Exploring alternative relationships between perceived investment in employee development,perceived supervisor support and employee outcomes

The purpose of this study was to explore alternative relationships between perceived investment in employee development (PIED), perceived supervisor support (PSS), and employee outcomes in the form of attitudes (affective commitment and turnover intention) and work performance (work effort, work quality and organisational citizenship behaviour). A cross-sectional survey among 331 employees from a Norwegian telecommunications organisation showed that the relationship between PSS and employee attitudes was partially mediated by PIED. In addition, PSS was found to moderate the relationship between PIED and three self-report measures of work performance. The form of the moderation revealed a positive relationship only for high levels of PSS. These findings suggest that line managers are of vital importance in implementing developmental HR practices, either because they influence how such practices are perceived by employees, which, in turn, affects employee attitudes, or because positive experiences with both line managers and HR practices seem to be needed in order for developmental HR practices to positively influence employee performance.     

The relationship between perceptions of HR practices and employee outcomes: examining the role of person–organisation and person–job fit

Human resource management (HRM) practices can play an important role in matching people with the organisations and the jobs they work in. However, little is known about how employees perceive and interpret HR practices and whether or how these perceptions relate to perceptions of person–organisation (P–O) and person–job (P–J) fit. This study aims to bridge strategic HRM and person–environment fit literature by examining possible mediating and moderating roles of P–O and P–J fit in the relationship between employee perceptions of a broad set of HR practices and employee attitudes and behaviours. Results from a sample of 412 employees support direct relationships as well as a mediating and moderating role of P–O and P–J fit in the relationship between perceived HR practices and employee outcomes.     

Front‐line managers as agents in the HRM‐performance causal chain: theory,analysis and evidence

Research on the link between HRM and organisational performance has neglected the role of front‐line managers, yet it is these managers who are increasingly charged with the implementation of many HR practices. Using an employee survey in 12 ‘excellent’ companies we explore the extent to which employee commitment towards their employer and their job are influenced by the quality of leadership behaviour and by satisfaction with HR practices. Both have a strong effect on employee attitudes. The article concludes with a case study of a planned effort to improve front‐line managers' skills in people management.     

Employee performance,well‐being,and differential effects of human resource management subdimensions: Mutual gains or conflicting outcomes?

The human resource management (HRM) literature supports the idea that coherent systems of HRM practices can induce attitudinal effects when perceived subjectively by employees. Recently, scholars have proposed that subdimensions of HRM systems exist and account for variance in outcomes. This study explores differential effects of three subdimensions of HRM systems (skill‐, motivation‐, and opportunity‐enhancing HRM practices) on employee innovative behaviours and well‐being. Our predictions are based on the mutual gains perspective, which specifies positive relationships between HRM practices and employee performance, and the conflicting outcomes perspective that links HRM practices to higher job demands and stress. Using data from the Finnish 2012 Practices of Working Life Survey, we find support for both the mutual gains and conflicting outcomes perspectives; however, we also show that the effects of the subsets of HRM practices are heterogeneous.     

An employee-centred analysis: professionals' experiences and reactions to HRM

A key premise underlying research efforts about human resource management (HRM) is that it leads to improved performance through bolstering employee attitudes. The value of assessing employee reactions to HRM practices is now widely recognised. Using process models of strategic HRM, we adopt an employee-centred focus to explore the perceptions of a sample of New Zealand professionals with regard to HRM practice, attitudes, reactions and performance. Our findings provide support for some elements in this model, but not all. Although the relationship between practices and attitudes is strong, the relationship between reactions and performance is not. We conclude that the employee experience of practice is still a murky concept and suggest greater clarity about what this means, and how this could, and indeed should, be assessed is urgently required.     

Why Complementary HRM Practices Impact Performance: The Case of Rewards,Job Design,and Work Climate in a Knowledge‐Sharing Context

The strategic HRM literature suggests that HRM influences employees in combinations of practices that “fit” each other rather than as stand‐alone practices; however, it pays little attention to the underlying individual‐level mechanisms. In contrast, the HRM literature on knowledge sharing examines the influence of single practices on individual‐level knowledge sharing, but fails to include the influence of combinations of practices. We link the idea of fit between practices to employee motivation for knowledge sharing by arguing that rewards may be ambiguous and difficult to interpret, but that such ambiguity may be reduced if rewards are combined with other aligned HRM practices, notably job design and work climate. Thus, fit is established through the ambiguity‐reducing effect of combining specific HRM practices. Accordingly, we test for complementarities among rewards, job design, and work climate in the form of a three‐way interaction among these variables with respect to their impact on knowledge‐sharing motivation. Our analysis of 1,523 employees in five knowledge‐intensive firms shows that employees who are exposed to knowledge‐sharing rewards experience higher levels of autonomous motivation to share when they are simultaneously exposed to a noncontrolling job design and work climate that support knowledge sharing. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The link between perceived HRM practices,performance and well‐being: the moderating effect of trust in the employer

The present study examines the interaction between perceived HRM practices and trust in the employer on employee performance and well‐being. Specifically, the study tests whether trust in the employer moderates the relationships between perceptions of HRM practices and task performance (as rated by employees’ supervisors), organisational citizenship behaviour, turnover intentions and employee well‐being. Support was found for the majority of the hypotheses using data from 613 employees and their line managers in a service sector organisation in the UK. Trust in the employer moderates the relationships between perceived HRM practices and task performance, turnover intentions and individual well‐being, but not organisational citizenship behaviour. Implications of the findings for organisations and future research are discussed.     

