The ambiguities and tensions in creating and capturing value: Views from HRM consultants in a leading consultancy firm

Creating and capturing value in knowledge‐intensive organizations is often marked by a high degree of ambiguity. The resource‐ and knowledge‐based views of the firm assume that this ambiguity enhances an organization's competitive advantage, but do not acknowledge or address the problems and tensions it creates for employees. This study contributes to developing these views by providing new insights based on analyzing how HRM consultants perceive their contribution and standing in the context of this ambiguity. These findings shed light on the importance of addressing consultants' perceptions of this ambiguity in seeking to manage and motivate them to maximize the creation and appropriation of value for consultancy practices. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

How leveraging human resource capital with its competitive distinctiveness enhances the performance of commercial and public organizations

Although scholars agree that complex relationships between organizations' actual human resources (i.e., human capital stock) and means of leveraging these resources may influence performance, little empirical work has tested such propositions directly. We collected two primary data sets from privateand public‐sector organizations in Israel. The multiplicative interaction between perceived human resources capital and distinctive value derived from that HR capital was significantly related to various measures of perceived and objective organizational performance. Having higher levels of human resources capital was strongly associated with performance only when top managers perceived that these resources provided distinctive value in terms of being highly valuable, inimitable, rare, and nonsubstitutable. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on strategic human resource management and the resource‐based view of competitive advantage, as well as for practical efforts to develop firm‐specific human resource capital that is inherently distinctive. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Human Resource Systems and Ethical Climates: A Resource‐Based Perspective

We know very little about how ethical climates are built and the potential role of a firm's HR system in facilitating the development of this resource. The resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm suggests that human resource systems directly influence a firm's performance through the development of resources that are deeply woven in a firm's history and culture. How this occurs though has not been thoroughly considered in the research literature. Drawing on the theoretical insights from the resource‐based view of the firm, this article explores how HR systems can foster the development and maintenance of five types of ethical climates. In so doing, this article improves our conceptual understanding of why ethical climates may be seen as having strategic value for firms and how HR systems may influence that value. In addition, it contributes to theory by extending the domain of the resource‐based view of the firm by exploring its integration with the varied types of ethical climates. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Strategic human resource management,human capital and competitive advantage: is the field going in circles?

The resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm has been consistently used as a backdrop in strategic human resource management (SHRM) research and has the potential to bridge the ‘micro–macro’ divide. The tension between the SHRM and the strategic human capital literature, however, signifies that RBV has not reached its potential. In this paper, we begin with a brief review of the conceptual logic linking human resource management (HRM) practices and firm outcomes that aim at highlighting the different treatment of RBV in the SHRM and strategic human capital literatures. We then propose a conceptual model that suggests that HRM practices are not simple levers that enable firms to create sustainable competitive advantage, as most of the strategic human capital research postulates. On the contrary, we argue that HRM practices can contribute to a firm's sustainable competitive advantage not only by enhancing employees' ability, and offering motivation and opportunities, but also by shaping supply‐side and demand‐side mobility constraints.     

Can environmentally oriented CEOs and environmentally friendly suppliers boost the growth of small firms?

The core question addressed in the natural resource‐based view (NRBV) of the firm is how to develop and exploit resources beneficial for both the natural environment and firm performance. Due to the resource constraints and increased competition facing small manufacturing firms, achieving this is a challenge for such companies. Building on the NRBV and resource orchestration literatures, we examine the relationship between green purchasing capabilities (GPCs), CEO's environmental orientation (EO), and firm growth. Results from 304 Swedish small manufacturing firms indicate a significant relationship between GPC and growth, and this relationship is positively moderated by the EO of the CEO.     

Advice-seeking and advice-utilization for hiring decisions: An investigation of a partially outsourced recruitment process for rank-and-file managers

We study a large-scale, partially outsourced recruitment process. A specialized consultancy assesses applicants' soft-skills on behalf of a client firm, who retains agency over the hiring decision. We conceptualize this collaboration as an advice-seeking, advice-utilization process and analyze the effectiveness of hiring recommendations provided in influencing the client's hiring decisions. Two external HR specialists not only differ in their soft skill ratings, but also differ in their aggregation of these ratings into their hiring recommendations. The consultants' recommendations are particularly helpful in separating very suitable from clearly unsuitable candidates but are less effective in the mid-tier of the skill distribution.     

