Family-friendly work practices and their outcomes in China: the mediating role of work-to-family enrichment and the moderating role of gender

Based on a survey of a sample of employees (n = 726), we examine whether work-to-family enrichment mediates the relationship between two types of flexible work arrangements (i.e. flextime and a compressed workweek) and two work-related outcomes (job satisfaction and turnover intention). In addition, we examine the moderating effect of gender on the relationship between flexible work arrangements and work-to-family enrichment and between work-to-family enrichment and the work-related outcomes. The results show that work-to-family enrichment acts as a mediating factor between flexible work arrangements and outcomes. In addition, the relationship between work-to-family enrichment and turnover intention is stronger for female employees. Finally, the implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Similarities and differences in international and comparative human resource management: A review of 60 years of research

In this article, we review similarities and differences in articles in the research field of international and comparative human resource management (HRM), published in Human Resource Management over the past 60 years. The extensive review and analysis, based on 189 conceptual articles, reviews, and empirical studies, identified several trends. First, the two distinct research streams in this research field (HRM in MNEs and comparative HRM) have grown over the decades and moved from conceptual articles in the beginning to almost exclusively empirical studies in more recent years. Second, in addition to the two research streams, in more recent years we identified a third research stream that combines elements of HRM in MNEs and comparative HRM research. Third, the research field has become more feminized, with an increasing number of female (first) authors, and has become more international, with more authors affiliated with non‐US universities in the more recent time periods. Finally, while the research streams show some differences in the content of their research, we do not find evidence that the streams developed in isolation. Based on our analysis, we provide suggestions for future research on international and comparative HRM and identify current implications for HR practitioners.     

The dynamic nature of HRM implementation: a structuration perspective

Abstract

Over the past decades, scholars have dedicated substantial attention to the process of HRM implementation. Most progress has been made with debates on HRM system strength, roles of organisational actors in HRM implementation, and intended, actual and perceived HRM. In this paper, we challenge the current view on HRM implementation as being too static and one-directional. By building on structuration theory, we show that the process of HRM implementation is less straightforward than has been previously assumed. After their initial introduction, HRM practices evolve through turbulent developments. Furthermore, instead of neatly distributed roles following meticulously scheduled planning, HRM practices are influenced by various organisational actors. For successful implementation, HRM practices need to become inscribed into the interpretive schemes of organisational actors, resources have to be distributed, the HRM practice has to gain legitimacy. We develop a comprehensive framework that assists in understanding the process of HRM implementation.     

An escalation of commitment perspective on allocation-of-effort decisions in professional selling

Salesforce compensation theory assumes that given proper design of the incentive structure, salespeople will rationally allocate effort to maximize returns to their firm and themselves. However, faced with large sunk investments over long selling cycles, salespeople continue to commit resources to opportunities with little or no chance of being won, to the exclusion of viable leads. This article theoretically explores and empirically tests this over-investment effect under four potentially moderating conditions using a large multinational corporation’s industrial salesforce. The findings from this field study indicate that escalation of commitment is more likely to occur in non-strategic accounts and accounts not involving channel partners. In addition, salespeople with lower ability demonstrate greater escalation of commitment. The study indicates that without targeted managerial intervention, salespeople will over-invest precious selling resources in unprofitable, unwinnable opportunities.     

High commitment HRM and organizational and occupational turnover intentions: the role of organizational and occupational commitment

Using data from 41 managers and 143 chefs from 41 Indonesian restaurants, we examined whether High Commitment Human Resource Management (HCHRM) is negatively related to chefs’ organizational (ORTI) and occupational turnover intentions (OCTI). In addition, we examined whether organizational commitment (ORC) mediates the HCHRM–ORTI relationship and occupational commitment (OCC) moderates the HCHRM–OCTI relationship. Results from hierarchical level modeling analyses (chefs nested in restaurants) showed that HCHRM is negatively related to both chefs’ ORTI and OCTI. In addition ORC mediates the HCHRM–ORTI relationship, and OCC moderates HCHRM–OCTI relationship. These results have important implications in terms of the unique role the two foci of commitment play in the HCHRM–ORTI and OCTI linkages.     

New Evidence on the Impact of Index Funds in U.S. Grain Futures Markets

Commodity index trader position data are examined for the years prior to the 2007–08 commodity price increase. New data from 2004 to 2005 show that a large increase in commodity index positions occurred in select grain futures markets. However, the increased index participation took place well in advance of the 2007–08 boom in prices. Granger causality tests fail to find any causal link between commodity index activity and grain futures prices. Furthermore, there is little evidence of an index‐induced price bubble using long‐horizon regressions. Nous avons analysé les données sur les positions des opérateurs de marché au cours des années qui ont précédé la hausse des prix des denrées en 2007–08. Selon de nouvelles données pour la période 2004–05, une hausse substantielle des positions liées à l’indice des denrées est survenue sur des marchés de grain à terme sélectionnés. Toutefois, cette hausse des positions est survenue bien avant la montrée en flèche des cours en 2007–08. Le test de causalité de Granger n’a pas permis d’établir l’existence d’un lien de causalité entre l’activité liée à l’indice des denrées et les cours à terme des grains. De plus, les régressions pour processus à mémoire longue ne permettent pas de conclure à l’existence d’une bulle des prix induite par l’indice.     