HRM implementation by multiple HRM actors: a social exchange perspective

Abstract

In this study, we understand HRM implementation as a social process that depends on the social exchange relationships between line managers and both HRM professionals and employees. As such, we offer a fresh approach to understanding HRM implementation by concentrating on the social exchange among HRM actors. We do so by investigating to what extent these exchange relationships influence HRM implementation, as reflected in employees’ perceptions of the presence of HRM practices and their affective commitment. We collected multilevel data from two sources (line managers and employees) and in two phases in a Dutch engineering firm, and obtained fully matched manager – employee information from 75 employees and 20 line managers. Our results show that employees perceive a larger number of HRM practices when they have a good relationship with their line managers and when their line managers are motivated to implement HRM practices. Line managers, in turn, reciprocate perceived support from the HRM department with greater motivation to implement these practices. We conclude that because HRM actors engage in social interactions, HRM practices will be implemented at the organizational level because employees perceive the presence of HRM practices and then reciprocate this with affective commitment.     

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.     

Understanding Employees’ Perceptions of Human Resource Practices: Effects of Demographic Dissimilarity to Managers and Coworkers

Strategic HRM researchers have increasingly adopted an employee perspective to understand the influence of HR practices on employee outcomes and have called for studies to explain variability in employees’ perceptions of HR practices. To address this research need, we used the social information processing perspective to examine the contextual influence of managers and coworkers on employees’ perceptions of HR practices and explore demographic dissimilarities as boundary conditions of the contextual influence. Conducting research in two organizational settings, we found that both manager‐perceived and coworker‐perceived HR practices were positively related to employees’ perceptions of HR practices. The results also revealed that employee demographic dissimilarity to coworkers in terms of age and organizational tenure weakened the positive relationship between coworker‐perceived and employee‐perceived HR practices. However, the relationship between manager‐perceived and employee‐perceived HR practices was not influenced by demographic dissimilarities. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Trust as moderator in the relationship between HRM practices and employee attitudes

The study contributes to the debate in the HRM literature by examining the role of trust in management in moderating the effect of HRM practices on employee attitudes. The novelty of the study lies in our interest in assessing this relationship not only on a system of HR practices, but also considering whether the influence varies according to specific ‘bundles’ of practices. Adopting a Structural Equation Modelling approach, we first test the moderation using an HRM index of seven practices on a sample of 9,000 employees from 46 Italian organisations. Then, following the AMO approach, we assess the relationship on three ‘bundles’ of practices, one oriented to increasing ability, another motivation and the third opportunity to participate. Results confirm the moderation with the overall HRM index. Interestingly, the effect varies depending on the HR bundles, being significant only with the motivation practices and not relevant in the other two bundles.     

Revitalizing social dialogue in the workplace: the impact of a cooperative industrial relations climate and sustainable HR practices on reducing employee harm

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to unravel the relationship between current forms and realities of social dialogue in the workplace, the industrial relations climate, HRM, and employee harm. We tested a model specifying associations between (1) indicators of revitalized social dialogue, (2) perceived cooperation within the industrial relations climate, (3) perceived sustainability in HR practices, and (4) management perceptions regarding employee harm. The test was based on a survey conducted among 356 (HR-)managers and CEOs in Belgium. The results support the idea that a cooperative industrial relations climate and sustainable HR practices can reduce employee harm. More specifically, efficiency in social dialogue fully mediated the relationship between cooperative industrial climate and employee harm. In turn, industrial relations climate partially mediated the relationship between sustainable HR practices and employee harm. Finally, sustainable HR practices correlated positively with a cooperative industrial relations climate, suggesting that HR and employee relations reinforce rather than weaken each other.     

The management of professional employees: linking progressive HRM practices,cognitive orientations and organizational citizenship behavior

Abstract

The present research examines the relationships between progressive HRM practices and the organizational citizenship behaviors (OCB) of professional employees. Drawing on recent HRM literature, our research model includes a perceived organizational support (POS)-commitment mediation hypothesis. Taking into account previous studies on professional employees, a job satisfaction-commitment pathway is also integrated. We tested both mediational pathways as part of a single structural equation model using a sample of 329 professional employees. Our results show that the relationship between recognition and OCB is mediated by the POS-commitment pathway, while the relationships between fairness of rewards, skills development and OCB are mediated by the job satisfaction-commitment pathway. The specificities of the HRM of professional employees related to their multiple cognitive orientations are discussed.     

Linking environmental management practices and organizational citizenship behaviour for the environment: a social exchange perspective

This paper reports a field study on the relationship between environmental management practices and organizational citizenship behaviour for the environment via exchange process (i.e. perceived superior support, perceived organizational support and employee commitment). Results from a survey conducted with 407 employees from several organizations suggest that employee is more likely to make extra environmental efforts if he/she perceives that the organization supports his/her supervisor by granting him/her the decision-making latitude and necessary resources to engage in pro-environmental behaviour.     

