Making sense of HR in family firms: Antecedents,moderators, and outcomes

Family business researchers have felt increasing distress with the lack of understanding about how families – i.e., their structure, relationships, emotions, and goals – shape how families manage family firms, leading to calls to more fully incorporate “family science” theories about the nature of family into research about family firms. It seems likely that families' first impact in family firms will be on how employees are treated and managed. Thus, this special issue brings together papers that offer an early glance at what is to be gained by leveraging theories about family to help explain how families influence human resource management within family firms, and how human resource management, in turn, impacts key family firm outcomes.     

Antecedents and organizational consequences of family supportive supervisor behavior: A multilevel conceptual framework for research

Family supportive supervision has emerged as an important prerequisite for effective work-family integration and employees' well-being. Scholars are addressing the need to develop family supportive managers and have introduced a new construct and measure, ‘family supportive supervisor behavior’. So far, little attention has been focused on the underlying behavioral process and managerial characteristics that triggers family supportive supervisor behavior. In response, a multilevel conceptual framework is developed that identifies individual-level and contextual-level factors that would predict managers' overall tendency to engage in family supportive supervisor behavior. The consequences of family supportive supervisor behavior on organizational outcomes such as the subordinate and the team level and its practical implications are outlined. In presenting a multilevel conceptual framework for family supportive supervisor behavior, a research agenda is proposed that can guide future researchers in the field of family supportive supervision.     

AI-augmented HRM: Antecedents,assimilation and multilevel consequences

The current literature on the use of disruptive innovative technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) for human resource management (HRM) function, lacks a theoretical basis for understanding. Further, the adoption and implementation of AI-augmented HRM, which holds promise for delivering several operational, relational and transformational benefits, is at best patchy and incomplete. Integrating the technology, organisation and people (TOP) framework with core elements of the theory of innovation assimilation and its impact on a range of AI-Augmented HRM outcomes, or what we refer to as (HRM^(AI)), this paper develops a coherent and integrated theoretical framework of HRM^(AI) assimilation. Such a framework is timely as several post-adoption challenges, such as the dark side of processual factors in innovation assimilation and system-level factors, which, if unattended, can lead to the opacity of AI applications, thereby affecting the success of any HRM^(AI). Our model proposes several testable future research propositions for advancing scholarship in this area. We conclude with implications for theory and practice.     

Antecedents and outcomes of promotion systems

This study tests the Ferris, Buckley, and Allen (Human Resource Planning, 15, 47–68) model of promotion systems in organizations assessing the promotion systems in Fortune 500 companies in six industry groups. Relationships were found between characteristics of organizations (e.g., the extent of their career planning and their affirmative action practices and organizational outcomes including numbers of grievances filed, industry rank on sales, and employee attitudes concerning promotion opportunities. These results suggest that the Ferris, Buckley, and Allen (1992) model provides a useful framework for the study and development of organizations' promotion systems. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Wage differentials across firms: an application of multilevel modelling

Multilevel modelling techniques are applied to a dataset that matches firms and workers, to pinpoint and explain contrasts among company wage policies. Results indicate that wage differences across firms are statistically significant, affecting every parameter of the pay policy (returns to schooling, tenure, experience, the penalty imposed on newly hired workers and on women). Gross labour productivity, average schooling in the firm, firm size and economic sector are relevant forces shaping the contrast between employers' pay policies. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Antecedents and outcomes of employee empowerment practices: A theoretical extension with empirical evidence

Despite being often touted as a best practice to enhance organisational performance, in reality, employee empowerment practices have not been widely adopted. This paper combines transaction cost economics with organisational behaviour and resource‐based views to examine antecedents and outcomes of empowerment practices, from both cost‐efficiency and value‐creation perspectives. On the basis of a study of 99 multinational subsidiaries in China, we found that human asset specificity, a key characteristic of employee–employer exchange, related significantly to organisations' adoption of empowerment practices. We also found that empowerment practices had a positive impact on organisational performance, and they mediated the relationship between human asset specificity and performance. In addition, results showed that task interdependence strengthened the impact of empowerment practices on performance outcome. The paper contributes to research on empowerment practices by offering a theoretically more comprehensive and balanced analysis of why and when empowerment is good for performance, with the support of empirical evidence.     

