The impact of diversity and equality management on firm performance: Beyond high performance work systems

This article demonstrates that a diversity and equality management system (DEMS) contributes to firm performance beyond the effects of a traditional high‐performance work system (HPWS), which consists of bundles of work practices and policies used extensively in high‐performing firms. A DEMS typically includes diversity training and monitoring recruitment, pay, and promotion across minority or other disadvantaged groups. Our analysis of quantitative data from service and manufacturing organizations in Ireland confirms that HPWS practices are associated with positive business performance and finds specifically that DEMS practices are positively associated with higher labor productivity and workforce innovation and lower voluntary employee turnover. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The impact of human resource management practices and corporate entrepreneurship on firm performance: evidence from Turkish firms

This paper outlines the important role of human resource management practices with a link between corporate entrepreneurship and firm performance. Data were collected from a survey of 124 firms operating in different industries in Turkey. The findings of this study indicated that human resource management (HRM) practices partially mediated the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and firm performance. In other words, corporate entrepreneurship affects firm performance, both directly and through its effects on HRM practices. In addition to corporate entrepreneurship, it is found that HRM practices explain a significant level of additional variance (9 per cent) in firm performance. The theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

The impact of financial performance on environmental policy: does firm life cycle matter?

Existing literature has provided inconclusive evidence regarding the impact of financial performance on firm policy relating to environmental issues. In this paper, we propose that the influence of corporate financial performance on corporate environmental policy is unlikely to be monotonic but, rather, will vary with firm life cycle. We test this hypothesis by the application of static and dynamic techniques on panel data from UK companies. The results provide support for our hypotheses that financial performance has the strongest impact on environmental policy in the maturity stage of the firm life cycle and the weakest impact in the rapid growth stage. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Survival of the fittest: The impact of eco‐certification and reputation on firm performance

Owing to the increased trend for organic products and the concept of sustainable development, firms must invest in valuable and unique resources to achieve long‐term success and gain competitive advantages. Building on insights from the resource‐based view and natural‐resource‐based view of the firm, the study focuses on the contribution of corporate reputation and eco‐certification as intangible influences on corporate performance. Duration analysis is applied on a sample of 1,572 German wineries over the period 1994 to 2017. The results indicate that individual reputation and eco‐certification have a statistically significant and positively impact on corporate performance, whereas there is no clear evidence of this relationship for collective reputation. In addition, especially those firms with high individual reputation benefit most from eco‐certification. These results are robust across different parametric and semiparametric model estimations.     

HR flexibility: Precursors and the contingent impact on firm financial performance

Using data from 170 for‐profit U.S. firms with 100 or more employees from 27 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) industry subsectors, we investigated firm‐level precursors of HR flexibility and industry‐level boundary conditions of the HR flexibility—firm financial performance relationship. The findings denote that a contingency illumination is warranted in which consideration should be given to firm‐level factors such as flexibility business strategy and high‐performance work systems, which may play a key role in engendering HR flexibility, and external factors such as industry dynamism and growth, which may serve as boundary conditions that influence the relevance and impact of HR flexibility. This study is an important extension of extant HR flexibility research and adds clarity regarding the roles and relevance of HR flexibility and the circumstances in which HR flexibility and/or its focal factors may augment (or diminish) firm competitiveness and performance.     

Differentiation strategy,high-performance human resource practices,and firm performance: moderation by employee commitment

Drawing on the inducement–contribution perspective, we examined a moderated mediation model demonstrating how differentiation strategy affected firm performance indirectly through high-performance human resource (HPHR) practices. Data were collected from 81 service firms in an eastern province of China. Path analytic tests supported the findings that employee commitment (EC) moderated the fully mediated relationship between differentiation strategy and firm performance through HPHR practices. Specifically, a stronger EC enhanced positive associations between differentiation strategy and HPHR practices, and between HPHR practices and firm performance.     

Reverse logistics capabilities and firm performance: the mediating role of business strategy

This study aims to examine the impact of reverse logistics capabilities on firm performance and mediating role of logistics strategies. We reviewed three theories of reverse logistics capabilities: (a) resource-based view of the firm, (b) transaction cost economics, and (c) institutional theory. We examined six reverse logistics capabilities: logistics information management, close-loop capability, supply chain integration, supply chain coordination, conformity capability, and institutional incentives. We examined three reverse logistics strategies: joint reverse logistics, manufacturer reverse logistics, and third-party reverse logistics. We conducted a survey of Chinese mobile phone companies out of which we received 125 usable questionnaires with a response rate of 80%. The results of mediated hierarchical regression support the hypothesis that reverse logistics capabilities influence firm performance. Institutional factors were more significant than supply chain factors. Close-loop capability was the most significant factor. We provide managerial implications and suggestions for future research.     