A comparative study of the effects of ‘best practice’ HRM on worker outcomes in Malaysia and England local government

This paper presents the findings of a cross-cultural comparison of the effects of ‘best practice’ HRM using employees from a matched sample of local government service departments in England and Malaysia (England n = 569, Malaysian n = 453). The paper tests the universal ‘best practice’ thesis, and also assesses the perceived level of up-take of HR practices in the two samples. The research also considers the effects of the psychological climate and employees' perceptions of trust on five work-related outcomes, namely job satisfaction, motivation, organizational citizenship behaviour, stress and quit intentions. The findings reveal that the Malaysian workers perceived the up-take of HR practices to be higher in comparison to their counterparts in England. A less consistent pattern emerged with regards to perceptions of climate. OLS regression revealed that consistent with the universal thesis, a bundle of HR practices significantly predicted employee outcomes in the hypothesized directions in both samples. Therefore, these findings provide strong support for the universal thesis.     

Well‐being‐oriented human resource management practices and employee performance in the Chinese banking sector: The role of social climate and resilience

Drawing upon positive psychology and a social relational perspective, this article examines the relationship between well‐being‐oriented human resource management (HRM) practices and employee performance. Our multilevel model examines relationships among collectively experienced well‐being‐oriented HRM practices, social climate (characterized by trust, cooperation, and shared codes and language that exist among individuals within the organization), employee resilience, and employee (in‐role) performance. Based on the two‐wave data obtained from 561 employees and their managers within 62 bank branches in 16 Chinese banks, our multilevel analyses provide support for our four hypotheses. First, we found a positive relationship between well‐being‐oriented HRM practices and social climate. Second, social climate mediated the relationship between well‐being‐oriented HRM practices and employee resilience. Third, we found a positive relationship between resilience and employee performance. Finally, employee resilience mediated the relationship between social climate and employee performance. This study is one of the first to unpack the social mechanisms through which well‐being‐oriented HRM practices increase development of resilience and subsequent employee performance at the workplace, namely through influencing group feelings of social climate.     

Systemic justice and burnout: A multilevel model

With the aim of extending organisational justice research to embrace significant and enduring aspects of the workplace context, this study examines organisational culture and human resource management (HRM) as constitutive dimensions of systemic justice and relates them to employee health. Bridging organisational justice, HRM, organisational culture, and occupational health research, we advance and test a multilevel model relating systemic justice to burnout. Data collected from 60 organisations; 89 employee groups; and 1,976 employees provide support for the hypothesised relationships between justice‐oriented culture, in terms of organisational values and group culture, and justice‐oriented HRM. In turn, justice‐oriented HRM related directly to employee burnout and indirectly through employee perceived job control and supervisor social support.     

Human resource management and performance in a developing country: the case of Eritrea

This study investigates the relationship between human resource management (HRM) practices and organizational performance. Results based on a sample of 82 organizations from private and public sectors in Eritrea indicate that some of the practices have a significant impact on employee turnover, absenteeism, grievances and productivity. While compensation was the only independent variable found to be statistically significant in affecting grievances, employee selection had no effect across all performance measures. However, the study's results offer support for the assertion that investments in HRM practices results in better organizational performance.     

Caring human resources management and employee engagement

Research on employee engagement has demonstrated that human resource management (HRM) practices and systems are positively related to employee engagement. However, it is not clear what HRM practices or system of practices is most important for employee engagement or the theoretical mechanisms that intervene and explain the link between HRM and employee engagement. In this paper, I provide answers to these two important questions by developing a model of caring HRM and employee engagement based on the engagement, organizational climate, and strategic HRM literatures. The model indicates that a system of caring HRM practices (job design, training and development, flexible work arrangements, work-life balance, participation in decision making, health and safety, career development, and health and wellness programs) will result in an organizational climate of care and concern for employees that employees will respond to by caring for the organization which they will enact with higher levels of engagement. This model provides many avenues for future research and practice on HRM and employee engagement and introduces the notion of a caring HRM system and an organizational climate of care and concern for employees to the literature on employee engagement.     

High reliability Human Resource Management (HRM): A system for high risk workplaces

High Performance Work Systems (HPWS) research is based on the search for the most suitable bundle of complementary practices appropriate for the organisation and its operating environment. We examine the contents of a HPWS in organisations seeking impeccable safety and reliability as their foremost ‘performance’ outcome. We propose a ‘High Reliability HRM’ framework, and examine the degree of implementation in a three case study of Australian state emergency services organisations. The findings highlight HRM practices inconsistent with the framework, and illustrated by rich interview accounts, we detail associated negative implications for employee behaviour and attitudes. We contribute to HPWS research by empirically examining how reliability-seeking organisations conceptualise and implement HRM systems. This study emphasises how inconsistency in HRM practice bundles can pose a threat to reliable service provision, a critical finding for emergency services and reliability-seeking organisations more broadly.