Integrating strategic human capital and strategic human resource management

Abstract

Human capital is an important construct in a variety of fields spanning from micro scholarship in psychology to macro scholarship in economics. Within the various disciplinary perspectives, research focuses on slightly different aspects and levels of human capital within organizations, which may give opportunities for integration. The current paper aims to increase knowledge about human capital within organizations by integrating two streams of research which focus directly on human capital, but have approached human capital in different ways: strategic human capital (SHC), and strategic HRM. We describe both SHC and strategic HRM research streams and propose areas of integration, and directions for future research on human capital in organizations.     

The HRM–capital market link: Effects of securities analysts on strategic human capital

This article develops theory about an agency problem affecting the strategic human capital (SHC) of the firm. It proposes three categories of SHC‐related choices managers must make that imply a trade‐off between near‐ and long‐term performance. Dispersed shareholding, firm coverage by securities analysts, and their practice of publishing quarterly earnings forecasts are argued to entail a bias in management incentives, shifting the balance in this trade‐off toward near‐term performance. To restore the balance, securities analysts would need to distinguish transitory from recurring effects of SHC‐related choices in their valuation models (e.g., treating certain labor cost savings during cyclical downturns as transitory). Restoring the balance would also require them to anticipate long‐term effects in their long‐term earnings forecasts (e.g., long‐term positive effects of retaining employees with valuable skills during cyclical downturns). The article discusses specific transitory cost effects and long‐term effects they could potentially take into account. The skills and incentives needed by analysts to account for such effects are argued to vary across firm segments.     

The strategic role of knowledge management in nonprofit organisations

• Australian nonprofit organisations (NFPs) operate in an increasingly competitive marketplace for funding staff and volunteers and donations. In this context, many NFPs are being driven to adopt more commercial practices in order to improve their strategic performance, particularly competitive positioning for donor appeal, staff retention and service strategy and delivery. Knowledge management (KM) is one commercial practice being explored and implemented by the NFP sector to support strategic performance and operations. Although the concept of knowledge management is basically understood, the implications and strategies to pursue this practice in a NFP context are under explored. This paper presents a KM implementation planning framework for discussion and further research in the NFP sector. Specifically, this paper proposes that NFP's unique missions, many and varied organisational structures and operational maturity requires a customised approach to knowledge management. Implications for competitive strategy and performance are discussed.

© 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trust or bust: Growth effects of knowledge,human and social capital revisited

Social capital consists of trust, collective values, and shared norms. It helps society to work efficiently and, hence, promotes knowledge accumulation and growth. This paper identifies the contribution of social capital to differences in total factor productivity among European subnational regions, but, unlike other studies, it focuses on the effects of interregional differences in social capital. To do so, the paper employs a spatial Durbin model of a social-capital extended Cobb-Douglas production function. Our results suggest that transfers of knowledge might be secondary to the presence of collectivism and human capital in knowledge-generating regions. Although knowledge can cross boundaries, an absence of skills and trust limits local growth capacity. Our estimations also suggest the presence of gravity effects emanating from social and human capital in which some regions lose against others nearby that have more abundant social and human capital.     

Exploring human capital: putting ‘human’ back into strategic human resource management

The field of strategic human resource management has seemingly rediscovered human capital with increasing research focused on human capital as a mediator in the relationship between HR practices and performance. In this paper we review human capital definitions and measurement approaches within this literature. We then identify some of the issues emerging with human capital research. Finally, we propose some future directions for research on human capital in organisations.     

Promoting knowledge sharing in Tunisian KIFs through HRM Practices. The mediating role of human capital and learning climate

Abstract

Although human capital and learning climate have been considered in the SHRM Literature as two critical predictors of organizational success, little efforts have been made to examining their role in knowledge sharing. Our research aims at filling this gap. Using data from 203 knowledge workers in seven Tunisian KIFs, our study provides evidence, on a first level, for a direct link between the five HR practices and knowledge sharing. On a second level, we report a mediating role of human capital. In congruence with prior SHRM research, this result implies that the knowledge-based HR practices influence the value and uniqueness of the employees’ KSAOs, which in turn will improve their knowledge sharing behavior. On a third and final level, our results suggest that learning climate plays a mediation role as well. Such a result echoes recent research findings that confirmed the importance of learning climates in shaping employees’ behaviors toward achieving specific organizational objectives. Our findings provide important insights on the intermediary mechanisms between HRM practices and knowledge sharing behavior in KIFs and offer interesting research perspectives on the under-theorized role of human capital in a knowledge sharing context.     