Assessing the impact of green supply chain practices on firm performance in the Korean manufacturing industry

As a growing number of customers tend to view corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a key purchase decision criterion, demands for CSR including environmental sustainability have accelerated in today's business world. To meet such demands, many firms consider embracing environment-friendly business practices. However, many firms are still hesitant to implement those practices due to sceptical views about their real managerial benefits. Although the previous literature confirms the positive link between a firm's commitment to environmental sustainability and its performance, the varying degree of impact of different kinds of environment-friendly supply chain practices on the firm's operational performance is still unknown. To fill the void left by prior research, this paper aims to classify various types of green supply chain management (GSCM) practices and then assess the impact of each of these distinct types on the firm's operational performances (especially manufacturing and marketing performance). Also, this paper examines how the firm's organisational profiles such as firm size affect the particular firm's choice of GSCM practices. Our experimental results reveal that the chosen type of GSCM practices influences the firm's performance differently.     

Employee ownership and firm performance: a meta‐analysis

Employee ownership has been an area of significant practitioner and academic interest for the past four decades. Yet, empirical results on the relationship between employee ownership and firm performance remain mixed. To aggregate findings and provide potential direction for future theoretical development, we conducted a meta‐analysis of 102 samples representing 56,984 firms. Employee ownership has a small, but positive and statistically significant relation to firm performance ( = 0.04). The effect is generally positive for studies with different sampling designs (samples assessing change in performance pre‐employee–post‐employee ownership adoption or samples on firms with employee ownership), different performance operationalisation (efficiency or growth) and firm type (publicly held or privately held). Suggesting benefits of employee ownership in a variety of contexts, we found no differences in effects on performance in publicly held versus privately held firms, stock or stock option‐based ownership plans or differences in effects across different firm sizes (i.e. number of employees). We do find that the effect of employee ownership on performance has increased in studies over time and that studies with samples from outside the USA report stronger effects than those within. We also find little to no evidence of publication bias.     

Employee ownership heterogeneity and firm performance in China

Employee ownership (EO) has gained increasingly significant attention from both business practitioners and policy makers in China. Through the examination of the implementation of EO by China's listed firms from 1992 to 2017 with a total of 3,396 firms and 36,559 firm‐year observations, we explored the relationship between EO implementation and firm performance. In general, we found that over time, EO firms outperform non‐EO firms in China, and the influence of EO is only different in nuanced aspects in different time periods according to the change of policies. The data from the most recent period, that is, 2014–2017, indicate that EO adopters have higher performance than matched non‐EO firms both before and after adoption, but the relative performance does not increase after adoption. We further examined the interactive effect between EO and executive stock ownership (ESO) schemes and found that the adoption of ESO weakens the positive relationship between EO and firm performance. Regarding different types of EO, we found lower performance in companies with high return rights but no control rights, and we found better performance when high return rights are combined with control rights. We suggested policy and managerial implications on the basis of the findings.     

Corporate governance, Sarbanes-Oxley, and small-cap firm performance

The recent debate on the onerous costs of compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act has primarily focused on small firms. I study the effects of SOX compliance on such firms by comparing the performance of Canadian small-cap firms that are subject to SOX provisions with those that are not, while: (a) taking into account firms’ internal and external governance mechanisms, including the market for corporate control, and (b) accounting for the simultaneous interactions between alternative governance mechanisms and firm performance. Firms subject to Sarbanes-Oxley experienced an incremental increase in market valuation ranging between 15.7% and 34% depending on the measure of board independence used in the estimation. Some sub-optimal deployment of the endogenous governance mechanisms is observed, while the market for corporate control serves as a positive disciplining factor.     

Customer service-focused HRM systems and firm performance: evidence from the service industry in Taiwan

Abstract

This study adopts a resource-based view, attraction–selection–attrition theory and a focused approach to examine the link between service-focused human resource management (HRM) systems and firm performance. Internally, we examine employee competency as the ‘black box’ between service-focused HRM systems and firm performance. Externally, we examine the effect of the interplay of a service-focused strategy and service-focused HRM systems in predicting firm performance. We collect data from different sources (i.e. executives, human resource members, and line managers). Using a final sample included 2120 respondents from 175 firms in the service industry in Taiwan, the results show that customer service-focused employee competency transmitted 53% of the effect of customer service-focused HRM systems on firm performance. In addition, when a firm implements a less service-focused business strategy, service-focused HRM systems leads to significant improvement in firm performance. Implications for research are discussed.     

HRM professionals and their perceptions of HRM and firm performance in the Philippines

This paper reports the findings of a study conducted in the Philippines that examines the extent of adoption of human capital-enhancing human resource (HR) and industrial relations (IR) practices. Differences between locally owned and other organizations in these practices and their relationship to firm performance were also investigated. Questionnaire responses were obtained from managers and union representatives from 128 organizations located in the Philippines. The results indicated that there was, on average, a fairly high level of adoption of practices consistent with a strategic approach to human resource management (HRM), with foreign-owned firms tending to show a slightly higher level of adoption of such practices. A scale representing the adoption of a more conciliatory and union-friendly IR approach was found to be a significant predictor of perceived firm performance. Surprisingly, the level of strategic integration between HRM and business planning and most human capital-enhancing HR practices were not significant predictors of perceived firm performance. Research and practical implications in relation to the role of HRM in enhancing firm performance are discussed.     

