Organizational and environmental factors related to HRM practices in Hong Kong: a cross-cultural expanded replication

Data were collected from 151 Hong Kong organizations to determine the relationship between culture, firm size, level of unionization and presence of an HRM department, and human resource management (HR) practices. Culture was a relatively weak predictor of HR practices. Existence of an HRM department and level of unionization were moderate predictors while firm size and the existence of a specialized training unit within the HRM department were the strongest predictors of HR practices.     

Work‐to‐Family Spillover Effects of Workplace Ostracism: The Role of Work‐Home Segmentation Preferences

This study considers workplace ostracism as a source of stress and examines its spillover effects on the family. By integrating the work‐family interface model with boundary theory, we investigate the impact of workplace ostracism as perceived by employees on their family satisfaction by examining the mediating role of work‐to‐family conflict and the moderating role of work‐home segmentation preferences. The results from a three‐wave field survey of 233 employees in China indicate that workplace ostracism is negatively related to family satisfaction; this relationship is also mediated by work‐to‐family conflict. In addition, work‐home segmentation preferences attenuate the mediating effect of work‐to‐family conflict on the relationship between workplace ostracism and family satisfaction. The theoretical and managerial implications of these findings are discussed.     

Organizational Inducements and Employee Citizenship Behavior: The Mediating Role of Perceived Insider Status and the Moderating Role of Collectivism

The organizational inducement model proposed in this study seeks to examine the mediating role of perceived insider status (PIS) and the moderating role of vertical collectivism on the relationship between organizational inducements and employees’ organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Among a sample of Chinese employees, the authors find that the organizational inducements of perceived supervisor support and participation led to higher levels of PIS, which in turn enhanced OCB. Furthermore, vertical collectivism moderated the relationship between PIS and OCB, such that their relationship grew stronger when collectivism was high. These findings have notable implications for theory and practice. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Organization‐Based Self‐Esteem,Psychological Contract Fulfillment,and Perceived Employment Opportunities: A Test of Self‐Regulatory Theory

This study addresses organization‐based self‐esteem (OBSE) development by examining the role of perceptions of employer psychological contract fulfillment, and the self‐regulatory processes by which OBSE evolves and produces its effects. Self‐regulatory theory helps reveal why psychological contract fulfillment relates to OBSE, how OBSE mediates its effects, and the ways in which OBSE might interact with perceived employment opportunities to affect job satisfaction, performance, and turnover intentions. The results show that OBSE is related to and mediates the relationships between relational contract fulfillment and employee job satisfaction and performance, but OBSE is not related to transactional contract fulfillment. Nor does OBSE mediate the relationships between transactional contract fulfillment and the dependent variables. Perceived employment opportunities moderate the relationships of OBSE with job satisfaction and turnover intentions. This study concludes with recommendations of ways managers can increase their sensitivity to the types of messages they communicate to employees. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The job stress–job performance relationship in the social service encounter

• The current study empirically examines job performance by considering perceived customer demands as a new antecedent of job stress (JS) and the mediating role of emotion‐focused coping (EFC) on the relationship of JS and physical consequences (PC), and in‐turn job performance. A mailed survey that solicited 2500 social service providers working in the United States rendered a useable random sample of 533. Regression analyses supported the hypothesized relationships. Findings suggest that emotions play an important role in the quality of the social service encounter evidenced by the mediating role of EFC in the relationship between JS and job performance. The introduction of an intervening variable (i.e., EFC) in the JS–job performance relationship extends affective event theory (AET). The findings offer management new insights into the service encounter by identifying a source of JS that creates barriers to value added benefit creation.

Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Firing Blanks? An Analysis of Discursive Struggle in HRM

ABSTRACT   We revisit Karen Legge's (2001 ) critique of HRM in which she argues that the attempt of modernist/positivist HRM research to show that HRM improves organizational performance is a 'spent round'. We note that despite spirited challenges by Legge and others, the discourse of HRM is becoming increasingly dominant. Accordingly, we use discourse analysis to examine why this might be the case. Specifically, we analyse the texts produced in the engagement between Karen Legge and David Guest to show how modernist/positivist texts like those of Guest have been successful in constructing an identity for HRM and embedding it in the broader academic discourse concerning the employment relationship, while critical researchers like Legge face a number of difficulties in producing 'counter-texts'.     

Divestment: Motives and gains

A follow-up to earlier study, this research demonstrates that the stock market's positive revaluation of divesting firms is unlikely to be due to changes in short-term performance.     

Equity Purchases by Insiders and the Filing of Antidumping Petitions

The paper presents the first analysis of insider trading in the context of public policy implementation. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proscribes trading by corporate insiders upon material information that is not yet in the public domain. Although the SEC interprets what constitutes material information, it has historically focused on earnings, mergers, and acquisitions. Using a panel of US firms from 1985–87, the authors disclose a significant relationship between the filing of an antidumping petition and insider buying in the two months preceding the filing month. This suggests that the SEC should expand its focus to include public policy.     

Cuba—Is the “Special Period” Really Over?

Since 1989, Cuba has struggled to recover from the loss of Soviet trade and subsidies. The Cuban government dubbed the period between 1990 and 1994 A Special Period in Peacetime in recognition of the 35% decline in GDP. Instead of restructuring its economy, the Cuban government used a bandaid approach that permitted self-employment, raised prices, legalized the dollar, and decreased government subsidies of state enterprises. Although growth resumed in 1994, the Cuban economy never fully recovered to pre-1989 levels of GDP. This paper discusses the investment, trade, and production problems that continue to plague the Cuban economy.     

Strategic human resource management: The evolution of the field

This review takes an evolutionary and chronological perspective on the development of strategic human resource management (SHRM) literature. We divide this body of work into seven themes that reflect the directions and trends researchers have taken over approximately thirty years of research. During this time the field took shape, developed rich conceptual foundations, and matured into a domain that has substantial influence on research activities in HR and related management disciplines. We trace how the field has evolved to its current state, articulate many of the major findings and contributions, and discuss how we believe it will evolve in the future. This approach contributes to the field of SHRM by synthesizing work in this domain and by highlighting areas of research focus that have received perhaps enough attention, as well as areas of research focus that, while promising, have remained largely unexamined.