The components of career capital for knowledge workers in the global economy

The impact of globalization, demographic changes and technological advancements among other factors, have been driving new forms of organization, new ways of working and new characteristics in individuals and employees (Ohmae 2001). The purpose and direction of a knowledge worker's career is no longer confined to a single employer boundary and is seen to be the responsibility of the employee. Therein lies the opportunity for individuals to understand, manage and leverage this dynamic context for career progression and growth through the accumulation and implementation of relevant and valued career capital. This research investigated empirically the components, formation, differentiating features and interplay between the components of career capital. A de facto model of career capital emerged from the research that represents an integrated view of the components of career capital that are recognized in the new global economy, thereby validating the literature review and contributing new insight. The outcome of this research could facilitate knowledge workers in enhancing their career capital and could provide a platform for the management of knowledge workers.     

The risk-return trade-off in human capital investment

In this paper, we analyze investments in human capital in a way which is standard for financial assets, but not (yet) for human capital assets. We study mean-variance plots of human capital assets. We compare the properties of human capital returns using a performance measure and by using tests for mean-variance spanning. Fields differ strongly not only in common rates of return, but also in return per unit of risk. We identify a range of educations that are efficient in terms of investment goods, and a range of educations that may be chosen for consumption purposes.     

浅析知识管理中人力资本对企业核心竞争力影响

随着竞争的日益加剧和环境的迅速变革,知识管理在企业竞争中的作用不断增加,成为人们日益关注的问题。文章通过分析知识管理、人力资本、企业核心竞争力三者的内在联系,为企业如何通过人力资本提高企业知识管理能力,促进企业核心竞争力的提高提供一些参考。     

Effects of strategic human resource management on strategic vision

It is pertinent for organizations that operate in a highly competitive environment to pursue a strategic vision. This study explores the effects of strategic human resource management (SHRM) on the implementation of a strategic vision. Other constructs of importance in the model include leadership, commitment and organizational structure. A total of 400 questionnaires were sent by mail to organizations of various industries and the total number of respondents was 104. Leadership was found to be significant in eight out of ten of the hypotheses, thereby indicating that the leadership of an organization plays an extremely important role in the achievement of a vision. Also, SHRM functions such that HR planning, recruitment and selection, rewards and compensation as well as training and development have significant effects in the achievement of different visions. For the vision of regional growth, leadership and organizational structure was found to be significant. Where market growth is pursued, leadership, reward system, commitment, training and staffing are significant. In the case of a strategic vision of mergers and ventures, only leadership was found to be significant. The only significant factor in the vision of low cost and productivity is planning. For a vision of customer focus and innovation, leadership and selection are the significant factors. Where innovation and product development are pursued, only planning is significant. For organizations that pursue cluster visions, the factors that are significant include leadership, commitment and selection.     

新阶段推动首都经济科学发展的战略思考

目前,首都经济开始进入由投资导向阶段向创新导向阶段迈进的关键时期。站在世界城市建设的战略高度,按照国家加快转变发展方式的要求,审视首都经济发展,与纽约、东京世界城市相比仍有较大差距。未来应更加注重高端引领、创新驱动和绿色发展,加快形成科技创新、文化创新"双轮驱动"发展格局。     

The emergence of human capital: Roles of social capital and coordination that drive unit performance

Empirical work on human capital has tended to focus on the direct effects of human capital on performance, whereas little attention has been paid to behaviours through which human capital influences performance. This study uses the “human capital emergence” model to examine relationships among human capital, social capital, coordination, and performance over a 2‐year period of time. Findings indicate that human capital, social capital, and coordination each influence performance. Human capital and social capital also positively predict coordination. Lastly, coordination mediates the relationships between human capital and performance and social capital and performance.     