Strategic integration of HRM and firm performance in a changing environment in China: the impact of organisational effectiveness as a mediator

In the context of dramatic changes in China, this paper investigates the role of organisational effectiveness as a mediator in the relationship between the strategic integration of human resource management (HRM) and firm financial performance. Our study is based on the survey responses of 618 managers in state-owned and private (domestic and foreign-invested) enterprises in China. While most studies of the linkage between HRM practices and firm performance in China have measured firm financial performance or used an ad hoc combination of financial and non-financial indicators, we argue for a distinction to be made between non-financial organisational effectiveness and financial performance. As hypothesised, controlling for sector (state-owned vs. private), we find positive relationships between perceived changing business environment and strategic integration of HRM, and between strategic integration of HRM and organisational effectiveness. Our research adds an important conceptual link by showing that organisational effectiveness plays an important role as a mediator in the HRM and firm financial performance relationship and reinforces the importance of the organisational and environmental context for HRM.     

HR and firm performance at companies in Turkey： Correlative analysis

Aim of this study is to discuss matters with HR and finn performance. Therefore, we used HR and firm performance questionnaire from Delaney and Huselid （1996）. HR variables include recruitment, training, compensation and promotion. Firm performance divided into organizational and market performance. Therefore, correlation analysis demonstrates that HR has positive and significant relationship with organizational performance, and HR has positive but weak relationship with market performance. Therefore, we can propose that HR is partly correlated with firm performance for those companies in sample. Therefore, since we didn＇t realize demography of companies in study, it is arguable, findings of this study can be generalized to other companies in Turkey.     

Human resource management systems,employee well-being,and firm performance from the mutual gains and critical perspectives: The well-being paradox

In this study, we explored the additive, interactive, and nonlinear relationships among human resource management (HRM) systems, employee well-being, and firm performance. Based on a sample of 14,384 employees nested within 1,347 firms, we obtained three main findings. First, HRM systems yield a performance effect that exceeds the effect of single practice, suggesting positive synergies among HRM practices. Second, the opportunity bundle has a positive impact on firm performance, but when integrating it with skills and motivation bundles, the result becomes negative, indicating dis-synergy of interactions among HRM bundles. Third, at moderate levels of adoption, HRM practices are positively correlated with employee well-being and higher levels of commitment, job satisfaction, and management relations, as well as lower levels of anxiety. However, at high levels, the relationship is less positive and even turns negative with lower levels of job satisfaction and management relations. To close, we present research implications and future directions after discussing our results.     

The effect of cash holdings on firm performance in large Italian companies

This paper examines the relationship between cash holdings and performance in Italy over 36 years. Specifically, in light of the presence of conflicting evidence concerning the worth of cash stock, which could lead to a positive effect rather than a negative one, the role of moderating factors that can shape the magnitude of this relationship is investigated. The results show that the value of cash holdings is affected by firm‐specific characteristics, as well as factors related to the institutional context. Although other studies have analyzed moderators one at a time, this is the first work to consider how they jointly work. When the moderators are considered together, some of them become no longer statistically significant while others become even more economically and statistically relevant.     

Boosting environmental management: The mediating role of Industry 4.0 between environmental assets and economic and social firm performance

The adoption of new innovative ecosystems linked to Industry 4.0 (I4.0) in industrial firms has created new opportunities for performance. In this study, we investigate whether I4.0 can reinforce environmental asset management in achieving firm economic and social performance. We intend to contrast the existence of I4.0-based reward mechanisms for being green. Using a panel of 1028 Spanish industrial firms in 2009–2016 period and a partial least squares structural equation modelling econometric methodology, the research has obtained two main results. First, the management of environmental assets generates positive effects on the economic and social performance of the industrial firm. Second, research findings confirm the mediating role of I4.0, which ends up reinforcing the relationship between environmental assets and the economic and social firm performance. The results obtained highlight the importance of complementary relationships between digital and environmental transformation to promote firm performance. Implications for firm strategy and business models are also discussed.     

Gender diversity and firm performance: evidence from Dutch and Danish boardrooms

Drawing on the business case for gender diversity, this article examines whether board gender diversity has a positive effect on firm performance, based on evidence from the Netherlands and Denmark. We use empirical data on 186 listed firms observed in 2007. Almost 40% have at least one woman in the boardroom. Within boards, the average share of women is only 5.4%. To investigate the impact of board gender diversity, two-stage least-squares estimation is applied, using Tobin’s Q as a measure of performance. Our findings indicate that on the basis of this data-set, there is no relation between board diversity and firm performance.     

The relationship between human resource management practices,business strategy and firm performance: evidence from steel industry in Taiwan

The primary objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between human resource management (HRM) practices, business strategy and firm performance. We examined the following HRM practices: training and development; teamwork; compensation/incentives; HR planning; performance appraisal; and employment security. We surveyed 236 managers working at steel firms in Taiwan to explore their perceptions on the impact of HRM practices and business strategy on firm performance. The results of this study are summarized as follows: (1) HRM practices will be positively related to firm performance; (2) there is a close linkage between HRM practices and business strategy; (3) business strategies will be positively related to firm performance; (4) integrating HRM practices with business strategies will be positively related to firm performance.