital resource can be accessed by firms through transfer of skills and organizational routines within collaborative agreements, such as alliances based on co-specialization. In this case, alliance is an organizational architecture between organizations that improves the efficiency and productivity, reduces marginal cost on training due to larger scale of operations and reduces risk by splitting investment in human capital and by offering more career and development opportunities for strategic knowledge workers.

Strategic Organizational Behavior (STROBE): The Missing Voice in the Strategic Human Capital Conversation

The field of strategic human capital and the field of organizational behavior (OB) need each other—they just don’t know it. OB theories, constructs, and processes must be heard within the strategic human capital conversation because many of the questions being pursued by human capital scholars will benefit from consideration of OB constructs and phenomena. Simultaneously, OB scholarship will be significantly advanced by considering the context of strategic factor markets and reaching beyond performance to competitive advantage. This paper calls for a union between OB and strategic human capital resources within a new domain of scholarship called STROBE: STRategic Organizational BEhavior. A STROBE-based view leads to several novel observations: Many OB constructs and phenomena are resources that are also inherently firm-specific and lack efficient factor markets; OB resources may be valuable, rare, costly or difficult to imitate, and difficult to substitute; and OB resources may form complementarities with human capital resources that render all such resources firm-specific. Given these observations, OB resources may be a stronger determinant of competitive advantage than human capital resources.

Combining Strategic Human Capital Resources: The Case of Star Knowledge Workers and Firm Specificity

Examining the human capital resources of a firm can provide insight into performance outcomes; specifically exploring complementary combinations may shed light on implications of unit level human c...

Human Capital Is Dead; Long Live Human Capital Resources!

This paper introduces a radically different conceptualization of human capital resources that runs counter to the individual-level approaches that have dominated human capital theory for the last 50 years. We leverage insights from economics, strategy, human resources, and psychology to develop an integrated and holistic framework that defines the structure, function, levels, and combinations of human capital resources. This multidisciplinary framework redefines human capital resources as individual or unit-level capacities based on individual knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) that are accessible for unit-relevant purposes. The framework and definition offer three broad contributions. First, multidisciplinary communication is facilitated by providing precise definitions and distinctions between individual differences, KSAOs, human capital, human capital resources, and strategic human capital resources. Second, given that human capital resources originate in individuals’ KSAOs, multiple distinct types of human capital resources exist at individual and collective levels, and these types are much more diverse than the historical generic-specific distinction. Third, the multiple types of human capital resources may be combined within and across levels, via processes of emergence and complementarity. Consequently, the locus of competitive advantage has less to do with whether human capital resources are generic or specific but instead occurs because nearly all human capital resource combinations are complex, are firm-specific, and lack strategic (or efficient) factor markets. Overall, the proposed multidisciplinary framework opens new avenues for future research that challenge the prevailing literature’s treatment of human capital resources.