Do Opportunities for Formal Learning Stimulate Follow‐Up Participation in Informal Learning? A Three‐Wave Study

Informal learning is an important source of employee adaptability and expertise, yet it is unclear how it may be encouraged through human resource management (HRM) practices. In this study, we investigate how opportunities for formal learning may be used to stimulate short‐ and long‐term participation in informal learning. In addition, we examine whether HRM system strength intensifies the relationship between opportunities for formal learning and informal learning. Using a sample of 430 respondents in 52 teams within six Dutch vocational and educational training schools, we adopt a longitudinal design to examine two types of autonomous informal learning activities (reflection and keeping up to date), and three collaborative activities (asking for feedback, knowledge sharing and innovative behavior) over two years. Opportunity for formal learning was positively related to short‐ and long‐term participation in informal learning activities, with the exception of long‐term innovation. Moreover, HRM system strength intensified these relationships. Managerial implications of these findings for encouraging informal learning activities at work are discussed. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Union substitution effects of human resource management practices in South Korean workplaces, 2005–2013

Abstract

This article explores the association between various workplace-level HRM practices and a decline in union strength using a unique longitudinal survey data-set gathered in South Korea from 2005 to 2013. It addresses the underlying theoretical mechanisms by which HRM programs substitute for the roles labor unions have traditionally played. Suggesting more nuanced theoretical implications about HRM practices and union decline, statistical analyses reveal that workplaces that have implemented HRM practices have unions with a weaker organizational base than those without such practices, but that certain HRM programs correlate with unions with a strong collective voice in management decision-making. This article identifies the new roles for unions in South Korea in the era of HRM.     

Cross-cultural perceptions of clan control in Korean multinational companies: a conceptual investigation of employees' fairness monitoring based on cultural values

While enjoying success in their home territory in terms of human resource management (HRM) and employee commitment, Korean multinational companies (MNCs) seem to struggle in their overseas subsidiaries to replicate this success in attracting/retaining talent. To explain the HRM challenges seen in many Korean MNCs, we adapt the notion of employees' fairness monitoring in developing a model which illustrates the relationships between clan control in Korean MNCs, employee's perceived fairness and the cultural values of individualism and collectivism. We offer our first set of propositions concerning associations between fairness monitoring and cultural values, before suggesting another set of propositions about relationships between employees' fairness judgement and clan control in Korean MNCs. Figures graphically illustrating of some of our propositions are also presented. Our model proposes that clan control in Korean MNCs may cause perceived low fairness judgement during employees' fairness monitoring in both individualistic and collectivistic cultures. We believe this paper should stimulate further enquiries in international HRM, cross-culture and fairness literatures.     

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.     

Radical HRM innovation and competitive advantage: The Moneyball story

Moneyball (Lewis, 2003), a New York Times bestseller, is a book about baseball. When read through a broader lens, however, Moneyball is also a book about innovation, resistance to change, competitive advantage, achieving excellence, and, of most relevance here, human resource management. While many would agree that the radical innovation described in Moneyball represents a “new vision of management” in baseball, this article describes how Moneyball lessons might contribute to a “new vision of HRM” in various types of organizations. The focus of the article is on what HR executives and scholars can learn from the Moneyball phenomenon. More specifically, the authors address a number questions related to the Moneyball story that have relevance to successfully implementing HRM innovations; these questions have to do with overcoming resistance to the implementation of radical innovation and how HRM innovation can contribute to sustainable competitive advantage. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Theoretical implications from the case of performance-based human resource management practices in Japan: management fashion,institutionalization and strategic human resource management perspectives

In Japan, a new type of human resource management (HRM) practices called ‘performance-based HRM practices’ (seika-shugi in Japanese) emerged in the 1990s, and has been adopted by many Japanese firms. In this paper, I illustrate how these type of practices emerged as a management fashion, diffused across a large number of Japanese firms, and became institutionalized in the Japanese business context; and discuss the relationship between performance-based HRM practices and firm performance. This illustration is used to develop a theoretical framework to better understand the relationship between HRM practices and firm performance by integrating theories of management fashions, institutionalization and strategic HRM. Suggestions for future research are also discussed.     

