Strategic Human Resource Management Literature Research Articles

A classification of human resource management bundles for the inclusion of vulnerable workers.

Despite the societal importance to improve understanding of the role of employers in the inclusion of workers with a distance to the labor market, scant knowledge is available on the effectiveness of human resource management (HRM) bundles for the inclusion of vulnerable workers. This paper studies which HRM bundles are applied by employers that hired people with a distance to the labor market, and to what extent these different bundles of HRM practices are related to employment of workers with specific vulnerabilities, such as people with disabilities or people with a migration background. A latent class analysis of 1,665 inclusive employers was used to identify HRM bundles based on seven HRM practices: financial support practices, specialized recruitment, promotion and career opportunities, training opportunities, part-time work, job crafting, and adaptations to the workplace. Six bundles were identified: a recruitment and development bundle (34.4% of employers), a development bundle (24.8%), maintenance-focused practices (16.5%), a recruitment bundle (9.4%), a sustainable employment bundle (8.9%), and passive HRM (6.0%). Post-hoc analyses showed the probability of hiring specific vulnerable groups for each bundle (e.g., sustainable employment bundles showed the highest overall probability to hire people with a physical disability). Nuancing what is suggested in strategic HRM literature, we conclude that both extensive HRM and focused HRM bundles can be successful for the employment of vulnerable workers. In conclusion, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to inclusive employment and employers, large or small, can tailor their HRM systems to include vulnerable workers.

Faculty matter: development of faculty diversity climate and its relation to graduate student intent to stay

ABSTRACT This study sought to advance our understanding of the nexus between policy and ambient discrimination experiences of faculty and the intention to stay among graduate students. To accomplish this, we built on theory and research in higher education by leveraging models from the strategic human resource management (HRM) literature. In doing so, we advanced a novel theoretical model relating faculty perceptions of traditional HRM policies and ambient discrimination to department-level shared perceptions of diversity climate. We further theorized how that shared diversity climate relates to evaluations of graduate students’ general campus climate and their intent to stay. We tested this model using a unique multisource, multilevel dataset comprised of 266 university faculty and 569 students who were pursuing graduate degrees across 28 departments at a midsized university located in the Midwest. The results supported the hypothesized model and established the important relationship between the diversity-related work environment experienced by faculty and the experiences and highly consequential outcomes for students and higher education. By bridging the gap between faculty work experiences and student perceptions and retention this study provides both new theoretical insights and important practical suggestions.

LGBTQ Systems: A Framework and Future Research Agenda

Building on a body of management research that explores strategies for addressing issues of prejudice and discrimination against persons who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer (LGBTQ), we introduce a conceptual framework for creating and maintaining LGBTQ-supportive climates in organizations. Based on a review of theory and research on LGBTQ-policies and practices, we highlight limits to our current understanding of their associated effects and the processes through which such effects occur. We draw from key propositions from the strategic human resource management literature to conceptualize LGBTQ systems and advance insight into the mechanisms through which they influence the development of supportive workplace environments. Specifically, we propose the formation of LGBTQ practice bundles and articulate how system components of content and strength can be leveraged to enable sensemaking about an organization's commitment to sexual orientation and gender identity diversity that can amplify the impact of LGBTQ policies and practices in organizations. We conclude by offering an agenda for a more systemic approach to the study of LGBTQ policies and practices as well as a more purposeful approach to their implementation to better understand and address sexual orientation and gender identity as hidden inequalities in organizations.

Managerial antecedent factors of export market-oriented organizations and their performance consequences : Studying hungarian higher education institutions using a configurational approach

The study focuses on the managerial antecedents of export market-orientation and tests the complex interaction of these factors to two outcomes of interest (that is, high export market performance vs. the absence of high export market performance) with a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analytical approach (fsQCA). Using a combined survey data of twenty five export-orientated higher education institutions based in Hungary the results show that a complex interaction of ma- nagerial antecedents factors to export market-orientation and export market-orientation leads to a high export market performance, whereas misfit between these factors yields the absence of a high export market performance; a complex analytical and theoretical approach missing from export market-orientation and strategic human resource management literatures. Results of the study can enrich the understanding of the complex interaction of the managerial antecedent factors to export market-orientation; therefore, providing valuable insights to academic and managerial audiences ali

Antecedents of Human Capital Erosion

Organizations have been increasingly challenged to evaluate and adjust their human capital to changing business demands and to fill in the skills gap required to maintain productivity. In this review, we analyze how human capital may erode within an organization. We define human capital erosion as human capital diminishment over time related to an individual’s knowledge, skills and abilities deviation from the required, leading to a lower value generation at a workplace. We gather antecedents of human capital value diminishment by looking at interdisciplinary strategic human resource management, management, and economics literature, and aim to develop a human capital erosion framework which integrates human capital erosion antecedents. Our theorizing contributes to strategic human resource management research by revealing how human capital erosion occurs in an organization and leads to reconsidering the meaning of human capital in strategic human resource management literature by demonstrating the importance of health as a component of human capital.

