Organizational achievement values,high‐involvement work practices,and business unit performance

This study examines the relationships among organizational achievement values, high‐involvement work practices (HIWP), and business unit performance. Specifically, we examine whether HIWP mediate or moderate the effect of achievement values on retail store performance. Using data collected at three points in time from more than 1,000 employees, we found support for the mediation model. The article concludes with directions for future research and implications for management practice. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

High involvement work practices and firm performance

During the past two decades the chain of three links organizational strategy – human resources practices – organizational performance has been deeply analysed. However, the mediator role of organizational structure in the first link of this chain remains relatively uninvestigated. In this article we analyse a model of relationships among organizational strategy, organizational structure, human resources practices, and organizational performance. Through a structural equation methodology applied to a sample of 183 Spanish companies, we will try to confirm that organizations with differentiation strategies are more likely to implement high involvement work practices. As a novelty we will introduce organizational structure as a mediator of this relationship. For that we will use the construct control mechanisms (centralization, formalization and socialization). Further, we will analyse the effect on firm performance of these proposed relationships among differentiation strategy, control mechanisms and high involvement work practices.     

How do integrated quality and environmental management practices affect firm performance? Mediating roles of quality performance and environmental proactivity

Based on a sample of 208 Turkish firms, this paper investigates the integration of two management systems, quality management and environmental management, and explores the effect of this integration on firm performance. First, a conceptual framework was developed, relying on the premises of the resource‐based view. Second, mediating roles of quality performance and environmental proactivity were examined on the association between integrated quality and environmental management systems and firm performance. Among the underlying trends, both quality performance and environmental proactivity were found to fully mediate the relationship between integrated quality and environmental management and firm performance.     

Exploring the Complementarities Within High‐Performance Work Systems: A Set‐Theoretic Analysis of UK Firms

High‐performance work systems (HPWS) are important conceptual instruments in the human resource management literature. Yet our current understanding of the complementarities within HPWS remains limited for two reasons: First, the dominant theoretical perspectives on HPWS provide a landscape of theoretical possibilities rather than an understanding of different possibilities through which HPWS generate positive effects on performance; and second, the literature on HPWS merely proposes several seemingly equally important HR practices. This article explores the internal nature of HPWS by integrating a configurational perspective of core, peripheral, and nonessential HR practices with a typology of complementarities. Analyzing 530 UK‐based firms using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), I identify four frequently implemented HPWS consistently associated with high labor productivity. The complementarities within all HPWS combine pairs of core HR practices with sets of peripheral HR practices. Moreover, the complementarities within three of the four HPWS rely on firms’ avoidance of implementing certain HR practices. The results suggest that the synergies of HPWS arise from efficient complementarities and virtuous overlaps, and reveal the significance of achieving high performance by not implementing HR practices. This article thus advances a new perspective on HPWSs, highlighting the challenges involved in successfully designing HPWS. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

In search of sustained competitive advantage: the impact of organizational culture,competitive strategy and human resource management practices on firm performance

We develop and test a dynamic model of co-specialized resources for competitive advantage. Using matched data from senior executives and human resource managers, we test the direct and interactive effects of high-performance human resource (HPHR) practices and organizational culture on firm performance. Although the HPHR practices were not an important influence on performance, our findings indicate that organizational culture can be a valuable resource for companies.     

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.     

High‐involvement HRM,job satisfaction and productivity: A two wave longitudinal study of a Spanish retail company

The strategic human resource management literature lacks longitudinal studies, and the causal associations between human resource management (HRM) and organisational performance (OP) remain underexplored. We tested cross‐lagged relationships between high‐involvement work systems (HIWS), job satisfaction, and store productivity based on a large longitudinal dataset from the retail sector comprising two waves of data. The first wave (2011) included 6,016 employee responses from 104 stores, and the second wave (2015) included 5,842 employee responses from 94 stores. The quantitative study suggested counterintuitive negative associations. A subsequent qualitative study indicated that the association may have been conditioned by the recessionary action taken by the company in response to financial difficulties. The longitudinal research design, the compilation of data during difficult economic situations, and in a relatively unexplored sector such as the retail industry help to shed some light on the universalism of the HRM‐OP relationship and its boundary conditions.     

