How and when matter: Exploring the interaction effects of high‐performance work systems,employee participation,and human capital on organizational innovation

Existing research on the relationship between high‐performance work systems (HPWS) and organizational innovation has paid insufficient attention to the boundary effects of employee participation and human capital. Bridging the human resource management (HRM) and employment relations literature, this study contributes to the contingency view of HRM and China‐specific research by investigating how human capital and employee participation, direct voice mechanism, and corporate governance participation jointly moderate the relationship between HPWS and organizational innovation. We test our three‐way interaction model using a sample of 108 firms and 1,250 employees in China. The results suggest that HPWS are positively associated with organizational innovation when employees with relatively less human capital are coupled with more direct voice mechanism or less corporate governance participation. In contrast, HPWS are negatively related to organizational innovation when employees possessing greater human capital are coupled with more direct voice mechanism. The theoretical and managerial implications and future research directions are discussed.     

Intellectual Capital Architectures and Ambidextrous Learning: A Framework for Human Resource Management

abstract    Both researchers and managers are increasingly interested in how firms can pursue ambidextrous learning; that is, simultaneously exploring new knowledge domains while exploiting current ones. Ambidextrous learning is derived from intellectual capital architectures that underlie unique configurations of human, social, and organizational capital. We identified two distinctive architectures of intellectual capital that facilitate ambidextrous learning. Refined interpolation is an architecture comprised of specialist human capital supplemented by cooperative social capital, and complemented by organic organizational capital. Disciplined extrapolation is an architecture comprised of generalist human capital, supplemented by entrepreneurial social capital, and complemented by mechanistic organizational capital. As organization contexts to support these architectures, we have also identified two alternative HR configurations that facilitate ambidextrous learning. One HR configuration combines job or function-based development, ILM-based employee relations, and error embracing performance/control systems to support refined interpolation. The other HR configuration combines skill-based development, market-based employee relations, and error avoiding performance/control systems to support disciplined extrapolation. Our framework may provide valuable theoretical implications for HRM systems regarding the issues of internal fits and best configurations.     

Crossing the level of employee's performance: HPWS,affective commitment,human capital,and employee job performance in professional service organizations

Extant research on high-performance work systems (HPWS) has primarily examined the effects of HPWS on firm-level performance from a macro perspective and mostly in manufacturing settings. This study extends this literature by integrating social exchange theory and human capital theory perspectives to examine how shop-level HPWS affect employee individual performance in the service context, especially focusing on the small-scale professional service organizations. Data collected from multiple sources included 97 hair salon shop owners and 284 hairdressers as well as objective job performance measured in terms of each hairdresser's average monthly service sales. Results from cross-level analysis indicated that the relationship between shop-level HPWS and employee job performance was mediated by employee affective commitment and their human capital. These findings shed new light on the mechanisms through which HPWS impact employee outcomes and serve to bridge between macro and micro perspectives of human resource management.     

支持性人力资源实践与员工工作绩效的关系研究

近年来,随着经济迅速发展,人力资源部开始通过不断尝试实施各种人力资源实践活动来改善并规范企业的管理,人力资源工作人员也逐渐意识到支持性人力资源实践的重要性。支持性人力资源实践包含公平奖惩,员工参与和成长空间三个维度,正能体现组织认同员工贡献、信任员工并对员工进行人力资本投资。本研究以我国珠三角地区企业为主要研究对象,基于339个研究样本,采用文献研究法、问卷调查法,并运用相关分析、探索性因素分析、验证性因素分析和多元回归分析法等,来探讨支持性人力资源实践和工作绩效三者间的关系,并证明了支持性人力资源实践对工作绩效存在显著的正向影响作用。     

Workforce churning,human capital disruption,and organisational performance in different technological contexts

We assess the influence of workforce churning on the relationship between organisational human capital and labour productivity. Building on collective turnover research and human capital theory, we examine how the components of workforce churning (i.e., voluntary turnover, involuntary turnover, and new hires) influence the relationship between existing human capital and labour productivity. Further, we examine how this influence varies according to a firm's technological intensity. Our data come from 1,911 Italian manufacturing firms and reveals that collective voluntary turnover negatively affects the relationship between organisational human capital and labour productivity regardless of an organisation's level of technological intensity. In contrast, collective involuntary turnover enhances the relationship between human capital and labour productivity, and its effect is even stronger for organisations with more technologically intensive operations. Finally, our results suggest that the integration of new hires disrupts the relationship between human capital and productivity, particularly for firms with technologically intensive operations.     

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.     