Unraveling the Relationship Between High Performance Work Systems and Team Performance

This study develops a moderated mediation model examining the relationship between high-performance work systems (HPWS) and team performance. Adopting a dialectical view on the effects of HPWS, it posits for a dual -positive and negative- path between HPWS and team performance that is jointly mediated by team coordination and team relationship conflict. Further, it theorizes that a supportive and a competitive team climate can significantly shape these relationships. The proposed research model was tested using multisource data from a sample of 403 team members and 96 team managers from a total of 56 different firms. Results revealed that HPWS are positively associated with both team coordination and team relationship conflict and that both these relationships are moderated by supportive and competitive team climate. This paper contributes to the strategic human resource management (SHRM) literature by revealing that HPWS can be associated with team performance both through a positive and through a negative intermediary mechanism and that team climate constitutes an important boundary condition that can both amplify and inhibit the effect of HPWS on team performance.

Making Sure Everyone is on the Same Page: HPWS, Manager Proactivity, and Service Performance

Managers play a critical role in implementing high-performance work systems (HPWS), yet surprisingly little research has examined their role in HPWS delivery. Drawing on the strategic human resource management (SHRM) and leadership literature, the current study theorizes and examines the role of manager proactivity in channeling manager-rated HPWS into employee-rated HPWS and desired employee outcomes including intrinsic motivation, in-role service performance, and extra-role service performance. Using multisource, multilevel, and multi-wave survey data from 68 managers and 1,394 employees in retail stores, we found that manager-rated HPWS was more strongly and positively related to employee-rated HPWS when managers are proactive. Further, the results revealed that manager proactivity strengthens the positive indirect effects of manager-rated HPWS on employees’ in-role and extra-role service performance via employee-rated HPWS and intrinsic motivation. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Flexibility-Oriented HRM and Team Performance: Mechanisms and Boundary Conditions

Integrating the strategic human resource management (HRM) and team effectiveness literature, we examine the effect of a strategically targeted HRM system, the flexibility-oriented HRM (FHRM) system, on knowledge team performance. We draw from the dynamic capabilities theory and the Input-Mediator-Outcome team effectiveness framework to posit that FHRM will foster the knowledge acquisition and productive energy of teams, which in turn enhance team performance. Further, this relationship is moderated by two team leader characteristics, i.e., territorial behavior and short-termism. We test these relationships using a three-wave, multi-source survey, and multilevel research methods. Results show that leader territorial behavior diminishes the indirect effect of coordination FHRM on team performance and that leader short-termism weakens the indirect effect of resource FHRM on team performance, both via the mediation of knowledge acquisition and productive energy.

To Fit in or Stand Out? Competing Priorities Shape the Adoption and Consequences of HPWS

Building on institutional theory and the notion of vertical alignment in the strategic human resource management (SHRM) literature, I undertake a nuanced examination of the antecedents and consequences of high-performance work systems (HPWS). I suggest that firm age and market entry timing (i.e., first-mover vs. late-mover timing) jointly shape the strategic imperatives and resource constraints faced by focal firms – in turn influencing the relative attractiveness of legitimacy vs. distinctiveness as incentives for HPWS adoption. I further argue that industry peers’ HPWS use will differentially influence the effect of focal firms’ HPWS use on product sales based on the distinct needs of first-movers and late-movers. Using longitudinal data on 3,218 firm-year observations from seven waves of data between 2005 and 2017, I demonstrate that the effect of industry peers’ HPWS use on focal firms’ decision to adopt HPWS is contingent on the competing priorities firms face as a function of their age and market entry timing. The findings also indicate that firms benefit more from HPWS use in the form of increased product sales when HPWS investments align with the strategic imperatives associated with their market entry timing and the pressures exerted by the institutional contexts in which they are embedded. This paper advances our understanding of when firms adopt HPWS and under which circumstances HPWS benefit firm performance.