HRM Systems for Knowledge Workers: Differences Among Top Managers,Middle Managers,and Professional Employees

This theoretical study contributes to the debate in the field of strategic HRM on whether HRM systems should differ across employee groups within the firm. It explores differences in the efficacy of two HRM systems—high‐involvement HR and internal labor market systems—across top management teams, middle managers, and professional employees. In addition, it examines factors that may prevent the adoption of effective HRM systems for these groups of knowledge workers. A model is proposed depicting how four job‐level moderators influence the HRM‐performance relationship and how these moderators apply to each of the three employee groups. Short‐term performance pressures and favoritism in staffing are proposed as factors that may hinder the adoption of effective HRM systems. Finally, HRM systems for different employee groups are classified based on their gains potential and barriers to implementation, yielding four categories of strategic HRM activity metaphorically labeled low‐hanging fruits, high‐hanging fruits, peanuts, and barren land. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

HRM System Strength and HRM Target Achievement—Toward a Broader Understanding of HRM Processes

For some time, HRM researchers have paid attention to the process dimensions of HRM systems, especially to the question of how HRM system strength impacts on HRM outcomes. However, contributions tend to be theoretical, and empirical analyses are still rare. This article contributes to the discussion on HRM system strength by empirically analyzing the links between HRM system strength and HRM target achievement. We differentiate between single components of strength and their partial effects on two HRM target groups: the targets focusing on employee attitudes and the targets focusing on availability and effectiveness of human resources. Findings from a German data set with more than 1,000 observations indicate that HRM system strength has a positive influence on average HRM target achievement. Expectations regarding the differentiated effects of single components of HRM system strength are only partially supported. Nevertheless, our analyses give reason to consider a broader conception of HRM system strength than what has been explored to date. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Disability status,individual variable pay,and pay satisfaction: Does relational and institutional trust make a difference?

Although prior research suggests that disabled employees have different needs in the context of some HRM practices, we know little about their reactions to reward systems. We address this gap in the literature by testing a model using the 2011 British Workplace Employee Relations Survey (disabled employees, n = 1,251; nondisabled employees, n = 9,959; workplaces, n = 1,806) and find that disabled employees report lower levels of pay satisfaction than nondisabled employees, and when compensated based on individual performance, the difference in pay satisfaction is larger. We suggest that relational (derived from trust in management) and institutional (derived from firm‐wide policies and HRM practices, both intended to provide equitable treatment to disabled employees) forms of trust play important roles. The results of multilevel analyses show that when trust in management is high, the difference in pay satisfaction under variable pay is reduced. We find just the opposite for employees who work in organizations with a formal disability policy but without supportive HRM practices; the gap in pay satisfaction is exacerbated. However, the combination of the presence of a firm‐wide policy and HRM practices reduced the difference in pay satisfaction. Implications of the findings for theory, future research, and management practice are discussed.     

The politics of HRM: waiting for Godot in the Moroccan civil service

This study illustrates the fundamental importance of a political understanding in order to improve HRM in both public and private organizations. It complements studies that have found a statistical relationship between public staff management and economic growth by presenting a case study of Morocco, using the strategic human resource management (SHRM) model as a framework.

There are several reasons why HRM in the Moroccan civil service has stagnated, notably unfamiliarity with HRM models and the French administrative heritage. But the fundamental reason is Morocco's political system, where real power resides in the Palace, and where political actors are reluctant to take bold initiatives. Thus a focus on the management level is currently misplaced, and fundamental political action harnessing the authority of the Palace without disempowering other political actors is needed.

The study implies that a political analysis is sometimes a prerequisite for improving HRM in both public and private organizations.     