Antecedents and outcomes of personal mastery: cross-country evidence in Higher Education

This paper contributes to our understanding of personal mastery by providing fresh insights from a cross-national study in Higher Education (HE). It presents findings from a rich sample of informants in two well-established universities in the UK and Vietnam, and develops a framework that illustrates the antecedents and outcomes of personal mastery in the two cultures. The multi-level analysis performed provides valuable insights that extend our current understanding of personal mastery beyond the individual level as it is traditionally theorized. Instead, we are able to show that a number of contextual conditions at the organizational, industry and the national culture that may also have a bearing on the way personal mastery is cultivated. By contributing a richer account of the multifaceted nature of personal mastery, the paper draws attention to a range of implications for both future research and practice. In particular, it invites practitioners in HE to apply the theories they develop in practice.     

Antecedents and outcomes of implementing flexibility policies in organizations

This study examines the antecedents of employees' utilization of various flexibility work arrangements (FWA) on the one hand and job-related outcomes due to their implementation in organizations on the other hand. Data are provided by an original survey administered to employees working in private organizations (N = 480). Workers' uptake of the arrangements is enhanced by their family responsibilities, by FWA availability, by supervisors' support and by co-workers' FWA use. Regarding employee outcomes, FWA availability is related to two of the three outcomes studied. Moreover, a favourable work-family culture is related to our three outcomes, employee commitment, turnover intentions and work-to-family conflict.     

Executive compensation in North American high-technology firms: a contextual approach

After reviewing the literature surrounding the link between executive compensation and innovation activities of North American firms, we examine two gaps in the area. First, we analyze how contextual factors can affect CEO pay in high-technology companies. In particular, we study three contextual dimensions: political, economic, and social. Second, we consider the specific case of executive compensation in high-technology firms when family ties are present at the helm. Drawing on agency rationale and previous research, we develop a series of instrumental propositions intended to provide the theoretical basis for a future research agenda in the area.     

Executive compensation and gender: S&;P 1500 listed firms

We examine if a gender gap persists in executive compensation and if the composition and the determinants of executive compensation for men versus women are the same for the S&P1500 listed firms during the period from 1992 to 2004. This analysis is also extended to high tech firms, where high scholarship is required both for male and female executives. The results reveal that the gender gap in executive compensation is reducing essentially after the year 2000. Also, the factors that explain the variation in executive compensation are not all the same for men and women. However, firms continue to pay women, who are considered more risk averse than men, a similar proportion of risky compensation components, such as stock options and restricted stocks, than they pay to men. In terms of technology firms, we find that the gender differences in total compensation are not statistically significant. Our study offers insight into recent data for executive compensation. The finding that the gender gap diminishes is a sign of a better functioning market for executives. Our findings could be potentially useful for compensation committees in order to develop compensation packages that take into consideration the degree of risk aversion in order to enhance performance. Compensation adjusted for risk aversion can produce a higher level of satisfaction for the employees and can lead to better performances. Future research should focus on international comparison of various dimensions of executive compensation.     

Strategic compensation in South Korea's publicly traded firms

This strategic compensation model based on contingency theory of organizations proposes that a fit between the organization's business environment and compensation system will affect the firm's performance (Rockmore, 1991; Rockmore and Scarpello, 1994). This proposition was tested with a set of Korean sample data of seventy-five publicly traded companies within thirty-four three-digit Standard Industrial Classification codes.

The cluster analysis applied to the 7-item task environment uncertainty components resulted in two group classifications that face relatively ‘more certain’ and ‘more uncertain’ environments. Principal component factor analysis of the 8-item compensation system components resulted in three compensation system factors and subsequent cluster analysis classified firm pay plans into two clusters, which we labelled ‘more traditional’ and ‘more innovative’. Discriminant analysis confirmed the resulting classifications of both task environment and compensation system types. With both ROA and EPS measures, significantly more ‘fits’ (firms in stable environment that use traditional compensation system or firms in uncertain environment that use innovative compensation system) showed financial gains compared with ‘nonfits’. This financial impact of the contingency was more salient for those firms that face uncertain environment. The same results were obtained when ANOVA was performed.     

Organizational differences in managerial compensation and benefits in Chinese firms

More than two decades of economic reforms have brought profound changes in human resource management practices in both the state and non-state sectors in China. This study focuses on the impact of organizational factors on compensation and benefits for Chinese managers in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), publicly listed firms (PLFs), and foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs). The empirical investigation of 465 firms located in three major Chinese cities, Shanghai, Nanjing and Guangzhou, provides evidence that organizational factors, such as ownership, firm size, firm age, location and industrial sector, have significant impacts on the variances in Chinese managers' compensation levels, compensation structures and benefits. The trends in the development of compensation and benefits for Chinese managers are also discussed as the Chinese economy moves closer to a more globalized, highly dynamic economy after China's accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001.     