Local Traits and Securitized Commercial Mortgage Default

We expand on the standard commercial mortgage default model and create a new model by looking beyond the usual factors of option value, insolvency, property type, region, originator type, state foreclosure laws and macroeconomic measures. The new model incorporates measures of local economic conditions, specifically MSA-level commercial property market conditions, county level unemployment, and local home price appreciation. We estimate our new model using a dataset containing the performance histories of over 30,000 CMBS loans that were originated between 1998 and 2012. We find that those local trait variables affect the default rate of CMBS loans significantly and provide improved explanatory power over the standard model. We further explore the impact of local home price measures by comparing the explanatory power of lagged and contemporaneous home price indexes, comparing the power of home price indexes at the state, county, and zip-code level, examining the interaction of home price indexes with commercial property type, looking at the impact of home price indexes over time, and at the impact of introducing local commercial land price indexes. We find that local residential house price-related measures provide a high quality and high frequency signal of local market conditions.     

Making space for sex work: female street prostitution and the production of urban space

This article explores the processes by which distinctive red‐light districts are created in western cities, focusing on the changing location of female prostitution in Birmingham (UK). Adapting Henri Lefebvre's ideas on the production of space, as well as Michel de Certeau's distinction between strategies and tactics, the article argues that the changing location of prostitution in the city is the result of a constant interplay between the ordering strategies enacted by the police, council and community protestors and the resistive tactics adopted by sex workers. The net outcome of this process, it is argued, is that a space is created for prostitution so that its resistive potential can be contained within a heterosexually‐ordered city. The article therefore concurs with Lefebvre when he argues that conceptualized space tends to overcode and dominate lived space, but concludes that sex work always threatens to create new ‘spaces of representation’ that challenge the heterosexual ordering of society. En examinant les processus par lesquels se créent des quartiers ‘chauds’ caractérisés dans les villes occidentales, cet article s'intéresse à la délocalisation de la prostitution féminine à Birmingham (Royaume‐Uni). A partir des idées d'Henri Lefebvre sur la production d'espace, et de la distinction établie par Michel de Certeau entre stratégies et tactiques, il est démontré que le changement d'implantation de la prostitution dans la ville résulte d'une interaction permanente entre, d'une part, les stratégies autoritaires décrétées par la police, la municipalité et les opposants membres de la communauté et, d'autre part, les tactiques de résistance adoptées par les travailleuses du sexe. Cette combinaison se solde par la création d'un espace pour la prostitution de sorte que sa ‘résistivité’ puisse être maîtrisée dans le cadre d'une ville régie par un ordre hétérosexuel. L'article rejoint ainsi Lefebvre lorsqu'il affirme qu'un espace conceptualisé tend à sur‐codifier et dominer l'espace vécu ; toutefois, il conclut que le travail du sexe menace constamment de générer de nouveaux ‘espaces de représentation’ défiant l'ordre hétérosexuel de la société.     

Social embeddedness and job performance of tenured and non‐tenured professionals

This study examines how different employment relationships in academic settings, ie tenured versus non‐tenured appointments, are associated with different types of job performance efforts. The social embeddedness model contends that employees' efforts to perform well depend on embeddedness in the social environment. Adopting this perspective, we ask what types of embeddedness are likely to improve job performance efforts, namely compliance and contextual performance, under the condition of different employment relationships. Regression analyses on the responses of both tenured and non‐tenured faculty members show that employees' efforts to perform well can be explained by social embeddedness. Temporal embeddedness appears to be important in explaining the job performance efforts of tenured faculty members, while, in contrast, network embeddedness seems important in explaining the efforts of nontenured faculty members; and institutional embeddedness explained the efforts of both groups of faculty members.     

The environmental challenge

We now come to the ultimate question of whether we should be optimistic or pessimistic about our environmental future, and indeed our survival. If we believe human beings to be rational and thus ultimately acting in their own self-interest, there is no reason to believe that the environmental challenges confronting us as individuals and as a society are not resolvable in a manner that allows both economic development and a reasonable quality of life for human beings. Indeed, we see, at least in the developed world, recognition of the magnitude of the problems that we face and movements toward solutions. Yet our nemesis is time. Irretrievable seconds are ticking away as we struggle against ignorance and economic self-interest. Our concern must be not whether we will act, but whether we will act in time to forestall environmental catastrophe for our civilization. The ultimate solution to our environmental problems must come from a fundamental change in the self-serving psychology that produced the tragedy of the commons. Self-interest must be sublimated not only to the greater needs of society, but to the needs of our posterity. The tragedy of the commons can only be avoided if our time horizon shifts from the short- to long-term. In addition, there must be a shift in values from obsession with economic development to concern for the quality of human life. These shifts dictate that in the future our economic, political, and social system must be built upon a foundation of "sustainable" growth. This means that "industries (and nations, for that matter) cannot thrive if they sacrifice future quality of life for present economic gain. In the long run, the principles of economic growth and environmental quality reinforce each other." How do we make this esoteric speculation relevant to our job each day as materiel managers in health care delivery organizations? We can do this by first understanding the problems that we confront and how we are a part of these problems. Next, we must assume a leadership role in confronting and resolving these problems. This means being an advocate for the environment and championing initiatives within the institution to resolve problems and advance environmental responsibility. Finally, we must remember that every day, with each purchase order we issue, we vote for or against the environment.