Does structuring of human resource management processes enhance employee creativity? The mediating role of psychological availability

In this study, we develop a theoretical conceptualization and an operational definition of structuring of human resource management (HRM) processes and examine how this structuring enables employee creativity at work. Analyzing the data collected from employees and their managers in knowledge‐intensive workplace settings, we examine a mediation model that suggests that the relationship between structuring of HRM processes and employee creativity is best explained in terms of the intervening variables of perceived uncertainty, stress, and psychological availability. Results suggest that structuring of HRM processes is negatively associated with perceived uncertainty and stress. These perceptions produce a sense of psychological availability, which in turn enhances employee creativity. This study offers new insights about diagnosing the level of structuring of HRM processes and the ways managers and HR directors facilitate its implementation in their organization. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Customers cocreating value with the firm: implications for IHRM

The purpose of this article is to develop a theoretical framework for governing an organization's relationships with customers engaged as contributors to the organization's business processes (i.e. customers as quasi-employees). Based on our suggested framework, we explain how appropriate customer-centric HRM practices can support more cost-effective and accommodating adaptations in the organization's governance of its relationships with customers. We complement these propositions with practical examples illustrating how customers who take different cooperative roles will increasingly become valuable organizational assets. The collaborating customers not only provide the information necessary for the successful performance of the service exchange, but also contribute human and social capital in performing tasks that are a complement to or a substitute for employee tasks. In conclusion, we outline implications for international human resource management (IHRM), as well as future research directions for examining the relationships among customer governance, role configurations, and IHRM practices.     

Preserving employee capabilities in economic turbulence

This paper examines how, in times of austerity, employee capabilities can assist firms in augmenting their human capital and at the same time meeting their financial obligations. Real option theory, a concept borrowed from economics, is used to provide a theoretical framework to demonstrate that management has choices when making decisions in times of austerity. The framework provides a means of understanding how decisions can be made to both maintain employee capabilities and at the same time focus on company profit maximisation, typically demanded by shareholders in times of austerity. The study establishes the benefits of a continuous approach to capability development in an environment of economic turbulence. Most importantly, it paves the way for future research in this increasingly critical area.     

The concept of psychological capital: a comprehensive review

In this paper, we provide a comprehensive view on the concept of psychological capital (PsyCap) and develop an agenda for future research. PsyCap describes an individual’s psychological capacity that can be measured, developed, and managed for performance improvement. The higher-order construct comprises the psychological resources self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience, and has been linked with a range of desirable work attitudes, behaviors, and other outcomes. By analyzing and structuring the existing literature on PsyCap, we identified several research gaps that require further analysis. In particular, we encourage researchers to expand the research on the effects of PsyCap to other workplace-related domains, especially the field of strategic decision-making, we call for researchers to further study the relationship between emotions and PsyCap, and we suggest to analyze the effects of PsyCap in the context of strategic human resources management. Also, future studies should establish transparency on the interaction between organizational change processes and PsyCap as well as the relative importance of the four components of PsyCap. We close by discussing the implications of our findings for corporate practice, such as employee selection and development.     

High performance work practice implementation and employee impressions of line manager leadership

Human resource management (HRM) research has documented the importance of high performance work practices (HPWPs) to organizations, and recent efforts have argued for increasing attention to the role of line manager implementation of HPWPs. To date, research in this area has focused largely on the organizational or employee implications of HPWP implementation, ignoring the process through which implementation affects outcomes. In this article, we use theory on impression formation to describe the perceptual process through which line manager implementation of HPWPs facilitates the formation of different employee impressions of manager leadership styles. We argue that this process is contingent upon employee attributions of implementation intent, which are influenced by the interaction of employee affective and attributional tendencies with line manager implementation style (i.e., political skill). Our conceptualization of this process contributes to HRM research by demonstrating the benefits of integrating it with leadership theory, as well as identifying the role of interpersonal perceptual processes in the effects of HPWPs.     

Dynamizing human resources: An integrative review of SHRM and dynamic capabilities research

Human resource management (HRM) systems have been extensively analyzed in academic research yet limited attention has been paid to the role of HRM dynamic capabilities (DC) and their impact on resources and practices, employee well-being and firm performance. Our study bridges this gap by defining a new categorization of HRM DC based on their ultimate aims: building knowledge, advancing social integration and developing reconfiguration-enhancing mechanisms. In parallel, we offer an integrative framework to shed light on how strategic human resource management (SHRM) can accelerate HRM DC development. Through this conceptual process model and typology of capabilities, we deepen the discussion around the core components of HRM systems, HRM DC, and their effects on resources and practices, employee well-being and performance. In practical terms, HRM DC represent a promising driver of sustainable long-term organizational growth by enabling firms to boost their strategic agility and capacity to navigate in the presence of environmental dynamism.     

Strategic HR system differentiation between jobs: The effects on firm performance and employee outcomes

The purpose of this research was to understand whether firms apply different human resource management systems to different occupations within the same organization (HR differentiation) and how the extent to which they do so may influence firm and employee outcomes. We conducted two studies pertaining to these questions. The first study was based on data collected from managers, and the results suggest that firms differentiate their HR investments based on the strategic value of occupations to the firm, which was further associated with the human capital of those occupations. Differentiation in human capital was also associated with firm performance. The second study was based on data obtained from nonmanagement employees. The findings indicated that employees who were recipients of less HR system investment had lower fairness perceptions, which were further associated with higher turnover intentions and lower organizational citizenship behavior. Although the evidence from these studies suggests that firms may realize benefits from strategic HR system differentiation, managers should carefully consider how to balance the effects of differentiation on firm performance and employee well‐being before implementing such systems.     

