State enforcement of federal standards: Implications for interstate pollution

This paper explores the relationship between interstate air pollution and the division of power between federal and state agencies in setting and enforcing standards. In the context of the US Clean Air Act we argue that the EPA is able to monitor the adoption of technology-based standards more closely than it can monitor state-level enforcement, and that this causes an effective division of control between federal and state agencies. Our analysis offers three main insights into the interstate pollution problem in this setting. First, states have an incentive to enforce standards less stringently on firms located close to downwind borders, and this leads to excessive interstate pollution in equilibrium. Second, there can arise an inherent substitutability in the regulatory problem between strict standards and compliance effort, and this creates a strategic linkage between the federal policy on standards and state policies on enforcement. In particular, a tighter federal standard can induce less selective enforcement but can also lead to less enforcement overall. Third, states will attempt to neutralize the impact of location-based federal standards (that specifically target interstate pollution) in a way that actually exacerbates the underlying enforcement problem.     

The disabling effects of enabling social policies on organisations’ human capital development practices for women

Paid parental leave and externally provided childcare are social policies designed to enhance parents' labour force participation. These policies influence not only men's and women's decisions regarding their labour market activity but also organisational decision makers' (ODMs) expectations about their employees' availability to work and thus, their willingness to invest in their employees' human capital. Using a sample of over 13,000 individuals from 19 countries, we investigate the interaction between gender and social policies on human capital development practices. In line with statistical discrimination theory, which suggests that ODMs hold different expectations about female and male productivity, we find that paid parental leave and externally provided childcare are negatively associated with the provision of human capital development for women but not for men.     

The HR ecosystem framework: Examining strategic HRM tensions in knowledge-intensive organizations with boundary-crossing professionals

In this article, we use Snell & Morris' (2021) new HR ecosystem framework to empirically examine strategic fit and alignment tensions for knowledge-intensive organizations and professional knowledge workers. Rich data were collected through in-depth interviews with 75 members of faculty engaged in knowledge-intensive work for Business and Management Schools (B&M), and the analysis of strategy documents. The application of the framework enables us to contribute to dynamic capabilities theory and SHRM in four ways. Firstly, drawing on the findings, we propose an adapted HR Ecosystem framework for analyzing knowledge-intensive organizations, which incorporates tensions across the four subsystems of an HR ecosystem (strategy, capabilities, composition, and cultures). These tensions are shaped by interactions within and between levels (meso, macro and micro) and ecosystems. Secondly, our findings underscore the need for knowledge-intensive organizations to engage with a plurality of collaborative and competing internal and external stakeholder interests, including those of knowledge workers who constitute key organizational stakeholders. Thirdly, our analysis shows how the views and behaviors of internal organizational stakeholders are affected by ecosystem dynamics within and beyond the physical boundaries of an organization. Fourthly, we reveal how conflicting organizational cultures connect with other HR ecosystem subsystems to constrain collegialism and cohesion. By evidencing how knowledge-intensive organizations are in a constant flux of alignment and misalignment, the article demonstrates the value of the HR ecosystem framework in examining and informing SHRM in organizations in other industries.