HRM at a Crossroads: Comments on “Evolution of Strategic HRM Through Two Founding Books: A 30th Anniversary Perspective on Development of the Field”

I agree with Bruce Kaufman's evaluation of the HRM field and the danger to its relevance if change does not take place in the field's almost exclusive use of normal science, lack of focus on organizational change and development and indifference to the development of useful and usable knowledge. I use the development of the Harvard Business School's first‐ever required course in HRM and Managing Human Assets, the book that grew from the course, to illustrate why and how the strategic HRM perspective of the book emerged. I go on to argue that we do not need more proof that HRM practices are associated with financial performance. The best CEOs already believe this, though they need knowledge and practices that will enable them to develop a positive sustainable HRM system. HRM research, both normal and action science, must answer the question of how a “great” HRM system—practices, leadership, organization design, culture, and change processes—might be developed over time (its takes years) and how great companies can avoid the liquidation of intangible assets in the face of pressures for short‐term performance. I describe my own work to illustrate the future direction HRM should take methodologically and conceptually. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

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.     

The role of knowledge management practices in supporting employee capacity for improvisation

This study examines the role of knowledge management (KM) practices in fostering the improvisational capacities of employees. A survey data-set of 593 responses of employees in a city organisation was tested with partial least squares modelling. The results indicated that KM practices positively affect employee improvisation. The study suggests that organisations should pay conscious attention to KM practices that foster the utilisation of employee creativity for organisational success.     

Management and employee involvement in achieving an environmental action-based competitive advantage: an empirical study

The objective of this work is to conduct an empirical study that shows whether certain management and human resource factors influence the achievement of an environmental action-based competitive advantage in a company. To this end, we have taken a sample of 110 factories. Management's deep involvement and its strategic integration, as well as employee motivation and participation, have a positive impact on the achievement of an environmental action-based competitive advantage in a company.     

“Handle with care”: The mediating role of schedule i‐deals in the relationship between supervisors' own caregiving responsibilities and employee outcomes

Drawing on theories of perspective‐taking and i‐deals, this study explores the impact of supervisors' own caregiving responsibilities for elders and parental status on subordinates' schedule i‐deals. Moreover, we investigate the extent to which schedule i‐deals mediate the relationship between supervisors' caregiving responsibilities and two employee outcomes: satisfaction with work–family balance and turnover intentions. Using a sample of 520 dyads involving 137 supervisors and 520 employees, the results of multilevel analysis show that supervisors' caregiving responsibilities for elders is positively related to schedule i‐deals, but their parental status is not. The findings also show that schedule i‐deals mediate the effect of supervisors' caregiving responsibilities for elders on subordinates' satisfaction with work–family balance and turnover intentions. This research contributes to the i‐deals' literature by focusing on the role of managers' own caregiving responsibilities in facilitating the provision of schedule i‐deals to their subordinates and by exploring the consequences of schedule i‐deals to gain an understanding of the mutually beneficial nature of such deals. From a practical point of view, supervisors and HR departments might utilise schedule i‐deals to drive desirable employee outcomes, in particular their caregiving responsibilities, and to engender a family‐supportive organisational culture.     

The ambiguities and tensions in creating and capturing value: Views from HRM consultants in a leading consultancy firm

Creating and capturing value in knowledge‐intensive organizations is often marked by a high degree of ambiguity. The resource‐ and knowledge‐based views of the firm assume that this ambiguity enhances an organization's competitive advantage, but do not acknowledge or address the problems and tensions it creates for employees. This study contributes to developing these views by providing new insights based on analyzing how HRM consultants perceive their contribution and standing in the context of this ambiguity. These findings shed light on the importance of addressing consultants' perceptions of this ambiguity in seeking to manage and motivate them to maximize the creation and appropriation of value for consultancy practices. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The role of HRM and social capital configuration for knowledge sharing in post-M&A integration: a framework for future empirical investigation

The literature on human resource management (HRM) indicates that HRM plays an important role in merger and acquisition (M&A) integration success, but pays little attention to the mechanisms for knowledge sharing in post-M&A integration. Limited work has been carried out to provide understanding on how social capital and HRM practices influence intra-organizational knowledge sharing in M&A integration. This paper primarily focuses on the phenomenon of social capital and HRM practices – one of the primary means by which knowledge sharing can occur within firms. The main aim of this paper is to provide an alternative framework that introduces the literature on HRM and social capital to discuss how HRM practices and the various dimensions of social capital may enhance knowledge sharing in post-M&A integration. Drawing on the literature on social capital and HRM, we offer an alternative view on the issue of knowledge sharing in M&A integration by explaining how specific HRM practices that have an impact on employees’ knowledge, skills and abilities for participating in knowledge sharing activities may depend on relational, cognitive and structural social capital. We isolate a number of HRM practices and social capital variables that may enhance knowledge sharing in post-M&A integration, and develop a research model and propositions for future empirical investigation.     