浅析管理沟通在员工关系管理中的作用及应用

现代社会中较物质资本而言,人力资本在经济活动中更活跃更具发展特性,从而使其成为现代经济增长的主要因素,甚至是首要因素。随着企业竞争的日益激烈,如何留住、用好人才,已成为人力资源管理面临的重大挑战。由此员工关系管理的重要性和必要性越来越凸显出来,在一定程度上,我们甚至可以说员工关系管理的和谐与否决定着企业经营的成败。     

Creating high performance teamwork in organizations

The adoption of teams continues to increase in almost every domain of modern work life. In the current article we review evidence of the complexity of modern work, industry trends in the use of teams, and the challenges of achieving the full potential of organizational work teams. We aimed to meaningfully move forward the science of high performance teamwork by assembling a focused set of review articles in the present special issue. We consider four themes that capture the articles in this special issue and avenues for achieving the full potential of teams: (1) work across boundaries; (2) build effective team processes and states; (3) manage team development issues; and (4) leverage human capital. Collectively, the contents of this special issue offer important new opportunities for advancing future research and for making a practical difference in the effectiveness of teams in organizations. We identify six areas in which future research efforts in high performance teamwork should be directed based on “realities” that, in our view, need to be addressed.     

Human Capital and CEO Compensation during Institutional Transitions

Firms appoint CEOs with different types of human capital in order to manage resource dependencies. How CEOs are compensated thus can be conceptualized as a valuation process of how boards view the value of CEOs' human capital. Two types of human capital – international experience and political ties – have emerged as potential drivers of CEO compensation during institutional transitions. But how they impact CEO compensation has remained unclear. We develop a resource dependence‐based, contingency framework to focus on the external and internal factors that enable or constrain human capital to impact CEO compensation. Because of the tremendous regional diversity within China, externally, we focus on the level of marketization of the region in which firms are headquartered. Internally, we pay attention to two corporate governance mechanisms: politically connected outside directors and compensation committee. Data from 10,329 firm‐year observations at 94 per cent of listed firms in China largely support our framework. Overall, our study contributes to resource dependence research by extending this research to the context of institutional transitions with a focus on how human capital impacts CEO compensation.     

Back to basics: Learning about employee energy and motivation from running on my treadmill

In an effort to understand how to optimize employee energy at work, we borrow from the sports physiology literature to develop and test several concepts that have now been used in more than 75 large and small organizations (e.g., automobile firms, banks, hospitals, manufacturing, high technology, service businesses, financial services, and more). Our focus on employee energy led us to develop new measures and processes for our research. The resulting studies presented in this article test two hypotheses focusing on the link between employee energy, turnover, job performance, and job satisfaction. Consistent with what we know about athletic performance, we found that energy is an optimization construct and that variation in employee energy at work has detrimental consequences for performance and satisfaction. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE ON HUMAN CAPITAL‐INTENSIVE FIRMS

The aim of this paper is to provide an exhaustive survey of the academic research dedicated to the study of human capital‐intensive firms (HCIFs). We use a bibliometric analysis based on the three widely used databases (Econlit, Science Direct and Wiley) over the period 1992–2015. We are adapting a methodology developed in previous works to our specific object of study, and we generate a bottom‐up clustering on keywords, titles and abstracts. Our examination of the data sheds a light on five main clusters of works that respectively focus on (1) critical human resource management, (2) intellectual capital assessment, (3) funding risk and innovation (4) high‐skilled employees supporting economic development and (5) internal and external valuable social networks. In a critical appraisal of our results, we stress that the bibliometric analysis remains silent on how the different clusters are linked with each other. Based on our own appreciation of the HCIFs literature, we propose a further step in the identification of a central question linking up these clusters: a transversal review of the five clusters reveals that HCIFs appear as a network of specialized agents whose complementary human resources are decisive for the value‐creation process.     

Navigating the shifting landscapes of HRM

A confluence of mega-trends mean that HR is experiencing disruption and change on an unprecedented scale. This special issue is designed to inform our understanding of these shifting landscapes of HRM. In this overview we detail the broad contextual backdrop of key changes, before providing an overview of the six articles that make up this special issue. The articles cover agile HR, HR disruption, strategic human capital, employee health and safety, HR co-creation and global flexible working arrangements. We conclude by threading key insights together with suggestions on how theory and research might seek to better embrace disruption and navigate the shifting landscapes of HRM. This includes striving for interdisciplinary insight, finding motivation in practice, looking back to go forward, using multiple pathways for understanding, challenging assumptions and accommodating HR agency. The understanding and insight offered in this special issue hold special relevance in the context of the COVID-19 crisis.     

心理资本前因变量的理论探讨

在知识经济时代,人力资本与社会资本的投资是组织创造竞争优势的重要源泉,而心理资本的投资与开发则是组织创造竞争优势的基础和动力。心理资本是个体一般积极性的核心心理要素,组织氛围、心理授权、领导情绪智力、组织文化、高绩效工作系统等因素会影响员工的心理资本水平,因此,应从这些角度更好地开发和有效干预员工心理资本,来保持组织竞争优势。