Human resources and sustained competitive advantage: a resource-based perspective

This paper integrates the theories and findings of micro-level organizational behaviour/human resource management research with the macrolevel resource-based view of the firm, specifically presenting a firm's human resources as an important potential source of sustained competitive advantage. Unlike practice-oriented discussions that assume the role of human resources as a source of sustained competitive advantage, we use the theoretical concepts from the resource-based view of the firm (Wernerfelt, 1984; Barney, 1991) to discuss how human resources meet the criteria for sustained competitive advantage in that they are valuable, rare, inimitable and non-substitutable. The implications for developing human resources as a source of sustained competitive advantage are discussed, particularly examining the role of HR practices and managers in this process.     

The Link Between Diversity and Equality Management Practice Bundles and Racial Diversity in the Managerial Ranks: Does Firm Size Matter?

Invoking strategic human resource management (SHRM) theory and tenets of the resource‐based view of the firm, we explore how two bundles of diversity and equality management (DEM) practices influence racial diversity in the managerial ranks. By considering the conceptualization of DEM practices and the moderating role of firm size, our study disentangles subtle nuances in the DEM practices–racial diversity in managerial ranks relationship. Based on a sample of 137 Fortune 1,000 firms over a two‐year period, our results suggest that minority opportunity‐based DEM practices and manager accountability DEM practices positively relate to racial diversity in managerial ranks, and these relationships are stronger in smaller companies than large ones. Theoretical and practical implications for a strategic perspective on future diversity management research are elaborated.     

Gender Roles and Organizational HR Practices: The Case of Women's Careers in Accountancy and Consultancy Firms in China

The Chinese finance industry has experienced significant expansion both within the state sector and into the private sector. Professional consultancy firms have also emerged as a result of the rising interest in the outsourcing of accounting and management services. However, the study of women's careers in the accountancy profession in contemporary China remains largely an uncharted territory. Drawing on data from 69 interviews with auditors in five firms, this article investigates the nature of work of external auditors in China and how women auditors view their work‐life choices and constraints. We explore the likely differences between male and female auditors in their career aspirations and the extent to which these self‐perceived differences are informed by social conventions of gender role, organizational practices, and personal preferences. The study has strong implications for human resource management in professional service firms in China, with particular reference to job design, work organization, career support, and work‐life balance initiatives. The study contributes to the debate on gender, employment, and career development in the accountancy profession in different parts of the world. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Acquisitions in the biopharmaceutical IPO market: Collaboration,competition and co‐opetition

The present paper explores the little studied area concerning the acquisition of recent biopharmaceutical initial public offering firms. We examine the nature of the relationship between the acquiring firm and the acquired initial public offering firm prior to the acquisition and from the perspective of the resource‐based view. We find to some extent that firm specific‐resources affect the prospect that the firm will be acquired. Furthermore, our findings show that firms with more of these types of resources are likely to be acquired by firms engaged in co‐opetition rather than by firms engaged solely in collaboration, competition, or (to a limited extent) with no prior relationship.     

Boards and Sustainability: the Contingent Influence of Director Interlocks on Corporate Environmental Performance

This paper highlights the importance of a firm's board with respect to sustainability issues by analysing the relationship between director interlocks, i.e. directors who simultaneously belong to the boards of directors of several companies, and a firm's environmental performance. The previous literature has focused on the influence of firm‐level resources on corporate environmental performance. This study utilizes insights from a resource‐based view and research on social capital to demonstrate that the environmental performance of a firm is also influenced by the difficult‐to‐imitate capabilities that are embedded in the network relationships of its directors. Our results support a contingency perspective of the social capital theory that finds that director interlocks are positively connected with the environmental performance of a firm in two specific situations: (1) when the firm is linked to a larger parent company and (2) in cases of low and high levels of interlock diversity. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