A Contingent Configurational Perspective of HRM Systems, Contexts, and Organizational Effectiveness

Strategic human resource management (HRM) literature suggests that multiple unique configurations of HRM practices can exist to achieve a horizontal fit and vertical fit and lead to optimal desired outcomes. However, prior studies have not adequately identified different HRM systems, nor examined how configurations of HRM systems with organizational contexts affect organizational outcomes. Using a sample of 481 organizations representing a range of industries, the present study found four distinct types of HRM systems, namely cost-minimizers, investment-maximizers, motivation-enhancers, and skill & opportunity-strengtheners. Moreover, by taking a contingent configurational perspective and utilizing fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), we found various configurations of HRM systems and multi-dimensional organizational contexts (i.e., firm ownership, firm size, innovation strategy, environmental uncertainty, local talent supply, and local government interference) when predicting firm performance and collective affective commitment. Our research findings contribute to an understanding of how different configurations of HRM systems and multi-dimensional organizational contexts affect organizational effectiveness. The theoretical contributions and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

Discovering and nurturing local key stakeholders’ talent in emerging economies: using fsQCA to test the external human resources approach

In the global talent management (TM) field, scholars are calling for distinct and extended human resource (HR) architecture and systems facilitating the management of local talent. To answer to these calls, we adopted a stakeholder theory perspective that responds to five main criticisms of talent management in emerging markets (EMs). Based on that, we identified five main characteristics (purpose-driven organisation; translation attitude; empowerment-based engagement; cross-country relationship network; external HR approach) that could facilitate effective discovery and nurturing of local talent. Our study aimed to investigate if and what configuration of characteristics exists to enable MNEs to develop an effective talent management strategy of key local stakeholders for broader economic, social and environmental value creation, supported by the strategic HR management literature. We performed a fuzzy set Qualitative Comparative Analysis of 20 training projects addressed to local key stakeholders in various industries and emerging countries. We demonstrate that the successful path for effective TM in EMs includes all five characteristics and our novelty lies in the discovery that to achieve effective TM in EMs, MNEs must consider local key suppliers and contractors as part of the organisation, forging what we call an external HR approach.

Talent management and performance in the public sector: the role of organisational and line managerial support for development

While research shows that talent management (TM) practices are linked to individual and organisational outcomes, little is known about the mechanisms through which these processes unfold, especially in the public sector of emerging market economies. This exploratory study investigates TM in the public sector context of Bahrain addressing an important research gap. Drawing on Organisational Support Theory (OST) and strategic human resource management (SHRM) literature, we test the role of line managerial support for development (LMSD) and organisational support for development (OSD) as mechanisms through which TM practices influence individual talent performance. Results from a survey based on a talent pool of a Bahraini governmental administrative institution show that LMSD fully mediates the relationship between TM practices and each of the individual talent performance indicators, apart from task performance. We also find that the indirect relationship between TM and individual talent performance was significant at low levels of OSD. The study contributes to unlocking the TM black box in the public sector of developing countries by highlighting the key role of line managers in the implementation of TM practices revealing a substitution effect between LMSD and OSD, as interchangeable sources of developmental support that can enhance talent performance in this context.

Moral Awareness: A Source of Improved Sustainable Performance

Despite the increasing realization of the significance of work ethics and moral awareness (MA) in businesses after mega scandals, such as those of Enron and Tyco, few studies have investigated the relationship between MA and employees’ performance and the intermediate mechanisms that explain this relationship. This study proposes that as employees’ work ethics are calibrated through ethical training, their MA increases, in turn affecting employees’ job performance. This experimental study is aimed at investigating the impact of MA, increased through ethical training, on employees’ job performance. Based on institutional theory, the multidimensional work ethic profile (MWEP) and strategic human resource management literature, it is hypothesized that MA of employees’ is positively correlated with employees’ performance and that this relationship is moderated by the age, gender and education level of the employees. In particular, the moral awareness component of ethical decision-making (EDM) models is considered as coextensive with work ethics in experimental design, and work ethics is depicted by a multidimensional work ethic profile (MWEP). The study used a sample of 100 employees of a golf club, divided into an experiment group and a control group with 50 employees each. The experiment group was subjected to an ethical training program focused on increasing MA. Employees’ performance for both groups was evaluated based on eight sub-variables. The study concluded that increasing MA increases employees’ performance, with no significant moderation effect of age, gender and education level on this relationship. The results of this study will go a long way in helping managers to increase the productivity of their employees through increased MA.

Pivoting after almost 50 years of SHRM research: toward a stakeholder view

Early in the history of the Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) literature, writers frequently discussed stakeholders to the organization that were relevant to the Human Resources (HR) function. However, over the years the field narrowed its focus to be primarily, if not solely, on one stakeholder: the shareholders. While many authors have paid lip‐service to the fact that other stakeholders exist, little attention was devoted to what these stakeholders meant for the HR function. In this paper, we examine the current thinking around stakeholder theory in the strategic management literature, and then explore what a stakeholder view of SHRM guided by this theory might look like. We build our approach around five important HR categories – purpose, priorities, people, personal relationships, and practices – and hope that this approach can help the field pivot to a more values‐driven, stakeholder‐centered view of the HR function.