When knowledge management meets HR strategy: an exploration of personalization-retention and codification-recruitment configurations

The resource-based view and the knowledge-based view are important developments in strategic management theory, and ‘knowledge management’ has exploded in the popular management literature. There is, however, little empirical literature that explores the connections between firms' attempts at knowledge management and their HR strategies. In this paper, we focus particularly on links between knowledge management and staffing practices. High-technology manufacturing was selected as the site of our research, as high-technology firms rely on highly skilled employees to innovate and develop new products and are therefore an ideal environment for exploring the strategies employed for both managing knowledge, and recruiting and retaining employees. Drawing particularly on the work of Hansen et al. (1999 Hansen, M.T., Nohria, N. and Tierney, T. 1999. What's Your Strategy for Managing Knowledge?. Harvard Business Review, March–April:, : 106–16. [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), this paper identifies and explores two fits between knowledge management and HR strategy or what we call KM-HR configurations: ‘personalization-retention’ and ‘codification-recruitment’. We argue that there is no one way to manage knowledge and its links to HRM and build a simple framework of potential KM-HR configurations with propositions for future research.     

“The weighted average cost of capital is not quite right”: A comment

In this journal, Miller [Miller, R. A. (2009). The weighted average cost of capital is not quite right. The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 49, 128–138] argues that the standard WACC formula fails to correctly remunerate shareholders and bondholders. This is proved by considering a project yielding a zero net present value. In this comment, we prove that this apparent failure of the standard WACC approach simply stems from the fact that, in Miller's example, the project's debt ratio is implicitly assumed constant throughout the project's life, whereas it is not. We also show that the suggested modified WACC formula is not relevant. More generally, we emphasize that, in any year, a project's debt ratio must be defined with respect to the economic value of the project.     

Environmental management and the “soft side” of organisations: Discovering the most relevant behavioural factors in green supply chains

Anchored in the resource‐based view theory, the objective of this research is to empirically analyse the behavioural factors affecting the green supply chain management (GCSM) performance in a fast‐growing emerging economy by taking an empirical data set of 101 responses from personnel in the mining sector. Behavioural factors in green supply chains are still a critical challenge—not yet a well‐explored academic subject—when the focus is on the mining industry of emerging economies like India; the lack of studies in this field could be a factor preventing the Indian mining industry becoming more green. In terms of methodology, original survey data were processed through AMOS 4.0, adopted for assessing the causal connection among the six constructs, that is, top management support, teamwork, workplace culture, resistance to change, green innovation, and green motivation. We further explore the input from the human side of GCSM by highlighting that top management support and green motivation are the most crucial behavioural factors that influence GCSM in the Indian mining sector. The study will be helpful for mining companies because it will enable them to identify the areas that require their attention for enhancing GCSM performance related to behavioural aspects.     

A multilevel analysis of the effects of HR diversity management on employee knowledge sharing: the case of Chinese employees

This study explored the effects of human resource diversity management on employee knowledge sharing and the mediating and moderating variables underlying this link, among Chinese employees. Multilevel analyses of the data from 716 respondents in 37 firms revealed that organizational-level HR diversity management practices explained significant variance in employee knowledge sharing. The relationship between HR diversity management and knowledge sharing was fully mediated by employee trust in the organization. Moreover, cooperative norms moderated the second stage of the mediation, which is the relationship between trust in the organization and knowledge sharing. The findings of this research provide important insights into the relationship between HR diversity management and employee work outcomes.     

Evolution of Strategic HRM as Seen Through Two Founding Books: A 30th Anniversary Perspective on Development of the Field

Two pioneering books published in 1984 arguably launched the field of strategic human resource management (SHRM). The first is Strategic Human Resource Management by Fombrun, Tichy, and Devanna; the second is Managing Human Assets by Beer, Spector, Lawrence, Mills, and Walton. This article provides a 30th anniversary review of the two books, partly to honor their pioneering contributions but also to use them as a lens for examining how the field has subsequently evolved and developed. Two recently published SHRM books are used as a benchmark for this analysis. The review identifies areas of SHRM constancy and change, major theoretical and empirical innovations, and newly developed research questions and directions, largely in an American context. Diagrammatic models of SHRM are synthesized and compared from the four books; also, nine specific dimensions of evolution in the field are highlighted with discussion of advances and shortcomings. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

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.     