The Influence of Technology Differences on Corporate Environmental Patents: A Resource‐Based Versus an Institutional View of Green Innovations

This paper proposes that both the resource‐based view and institutional theory predict a positive relationship between the number of patented environmental innovations and non‐environmental innovations held by a firm, because they both are subject to the influence of similar factors. However, while the resource‐based view predicts that technological differences between the patented environmental innovations owned by a firm and those in the industry as a whole will positively affect the firm's environmental innovations, the institutional perspective predicts a negative relationship. Our results derive from a sample of 5537 environmental patents from 59 large companies in the electrical components and equipment industry worldwide, and show a positive relationship between patented environmental and non‐environmental innovations in a firm, but a negative influence on the number of the firm's patented environmental innovations resulting from differences between the firm's environmental technologies and those generally prevalent in the industry. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Firm Productivity Moderated Link Between Human Capital and Compensation: The Significance of Task‐Specific Human Capital

The human capital of a firm as manifested by employee knowledge and experience represents a key resource of a firm's capabilities. Prior empirical studies have found that firms composed of high levels of human capital experience superior firm performance. Human capital theory proposes that an individual's general or firm‐specific human capital is positively related to compensation. However, empirical studies examining firm‐specific human capital's association with higher employee compensation have been inconclusive. The current study proposes that firm‐specific human capital be categorized as task‐specific and non‐task‐specific. Employees accumulate task‐specific human capital through duties conducted in their current position. Non‐task‐specific human capital represents experiences gained in prior positions to an employee's current job within the firm. Utilizing human capital data from 38,390 employees representing 76 firms in the IT sector, this study examines the association between forms of human capital and employee compensation at different levels of firm productivity. Results show that task‐specific human capital is associated with higher employee compensation. In addition, firm productivity moderates this association.     

Incorporating sustainable business practices into company strategy

Building on Hart's natural resource‐based view of the firm, this paper reports the results of a case study of the privately owned, high‐end outdoor apparel company Patagonia. In this study we examined Hart's three interlinking strategies of pollution prevention, product stewardship and sustainable development, and sought to test whether the resources for their implementation must be accumulated sequentially or whether they can be accumulated in parallel. The case study revealed that Patagonia has made significant progress, and continues to make progress, in each of these three areas. The results also suggested that the company's progress in one area has not necessarily been dependent on progress in another. While acknowledging the limitations of a single case study, we conclude that Patagonia's experience offers strong support for the notion that the resources for implementing strategies towards sustainable development can be accumulated in parallel – as opposed to sequentially. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Corporate governance and lesbian,gay, bisexual,and transgender‐supportive human resource policies from corporate social responsibility,resource‐based,and agency perspectives

Corporate boards are responsible for ensuring that managers enact policies that are in shareholders' best interests, and managers are responsible for implementing strategies that are not only profitable but also responsive to changing legal and societal demands and the resource needs of the firm. In this paper, we use the theoretical lenses of corporate social responsibility (CSR), the resource‐based view, and agency theory to investigate the relationship between corporate governance structure and the implementation of supportive lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) policies. We analyze 10,233 firm‐year observations and 1,594 unique firms, and our results demonstrate that LGBT‐supportive policies are positively associated with firm performance. We also offer new insight into why not all firms adopt such policies. We exploit the passage of the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act as an exogenous shock that increased board independence, and our difference‐in‐difference estimation shows that firms forced to raise board independence in 2002 were less likely to invest in LGBT‐supportive policies. Results suggest that human resource management (HRM) policies can be guided by CSR and resource‐based views in the pursuit of wealth maximization, but agency conflict may also be a concern for external majority boards. We discuss implications for HRM research practice and corporate governance regarding LGBT policies in organizations.     