Research on knowledge sharing and interpersonal relationships: empirical study of family firms and non-family firms

This article discusses the difference between Chinese family and non-family firms based on incentive reward systems, knowledge-sharing networks, and differential patterns. An empirical study was conducted by combining a linear multivariate statistical analysis with a nonlinear fuzzy neural network model. The results show that although the supervisors of family firms have a lower preference for incentive reward systems for knowledge sharing, they demonstrate a higher preference for centralized knowledge-sharing networks and differential patterns.     

Social capital and innovation in family firms: The moderating roles of family control and generational involvement

Drawing on the social capital literature, we examine whether the co-existence of distinct yet interacting social groups, namely family and non-family members, creates the conditions for increased family firm innovation. In particular, we theorize that family and non-family social capital have a joint positive effect on family firm innovation and this joint effect is stronger than the single effects of family and non-family social capital. In addition, we predict that while family control has a positive moderating effect, generational involvement has a negative moderating effect on the above-mentioned relationship. With supportive empirical results, our research makes important contributions to the existing literature.     

Problematizing socioemotional wealth in family firms: a systems-theoretical reframing

The concept of socioemotional wealth (SEW) seeks to present an independent paradigmatic basis for family-firm research, and in doing so aims to establish a sound basis for the scientific legitimacy of family-firm research. Establishing that legitimacy requires scholars to demonstrate that SEW is based on coherent assumptions on several theoretical levels. This paper uses the problematization methodology to challenge the coherence of the theoretical assumptions underpinning SEW and to advance theory development. The results of this problematization show that SEW is built on a theoretical level close to the object of research (in-house assumptions), but that more deeply-rooted theoretical levels (e.g. paradigmatic assumptions) are not sufficiently elaborated. Moreover, the original conceptualization is based on a positivist-mechanistic view, which hinders SEW reflecting the complex reality of family firms. Based on the results of this problematization, new systems theory is applied to reframe SEW’s theoretical grounding. Thereby the main contribution of the paper is a critical reflection on the theoretical underpinnings of SEW (in particular root-metaphor and paradigmatic assumptions), serving as the basis for advancing a coherent theoretical understanding of this important concept in family business research.     

Influence of family-centered goals on dividend policy in family firms: A socioemotional wealth approach

Socioemotional wealth (SEW) preservation is likely to be a key determinant for family firms when shaping their dividend policy. This paper analyzes how family-centered goals reflected by SEW can influence dividend policy in private family firms and explores how family involvement in management, generational stage, and firm hazard might moderate these relationships. Results indicate a negative association between SEW preservation and both the likelihood of giving dividends and the amount of dividend paid. This negative relationship is stronger when the CEO is a family member, in early generational stages and when the firm faces greater performance hazard. The amount of dividend paid is also lower when there are family members in other top management positions apart from the CEO. The evidence provided thus suggests that the existing heterogeneity in dividend policy in privately held family firms is strongly driven by differences in SEW priorities.

     

Board diversity and risk-taking of family firms: Evidence from China

Using a sample of more than 1,500 Chinese listed firms over four years of observation (2015–2018), this study examines the effects of family ownership and certain features of board diversity (gender diversity, age diversity, and education diversity) on the risk-taking of Chinese listed firms. First, a two-way fixed effects regression model is proposed. Then, this study finds that the examined Chinese family firms’ risk-taking, which is measured by their Z-scores and innovation intensity, is lower than that of the nonfamily firms. This result confirms the prediction of social-emotional wealth theory. Second, a diversity index is formulated to summarize the above three dimensions of board diversity. By regressing risk-taking measures on these board diversity features, this study finds that firms with less-diverse boards take more risks. Finally, the effects of the interaction between family ownership and board diversity are explored. The results reveal that the examined dimensions of board diversity have significant influences on risk-taking: family firms with lower levels of board diversity generally take more risks than those with higher levels of board diversity. Our study contributes to the literature on risk-taking of family business and has important practical implications for motivating family business innovation in China.

     

Influence factors for operational control and compensation in professional service firms

Professional service firms have distinct operational challenges due to the type of work that is transacted by the employees of these firms, and due to the nature of the employees themselves. In this paper, we develop and present factors that influence professional service operations in firms and compensation structures for professional service providers. We establish professional service influence factors, which we posit will impact agency relationships in professional service firms. That is, we hypothesize that professional service influence factors (PSIFs) will moderate the effect of task programmability and outcome measurability in predicting the use of behavior- or outcome-based compensation schemes (control strategy). Logistic regression is used on data provided by 192 professional service providers in order to examine the impact of the agency variables and moderating factors on control strategies. The results indicate that company- and profession-based factors have moderating effects on task programmability when predicting control strategy. We discuss the implications of our findings.