The influence of human resource management on knowledge sharing and innovation in Spain: the mediating role of affective commitment

The aim of this paper is to explain and to test empirically how human resource management (HRM) practices contribute to knowledge sharing and innovation through employees' affective commitment. Results show that HRM practices do not influence knowledge sharing in a direct way, but they do have a positive effect when affective commitment mediates the relationship. We also find a positive relationship between knowledge sharing and innovation performance. That is, HRM practices contribute to knowledge creation and innovation through the generation of the affective commitment necessary for employees to be willing to share their knowledge. The relationships identified have been tested by applying structural equation models to a sample of 87 R&D departments of Spanish innovative companies.     

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.     

The influence of knowledge management and professionalization on the use of ERP systems and its effect on the competitive advantages of SMEs

ABSTRACT

Although the literature on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems emphasizes the importance of knowledge management and professionalization in the use of these systems, the factors that mediate these relationships are not sufficiently developed in SMEs. This study proposes the adequate application of knowledge management and professionalization would help to improve the use of ERP systems. The research uses the structural equation approach based on PLS-SEM technique with a sample of 137 Spanish SMEs. The results show that professionalization and knowledge management significantly affect the use of ERP, as well as imply a mediating effect on the competitive advantages of the SMEs.

Abbreviations: ERP: Enterprise Resource Planning; SMEs: Small and Medium Enterprises; PLS: Partial Least Squares; SEM: Structural Equation Modelling     

The influence of calculative (“hard”) and collaborative (“soft”) HRM on the layoff‐performance relationship in high performance workplaces

We investigate the effect of employment systems on the layoff‐performance relationship. We construct a typology of two types of HPWS (Calculative or “hard” HRM and Collaborative or “soft” HRM) and two non‐high performance systems (Traditional HRM and Low HRM). We use attribution theory as a framework from which to draw hypotheses. We examine survey responses from two waves of panel data. We employ cluster analysis to identify distinctive configurations of employment practices used in UK workplaces. We use the cluster outcomes as explanatory variables in moderator regression analysis. Following layoffs, we find that Calculative workplaces experience lower subsequent performance than Collaborative workplaces. Over the next five years, Calculative and Collaborative workplaces experience equivalent amounts of performance change but Calculative workplaces fail to make a full recovery.     

Contextual embeddedness of careers: female “nonsurvivors” and their gendered relational context

Our aim is to contribute to a better understanding of the contextual embeddedness of women's careers. To do this, we leverage feminist relational theory (a) to understand the relational context of women's careers in Lebanon, with a particular focus on working‐self and career investments, and (b) to trace the gendered power dynamics of career investments in the relational context of work. Through examining the narratives of 24 Lebanese female “nonsurvivors” (i.e., used to work but are not currently engaged in paid work), our findings paint a complex and nuanced picture of different relational contexts. Represented on a continuum ranging from minimally conducive for women's careers to contexts that are incrementally more conducive, the differences between these contexts are unpacked through drawing attention to the gendered power dynamics shaping women's (dis)connection with their working self, the perceived (mis)alignment of others, and the career investments that they make. Our contribution lies in augmenting our understanding of the contextual embeddedness of women's careers by demonstrating the theoretical and practical utility of bringing a deeper feminist analysis to understand the relational context of work.     

Sense‐giving in health care: the relationship between the HR roles of line managers and employee commitment

In this article, we examine line manager prioritisation of HR roles and the consequences for employee commitment in a health‐care setting. Our analysis is based on a quantitative, multi‐actor study (509 employees and 67 line managers) in four Dutch hospitals. Using sense‐giving as a theoretical lens, we demonstrate that, in addition to the effects of high commitment HRM, prioritising the Employee Champion role alone and the Employee Champion and Strategic Partner roles in combination is associated with higher employee commitment. We argue that through performing roles that are evocative of deep‐seated values, such as excellent patient care and concern for others, line managers can have a positive effect on staff attitudes. In a sector often beleaguered by staff turnover, exhaustion and burnout, we offer an important, empirically based framework that has the potential to improve employee commitment and, from there, enhance performance.     

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.