The Relationships Between MBO System Strength and Goal‐Climate Quality and Strength

We adopted Bowen and Ostroff's ( 2004 ) HRM system strength concept so as to test it within the context of a management by objectives (MBO) system, which was utilized by six independent firms owned by a large, diversified family business group in Turkey. For this purpose, we surveyed the middle managers to measure 10 context‐specific metafeatures of the MBO system. By using aggregated scores at the functional group level (N = 47), we captured the distinctiveness, consistency, and consensus dimensions of this HRM practice. We tested and compared three alternative theoretical models of HRM strength where the three dimensions have compensatory, additive, and distinctiveness mediated effects on climate quality and strength. Results support the compensatory model and indicate that the strength of the MBO system (as a reflective latent variable representing the shared variance of the system's distinctiveness, consistency, and consensus) is positively related to business units’ quality and strength of goal climate. In addition, distinctiveness—but not consistency and consensus—of the MBO system appears to be particularly critical for the emergence of a strong and high‐quality goal climate. Lastly, implications and limitations of the study as well as possible future research directions are discussed. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Earnings Management in Domestic and Foreign IPOs in the United States: Do Home Country Institutions Matter?

Using a large sample of domestic and foreign IPOs in the US, we investigate how threats of enforcement by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and private litigation influence earnings management in IPO prospectuses. We propose that perceptions of foreign institutions may influence SEC enforcement action and private litigation. We provide evidence that enforcement and litigation threats are negatively related to the strength of legal institutions in the foreign IPO’s country of origin. We find earnings management is more pronounced in foreign IPOs from countries with strong legal institutions. We further explore whether earnings management is priced in the IPO market and find no relation between IPO proceeds and earnings management. Our results are consistent with upward earnings management as in Stein (1989), the magnitude of which is reduced when the anticipated cost of enforcement and litigation is higher. Collectively, our results cast doubt on the validity of the bonding hypothesis.     

Chaebol,Unions, and the Profitability of Korean Firms Before and After the Crisis

Before the 1997 crisis, Korean firms destroyed shareholder value and chronically produced nonperforming loans for financial institutions. In particular, chaebol‐affiliated and unionized firms did so, with lower profitability among the financially unsound firms. Chaebol and unions thus functioned as institutional devices whereby managers and workers undermined the interest of taxpayers as well as shareholders. After the crisis, firms no longer destroy shareholder value or produce nonperforming loans. Chaebol‐affiliated and unionized firms have higher profitability among the financially unsound firms. Chaebol and unions have thus ceased to function as institutional devices whereby managers and workers undermine the interest of shareholders and taxpayers. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Greening the airline pilot: HRM and the green performance of airlines in the UK

This paper investigates the potential for human resource management (HRM) to influence the green performance of airlines. The focus is on the management of airline pilots, in particular, who have unparalleled opportunities to affect green performance through their control of the machines that directly impact the industry's carbon footprint. As a result it is vital that the HR function finds ways to engage them in the greening of the organization and works to reduce the triggers to actions that have the potential to sabotage the green aims of the airline industry. To this end, the paper discusses first the indirect effects of HRM in terms of its influence on employee job satisfaction, commitment and involvement in the airline, which can reduce the propensity of pilots to engage in actions detrimental to the green performance of the airline. Second, it explores the nature and purpose of direct green HRM initiatives and airline pilot responses to these. It concludes that the role HR managers can play via their management of the employment relationship on the green performance of airlines in the UK is crucial but that they face considerable challenges.     

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.     

Hybridization: striking a balance between adoption and adaptation of human resource management practices in French multinational corporations and their Tunisian subsidiaries

International management research has tended to approach the transfer of human resource management (HRM) practices by examining the one-way transfer from parent companies to their subsidiaries, their adaptation to the subsidiaries’ local context and, more recently, the reverse transfer of HRM practices from subsidiaries to their headquarters. This article aims to analyse the transfer of HRM practices from headquarters to their foreign subsidiaries through the process of hybridization. Although numerous studies focus on the transfer of HRM practices between economically developed countries or from these countries to transitional economies, few have considered French multinational corporations (MNCs) operating in ex-colonized countries. This paper addresses the ways in which the HRM hybridization process is implemented in two French subsidiaries operating in Tunisia. It focuses on the dual perspectives of managerial staff at headquarters and subsidiaries as well as shop floor employees in the subsidiaries. A range of HRM practices (recruitment and selection, compensation, performance appraisal and career management) is analysed from their transfer to their reinterpretation. The results show the importance of the concept of hybridization on HRM practice transfer through a multi-level analysis of the strategies used by various stakeholders during the hybridization process. The paper also provides useful insights into the factors of hybridization that may foster or inhibit the transfer and adoption of HRM practices by foreign subsidiaries. These include the relational context, the type of practices transferred, the interests of different professional categories and their social interactions. Based on these factors, several hybridizations are identified. The study points out the specificity of the Tunisian context and shows that institutional factors have less influence on the transfer of HRM practices in ex-colonized countries than cultural factors that have a transversal influence on different HRM practices. Key cultural factors constraining the transfer include emotional relationships and interpersonal trust. Moreover, the international transfer of HRM practices from MNCs to ex-colonized transitional countries requires taking into account the post-colonialism and fascination effects.     