Microfoundations of companies' dynamic capabilities for environmentally sustainable innovation: Case study insights from high‐tech innovation in science‐based companies

To achieve sustainable development, companies are increasingly putting an emphasis on the creation and the promotion of environmentally sustainable innovations. Environmentally sustainable innovation often involves a significant shift in a new strategic direction. This paper studies this shift from a dynamic capabilities perspective and aims to identify the microfoundations of science‐based companies' dynamic capabilities for high‐tech environmentally sustainable innovations. It investigates the development of high‐tech environmentally sustainable innovations in two distinctive science‐based companies. To scholars, this study provides an in‐depth process analysis, over time, of how and why microfoundations of dynamic capabilities influence the development of a science‐based company's high‐tech environmentally sustainable innovations. To practitioners in science‐based firms, this process study can function as a frame of reference, enabling the tailoring of a strategy for high‐tech environmentally sustainable innovation.     

A multilevel examination of high‐performance work systems and unit‐level organisational ambidexterity

This paper examines the process linking high‐performance work systems (HPWS) and organisational ambidexterity both at the unit and firm level of analyses by integrating strategic HRM, human capital and social capital perspectives. Multisource and multilevel data from 2,887 employees and 536 managers of 58 banks was collected. Results revealed that firm‐level HPWS were positively related to unit‐level employee human capital. Unit‐level employee human capital partially mediated the relationship between firm‐level HPWS and unit organisational ambidexterity. Furthermore, firm‐level social climate moderated the effect of firm‐level HPWS on unit organisational ambidexterity through unit‐level employee human capital. This paper contributes to HPWS and ambidexterity research by revealing the impacts of firm‐level HPWS and mediating mechanisms, as well as identifying boundary conditions for pursuing unit‐level organisational ambidexterity.     

Understanding environmental management practices: integrating views from strategic management and ecological economics

This paper proposes an integrating framework, based on theoretical concepts from the fields of strategic management and ecological economics, to enhance our understanding of environmental management practices (EMPs) and their relationship to sustainable competitive advantage. Starting with an expansion of the resource‐based view of the firm to include the natural environment, the article next engages the interdisciplinary field of ecological economics and its thermodynamic approach to ‘joint production’ to provide additional insights into the challenges and opportunities brought by a bio‐physically constrained economy. Informed by this understanding, the article then categorizes examples of EMPs drawn from the literature and discusses their potential impact on competitiveness. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for future research in the hope that the proposed framework will stimulate debate and lead to a fuller understanding of the impact of environmental management in the 21st century. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

High‐commitment HR practices,employee effort,and firm performance: Investigating the effects of HR practices across employee groups within professional services firms

In this study, the authors examine the relationship between high‐commitment HR practices and firm performance in professional services firms through the mediator of employee effort. In addition, they contribute to the debate in the field of strategic HRM on whether high‐commitment HR practices should be used across all employee groups within a firm. Their study's results show that high‐commitment HR practices positively relate to firm performance through employee effort for two employee groups within professional services firms. Further, they found that the relationship between effort and performance is contingent on the value of the employee group to firm competitive advantage, suggesting that companies may only want to expend the effort and resources on building a high‐commitment HR system for employee groups that are clearly tied to creating firm competitive advantage. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

High‐Performance Work Systems in Professional Service Firms: Examining the Practices‐Resources‐Uses‐Performance Linkage

Professional service firms (PSFs) play an important role in the knowledge‐based economy. Their success is highly dependent on their people, the knowledge resources they possess, and how they use these resources. However, how to systematically manage human resources to attain high performance is not fully understood. This study addresses this issue by investigating the linkage mechanisms through which high‐performance work systems (HPWS) influence the performance of PSFs. We integrate resource‐based and dynamic capability theories in order to identify and investigate two intervening mechanisms that link HR practices to firm performance. The first mechanism is the intellectual capital resources comprising the human, social, and organizational capital that HPWS create. The second mechanism is the uses to which both HPWS and resources can be applied, operationalized as organizational ambidexterity, the simultaneous exploitation of existing knowledge and exploration of new knowledge. These mechanisms are hypothesized to link HPWS to firm performance in the form of a practices‐resources‐uses‐performance linkage model. Results from a longitudinal study of 93 accounting firms support this linkage model. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

High‐commitment human resource practices and employee outcomes: The contingent role of organisational identification

In this paper, we examine whether the relationship between high‐commitment human resource (HR) practices and two employee outcomes, quit intentions and organisational citizenship behaviours (OCBs), is contingent on organisational identification. Incorporating insights from both social exchange and social identity theories, we propose that the relationship between high‐commitment HR systems, intention to quit, and OCBs is attenuated when employees strongly identify with their organisation. This proposition was tested and supported with employees of a Swedish relocation company and a Greek shipping organisation. For high identifiers, as perceptions of HR practices deteriorated from high to low, they were associated with smaller increases in quit intentions and smaller decreases in citizenship behaviours. But overall, high identifiers always had lower quit intentions and higher citizenship behaviours than low identifiers, which is managerially reassuring.     