The Inside Track: On the Important (But Neglected) Role of Customers in the Resource‐Based View of Strategy and Firm Growth*

abstract This paper argues for the important role of customers as a source of competitive advantage and firm growth, an issue which has been largely neglected in the resource‐based view of the firm. It conceptualizes Penrose's (1959 ) notion of an ‘inside track’ and illustrates how in‐depth knowledge about established customers combines with joint problem‐solving activities and the rapid assimilation of new and previously unexploited skills and resources. It is suggested that the inside track represents a distinct and perhaps underestimated way of generating rents and securing long‐term growth. This also implies that the sources of sustainable competitive advantage in important respects can be sought in idiosyncratic interfirm relationships rather than within the firm itself.     

Resources,Capabilities and Entrepreneurial Perceptions*

abstract We review and develop a subjectivist theory of entrepreneurship that focuses on individuals, their knowledge, resources and skills, and the processes of discovery and creativity, which constitute the heart of entrepreneurship. First, we establish the fundamental importance of subjectivity in entrepreneurial discovery and creativity. Second, we build on Penrose (1959 ) to elaborate how entrepreneurs' perceptions and personal knowledge shape a firm's subjective productive opportunity set. Third, we explain that entrepreneurial perceptions and knowledge partly originate from entrepreneurs' experiences in specific business settings such as the firm, the management team, and the industry. Fourth, we highlight the causal connections between subjectivity in entrepreneurship and observed heterogeneity in firm‐level economic performance. Lastly, we suggest directions for further advancing a subjectivist resource‐based approach to future entrepreneurship research.     

Carbon disclosure and financial performance: UK environmental policy

The outcome of carbon disclosure, the importance of which has grown remarkably in recent years to become a strategic decision‐making issue for organisations in today's competitive environment, is a subject of lively debate but remains under‐researched in the environmental accounting literature. This study is motivated by this research gap and the growing interest in assessing the financial consequences of corporate involvement in climate change beyond regulatory compliance, as evidenced by firms' voluntary participation in the Carbon Disclosure Project. Using the resource‐based view of the firm as a theoretical framework and linking it to carbon disclosure through Carbon Disclosure Project, we conceptualise and empirically investigate the impact of adopting proactive carbon management policies and communicating them to stakeholders, focusing on the financial performance of the top FTSE350 companies between 2007 and 2015. By developing a comprehensive financial performance index and controlling for several firm characteristics, we find strong evidence that voluntary carbon disclosure is positively associated with firm financial performance. The findings in this paper provide new insights and policy implications for managers, financial stakeholders, and regulators.     

How Does Executive Strategic Human Resource Management Link to Organizational Ambidexterity? An Empirical Examination of Manufacturing Firms in China

Despite a plethora of studies that demonstrate the positive impact of strategic human resource management on firm performance, existing knowledge of the processes through which such gains can be achieved remains limited. This study aims to extend our knowledge by investigating the mechanism through which a teamwork‐oriented executive strategic human resource management system impacts organizational ambidexterity. Specifically, by integrating the resource‐based view and information‐processing theory, we examine the mediating role of top management team effectiveness and the moderating role of knowledge–sharing intensity from middle managers to top management teams. Drawing on a multiple‐source and multiple‐respondent survey from 144 manufacturing firms in China, we show that top management team effectiveness partially mediates the effect of the executive strategic human resource management system on organizational ambidexterity. Moreover, knowledge‐sharing intensity from middle managers to top management teams strengthens the effect of the executive strategic human resource management system on organizational ambidexterity. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Teamworking and change: managing the contradictions

This article examines managers' experiences of introducing a team‐based work system in a manufacturing firm, and their efforts to manage this. Drawing on a social constructionist view, findings are presented that point to the plurality of ‘world views’ held among managers responsible for the delivery of change and to the socially contested nature of teamworking. Implications of these findings are pursued, including the need for change agents and human resource development (HRD) specialists to build sufficient time for review and reflection into change programmes. This is central to developing more skilled approaches to balancing inherent tensions in the employment relationship and processes of change, and in creating opportunities for more fluid and open dialogue among different groups and individuals within management in order to enhance processes of learning and understanding.