When do performance management practices improve firm performance? The role of stakeholder groups

This paper examines the firm-level outcome of performance management practices. Using a Korean firm-level panel data from 2007 to 2017, this study tests the main effect of performance management practices on firm performance. More importantly, this study develops a political contingency perspective and suggests that the effectiveness of performance management practices is contingent on the interests, preferences, and power of the relevant stakeholder groups – that is, family owners, professional CEOs, HR professionals, and labor unions. The fixed-effects regression results reveal that performance management practices improve firm performance. Also, the results show that the effects of performance management practices on firm performance are greater when professional CEOs have greater relative power than family owners and when there is a high number of HR professionals. The findings provide new insights into the strategic human resource management (SHRM) literature by illuminating the importance of the underexplored political context.

Leveraging green HRM for firm performance: The joint effects of CEO environmental belief and external pollution severity and the mediating role of employee environmental commitment

AbstractThe topic of green human resource management (HRM) has drawn increasing attention of HRM scholars in the past decade. Recent research has called for more studies to identify the antecedents of green HRM used in organizations and explore the mediating mechanisms through which green HRM is related to performance outcomes. This study represents an effort to address these research needs by examining the joint effects of chief executive officer (CEO) environmental belief and external pollution severity on the use of green HRM and testing the mediating role of employee environmental commitment in the relationship between green HRM and firm performance. Drawing upon data collected from multiple sources (i.e., survey data from chief executive officer (CEOs), chief financial officers (CFOs), HR managers and employees, and archival data from government statistics), we found that CEO's environmental belief is significantly related to the use of green HRM, especially for companies operating in locations with severer pollution. Green HRM in turn has a positive relationship with the firm's environmental and financial performances via employee commitment to the environment. The findings highlight the often‐overlooked role of in the strategic HRM literature pertinent to environmental management and clarify the antecedents and influential mechanisms of green HRM at the firm level of analysis. We also discuss theoretical and practical implications in this study.

Caring human resources management and employee engagement

Research on employee engagement has demonstrated that human resource management (HRM) practices and systems are positively related to employee engagement. However, it is not clear what HRM practices or system of practices is most important for employee engagement or the theoretical mechanisms that intervene and explain the link between HRM and employee engagement. In this paper, I provide answers to these two important questions by developing a model of caring HRM and employee engagement based on the engagement, organizational climate, and strategic HRM literatures. The model indicates that a system of caring HRM practices (job design, training and development, flexible work arrangements, work-life balance, participation in decision making, health and safety, career development, and health and wellness programs) will result in an organizational climate of care and concern for employees that employees will respond to by caring for the organization which they will enact with higher levels of engagement. This model provides many avenues for future research and practice on HRM and employee engagement and introduces the notion of a caring HRM system and an organizational climate of care and concern for employees to the literature on employee engagement.

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.

Collective Employee Perception on Firm-Specific Training: Moderating Effect of Managerial Rank

This research investigates employees’ perception on firm’s internal training investments and examines how this collective perception on training practices sequentially influences their collective attitudes - collective satisfaction and commitment - towards firm. Based upon human capital literature, firm’s intention to build up firm-specific human capital resources for gaining sustainable competitive advantage presents as sending a signal by investing on firm-specific training practices. Drawing upon signaling theory, this research suggest that employees perceive this signal as more effective when the signal gets intense, in result, those collective perception enhances collective attitudes. Also, this research argues managerial rank may disturb firms’ signals towards employees to perceive training investment, which is why managerial rank originally shapes as general task characteristics. Using 317 firms (1,268 firm-year observations) for 4-time analyses, this research significantly predicted the mechanism for collective attitudes. Also, the relationship between firm-specific training investment and the perception of firm-specific training effectiveness got weaker especially firms have more entry-level employees. By highlighting perception research on strategic human resource management (SHRM) literature, research revealed that key is on employee perception about the mechanism of HR practices on firm-level outcomes. Moreover, explaining as signal-sending, the effect of HR practices can be disrupted by condition - managerial rank ratio.

HR practice salience: explaining variance in employee reactions to HR practices

This study introduces the construct of human resource practice salience (HR salience) and examines it as a moderator in the HR practices–employee outcomes relationships. In Study 1, we used a policy-capturing approach to examine how 118 graduate students reacted to three HR practices depending on the salience of the practices. Based on this sample, we found that individuals were more likely to be attracted by an organization providing performance-based pay and work flexibility practices when these two practices were more salient to them. In Study 2, using time-lag data from 451 employees to examine how HR salience moderates the relationships between the three practices and employee attitudinal outcomes, we found that the relationships between performance-based pay and attitudinal outcomes were stronger for individuals who found this practice to be more salient to them. We noted in both studies that the more salient practices had stronger relationships with employee outcomes than the less salient practices. This study contributes to strategic human resource management literature by providing an explanation for the variability in the effects of HR practices on employee outcomes. We also discuss the practical implications of this research.