High‐performance work systems and creativity implementation: the role of psychological capital and psychological safety

Unimplemented creative ideas are potentially wasted opportunities for organisations. Although it is largely understood how to encourage creativity among employees, how to ensure this creativity is implemented remains underexplored. The objective of the current study is to identify the underlying mechanisms that explain the relationship between high‐performance work systems and creativity implementation. Drawing from the job demands–resources model, we explore a model of psychological capital and psychological safety as mediators in the relationship between high‐performance work systems and creativity implementation. Based on 505 employee survey responses, the findings show support for the mediating relationships, highlighting the importance of psychological mechanisms. The study has important implications for HRM, uncovering how people management practices can encourage creativity implementation in the workplace.     

HRM retrenchment practices and firm performance in times of economic downturn: exploring the moderating effects of family involvement in management

A substantial number of studies have indicated a significant negative relationship between human resource management (HRM) retrenchment practices such as downsizing, and firm performance. However, a consideration of the potential effects of business family involvement in management is largely absent from the general employment restructuring literature. Using a sample of 218 Taiwanese publicly listed firms, this study seeks to further our understanding in this area by examining the moderating effects of family involvement in management on the relationship between the adoption of HRM retrenchment practices and firm performance during the period of global economic downturn that erupted in the middle of 2008. Data analysis reveals that HRM retrenchment practices had a negative influence on firm performance, and that the relationship between HRM retrenchment practices and firm performance was negatively and significantly moderated by family involvement in management.     

Institutional Pressures and Environmental Management Practices: The Moderating Effects of Environmental Commitment and Resource Availability

With the deterioration of the environment and the shortage of natural resources, firms are facing increasing pressures to implement environmental management practices in their daily operation management. Drawing on institutional theory and environmental management literatures, this research tries to explore how institutional pressures motivate firms to implement environmental management practices, and how such effects are moderated by firms' environmental commitment and resource availability. The results of a survey of 188 Chinese firms suggest that regulatory pressures and normative pressures are positively and significantly related to firms' propensity to implement environmental management practices. Moreover, the results indicate that firms' environmental commitment positively moderates the relationships between institutional pressures and environmental management practices, while firms' resource availability plays different roles depending on the types of pressure (regulatory or normative pressures). Implications and suggestions for future research are provided. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

High‐performance organizing,environmental management,and organizational performance: An evolutionary economics perspective

This study applies evolutionary economics reasoning to the green HRM context and examines whether and how environmental management routinization relates to organizational performance. In doing so, we introduce the concept of ecological routines, defined as deeply embedded, firm‐specific rules and procedures associated with organizing and practicing corporate environmental management that do not change very much from one iteration, period, or functional unit to another. We examine the extent to which ecological routines that encompass organizing (high‐performance organizing [HPO]) and practice routines of environmental sustainability relate to green decisions, green behaviors, and organizational performance. In a sample of 229 managers from 33 organizations in the environment‐sensitive industries of the United States, we find support for multilevel mediation of green decisions and green behaviors as well as interaction of HPO and environmental management practice routines. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Corporate governance and lesbian,gay, bisexual,and transgender‐supportive human resource policies from corporate social responsibility,resource‐based,and agency perspectives

Corporate boards are responsible for ensuring that managers enact policies that are in shareholders' best interests, and managers are responsible for implementing strategies that are not only profitable but also responsive to changing legal and societal demands and the resource needs of the firm. In this paper, we use the theoretical lenses of corporate social responsibility (CSR), the resource‐based view, and agency theory to investigate the relationship between corporate governance structure and the implementation of supportive lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) policies. We analyze 10,233 firm‐year observations and 1,594 unique firms, and our results demonstrate that LGBT‐supportive policies are positively associated with firm performance. We also offer new insight into why not all firms adopt such policies. We exploit the passage of the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act as an exogenous shock that increased board independence, and our difference‐in‐difference estimation shows that firms forced to raise board independence in 2002 were less likely to invest in LGBT‐supportive policies. Results suggest that human resource management (HRM) policies can be guided by CSR and resource‐based views in the pursuit of wealth maximization, but agency conflict may also be a concern for external majority boards. We discuss implications for HRM research practice and corporate governance regarding LGBT policies in organizations.