Investment and capital structure decisions with strategic debt service under asymmetric information

This paper examines the agency problem due to manager-shareholder conflicts in a real option framework by incorporating strategic debt service. We show that when the equityholders’ bargaining power is weak, the optimal coupon is larger and the manager overinvests the project relative to the case without renegotiation, while the results are totally opposite when the bargaining power is strong. An increase in equityholders’ bargaining power reduces the manager’s value and the total social value. Especially, the social value can be improved by debt renegotiation when the systematic risk is high, which provides an explanation why Chinese government encourage the market-oriented debt restructuring.     

Structural social capital and knowledge acquisition: implications of cluster membership

This paper analyzes the implications of belonging to a cluster through the relationship between structural social capital and knowledge acquisition. The findings suggest structural social capital only indirectly affects knowledge acquisition through the relational and cognitive dimensions of firms’ membership of a cluster. However, the structural dimension also has a direct impact on knowledge for external firms outside a cluster. This paper contributes to the cluster literature with a better contextualization and understanding of the relationship between structural social capital and knowledge acquisition. In addition, the paper also consolidates the inter-organizational approach to social capital theory by helping to understand how and in what context social capital dimensions are interrelated. The study analyzes how firms can acquire valuable knowledge from their networks, filling the gap in the literature on how this process occurs inside and outside clusters. This works also proposes recommendations for companies and institutions, and new complementary lines of research.     

The impact of demographic change on human capital accumulation

This paper investigates whether and to what extent demographic change has an impact on human capital accumulation. The effect of the relative cohort size on educational attainment of young adults in Germany is analyzed utilizing data from the German Socio-Economic Panel for West-German individuals of the birth cohorts 1966 to 1986. These are the cohorts which entered the labor market since the 1980s. Particular attention is paid to the effect of changes in labor market conditions, which constitute an important channel through which demographic change may affect human capital accumulation. Our findings suggest that the variables measuring demographic change exert a considerable though heterogeneous impact on the human capital accumulation of young Germans. Changing labor market conditions during the 1980s and 1990s exhibit a sizeable impact on both the highest schooling and the highest professional degree obtained by younger cohorts.     

The return to firm investments in human capital

In this paper we estimate the rate of return to firm investments in human capital in the form of formal job training. We use a panel of large firms with detailed information on the duration of training, the direct costs of training, and several firm characteristics. Our estimates of the return to training are substantial (8.6%) for those providing training. Results suggest that formal job training is a good investment for these firms possibly yielding comparable returns to either investments in physical capital or investments in schooling.     

The measurement of human capital: a multivariate macro-approach

We examine the human capital status of 123 countries by employing factor analysis on various national human capital indicators for the period 2000–2008 to construct two new measures. The first measure is based on advanced human capital, while the second is based on basic human capital. Our measures differ substantially from indicators used in previous studies on human capital and also lead to different rankings of countries. As rankings are not that informative without further information, we analyzed the distance between each country and the sample mean. Differences between countries are much more pronounced for our measure on advanced human capital than for our measure on basic human capital. Using cluster analysis, we classified the countries in four homogenous groups.     

A knowledge transfer perspective of strategic assignment purposes and their path-dependent outcomes

Our research not only addresses the strategic purposes of expatriate assignments within multinational corporations but, unlike most earlier studies, extends the investigation to include their path-dependent outcomes. Adopting a knowledge transfer perspective we first re-define the principal assignment purpose categories of Edström and Galbraith (1977a Edström A Galbraith JR 1977a Transfer of Managers as a Control and Coordination Strategy in Multinational Organizations Administrative Science Quarterly 22 June 11 22 [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) as business applications, organization applications and expatriate learning. These purpose categories are then conceptually related in terms of a four-part typological matrix based on individual-level knowledge-flow direction and role focus. Following a review of prior assignment purpose studies we posit that strategic expatriate assignment purposes should be considered not in isolation but relative to their potential outcomes. Adopting a single-case research design with multi-method data collection, we demonstrate the emergent nature of strategic assignment outcomes. It is shown for our transnational case organization that knowledge acquisition or learning by expatriates is an underestimated strategic assignment outcome, more so than either business or organization-related knowledge applications.