Employee experiences of HRM through daily affective events and their effects on perceived event‐signalled HRM system strength,expectancy perceptions,and daily work engagement

The importance of events to individual experiences and behaviour within organisational research is increasingly acknowledged. This research examines whether daily positive and negative affective HRM events signal employee perceptions of HRM system strength, which are expected to relate to daily work engagement via clear performance–reward expectancies. Employees completed a daily diary over ten working days and reported positive and negative daily HR events as they arose. Positive HR events associated with higher perceived event‐signalled HRM system strength compared with negative HR events, and expectancy perceptions partially mediated the effects of perceived HRM system strength on daily work engagement. The study's novel contributions include documenting the common occurrence of affective HRM events, identifying such events as an important antecedent to perceived event‐signalled HRM system strength, and extending understanding of the daily consequences of perceived HRM system strength by showing how their effects on daily work engagement are mediated by expectancies.     

Still in search of strategic human resource management? A review and suggestions for future research with China as an example

Strategic human resource management (SHRM) has been an important strand of research in the HRM field for over three decades, and has attracted heated debates in recent years. One main critique of the state of SHRM research is its increasing detachment from HRM practice, in the pursuit of more theoretical rigor and methodological sophistication. Our review article has two main tasks. First, we review SHRM research published in two leading HRM journals—Human Resource Management and Human Resource Management Journal—in the light of the criticisms on SHRM research and use this as a backdrop of our second task. Second, we critically examine SHRM research conducted in the Chinese context by drawing on a systematic review on extant literature. In doing so, we draw on a wider range of HRM journals such as Human Resource Management Review, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, and so forth. We find that while the trend of psychologization in SHRM research is gathering pace, the range of theoretical perspectives mobilized to inform the studies is actually expanding. We call for SHRM research to be more contextualized and more practical phenomenon‐driven SHRM research. We indicate several avenues for future research, using China as an example.     

Human resource function strategic role and trade unions: exploring their impact on human resource management practices in Uruguayan firms

Organizations worldwide are confronted with different contextual constraints. Jackson and Schuler [1995, ‘Understanding Human Resource Management in the Context of Organizations and their Environments,' Annual Review of Psychology, 46, 237–264], in their classical review, highlight the importance of the impact of the internal and external organizational context on human resource management (HRM) practices. This paper uses data collected through a survey of firms located in Uruguay, in a context where HR function and trade unions have gone through significant changes, to determine their impact on the adoption of different HRM practices. The authors find that organizations with an HR function strategically involved and with higher degree of union presence have more person-centred HRM practices, while performance-centred HRM practices were positively influenced by HR function strategic role. However, the findings do not support the moderating role of trade union presence on the relationship between the HR function strategic role and HRM practices.     

Building the Theory of Comparative Hrm

The study of comparative HRM is needed to complement and condition the field of international HRM. But the task of building a theory of comparative HRM is not a simple one. This article argues that the goal of such theory should be to account for differences in workforce capability and labour productivity across nations. Suggesting what ought to be explained, however, is much easier than providing credible explanations. the article argues that it is important to identify dominant models of HRM in each country, recognising that there is significant variation both within and between nations. Management in firms plays a critical role in shaping models of labour management but analysis must also take account of the impact of other actors such as the state and labour.