The Research‐Practice Gap in Human Resource Management: A Cross‐Cultural Study

In this study, we examine the cross‐cultural differences in human resource (HR) managers’ beliefs in effective HR practices by surveying HR practitioners in Finland (N = 86), South Korea (N = 147), and Spain (N = 196). Similar to previous studies from the United States, the Netherlands, and Australia, there are large discrepancies between HR practitioner beliefs and research findings, particularly in the area of staffing. In addition, we find that interpersonal‐oriented aspects of HR practices tend to be more culturally bound than technical‐oriented aspects of HR practices. We interpret the differences using Hofstede's cultural dimensions (Power Distance, Individualism versus Collectivism, Masculinity versus Femininity, Long‐Term Orientation versus Short‐Term Orientation, and Uncertainty Avoidance). We discuss the overall nature of the science‐practice gap in HR management, and the implications for evidence‐based management. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

High-investment HR values and firm performance among local firms and U.S. MNCs’ subsidiaries in South Asia: a comparative study

Grounded in institutional theory, this study investigates the differential adoption and internalization of high-investment human resource (HR) values by local companies and by subsidiaries of US firms located throughout South Asia; and the impact of these HR values on firms’ performance. In line with our predictions, results suggest that US subsidiaries have a greater rate of adoption of high-investment HR values compared to local South Asian firms. Contrary to our predictions, however, both types of firms are similar in the level of internalization of their respective HR values. Finally, while greater levels of high-investment HR value adoption is associated with firm performance across the board, this relationship tends to be stronger for US MNCs’ subsidiaries compared to local South Asian companies. Theoretical and practical implications for the transfer and diffusion of high-investment HR values in institutionally and culturally distant contexts are discussed.     

电力市场营销专业人才培养体系研究

在电力体制改革的过程中,电力市场营销专业的人才培养面临新的挑战,如何培养适应现代企业要求的高素质技能型人才是电力市场营销专业的一项重要工作.立足电力市场营销专业毕业生就业岗位,针对岗位群、岗位能力需求、岗位培训现状展开调研,深入分析了电力营销人才应具备的技能素质要求,结合电力市场营销专业人才培养建设方案的实践情况,就电力市场营销专业如何建立一个长效的培养体系,提出相关建议以供参考.     

Does alignment matter? The performance implications of HR roles connected to organizational strategy

For the HR function to have a positive impact on performance and thus strategically add value to the organization, it has been suggested to redefine its traditional operational role. However, to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between these HR roles and performance, their alignment with the organizational strategy should not be ignored. In this paper, we therefore focus not only on whether the operational and strategic HR roles are linked to performance, but also on the extent to which their alignment with the applied organizational strategy actually matters for performance. We carried out a survey study among 336 respondents either holding an HR function or being responsible for HR-related tasks in various organizations. We found a positive effect of the strategic role on performance, and also how it might substitute a lack of innovation strategy. Further, we found an alignment effect between a cost strategy and the operational HR role in relation to organizational performance. We discuss these findings based on the literature and provide some practical recommendations for further developing the role of HR.     

Advertisers’ perceptions regarding the ethical appropriateness of new advertising formats aimed at minors

Although they are key stakeholders, advertisers’ views on the usage of novel (integrated and/or interactive) advertising toward minors has remained largely unexplored in academic research. This study aims to fill this gap by examining advertising professionals’ opinions about the ethical appropriateness of using novel advertising formats aimed at children and teenagers, how to advance advertising literacy in minors, and their views of practices that are potentially privacy-invading, by means of both a quantitative online survey and qualitative in-depth interviews with Belgian advertising professionals. Results show that advertisers perceive that from 12 years onward, minors are capable to understand novel advertising formats and it is ethically justified to use them. Remarkably, advertisers would inform minors already from the age of 10 years onward about the commercial intention behind new advertising formats. Advertisers have strict opinions about collecting information online from minors. They advocate a combination of laws and self-regulation and governmental and educational campaigns to raise awareness and develop advertising literacy.     

Organizational Performance Consequences of Age Diversity: Inspecting the Role of Diversity‐Friendly HR Policies and Top Managers’ Negative Age Stereotypes

This paper seeks to advance the diversity literature by investigating organizational performance consequences of age diversity. Drawing from social‐identity and social‐categorization theory, we theoretically argue that, in age‐diverse companies, age‐based subgrouping processes occur, favouring a shared perception of a negative age‐discrimination climate. This perceived negative age‐discrimination climate in turn negatively relates to organizational performance. As the main contribution, top managers’ negative age‐related stereotypes and diversity‐friendly HR policies are introduced as organizational‐level moderators that increase and attenuate, respectively, the social categorization processes affecting performance in age‐diverse companies. We utilized structural equation modelling (SEM) to test the proposed hypotheses using a multisource dataset comprising 147 companies. The results supported all hypotheses, indicating that low negative top managers’ age stereotypes as well as high diversity‐friendly HR policies are potential organizational factors that can prevent the negative relation of age diversity with organizational performance transmitted through the negative age‐discrimination climate. These results are discussed in light of their contribution to the diversity literature and social‐categorization theory as well as their implication for practitioners.     

Preventive product safety – monitoring accidental injuries related to consumer products in the European Union

Objectives. To measure GPs' and paediatricians' expectations, attitudes, priorities and demands in the area of promoting safety and preventing accidents in the home involving children under 15 years of age.

Methods. A phone survey of a random sample of GPs and paediatricians in the French-speaking community of Belgium (Wallonia and Brussels) conducted in the course of September and October 2000.

Results. Close to two-thirds of the physicians surveyed stated that they had been contacted at least once in the 2 weeks preceding the survey to handle an injury. Of the physicians, 80% mention accident prevention after a childhood injury, but only 46% mention it during a routine consultation (whatever the reason of the latter may be). The main obstacles to mentioning prevention during routine consultation put forward by the interviewees are: 1) reasons for consultations that do not permit such an approach (79%); 2) the fact that injuries are not priorities for them (66%); 3) the lack of interesting materials to provide the subject with documentation (63%); 4) the unsuitability of the place where the contact occurs for such discussion, given the time required (56%); 5) insufficient information on the subject (41%); and 6) the patient's lack of interest (39%). An overwhelming majority (98%) nevertheless feel that they have a role to play in preventing children's accidents in the home, with 72.5% seeing this as informative (recommendation on safety rules). More than two-thirds of the respondents feel that they have enough requisite information to play such a role. Those who declare that they have not enough information (34%) proposed some priority subjects about which they would like to find information or additional information to be more effective in preventing accidents. The information needs mentioned most frequently were a systematic review of the risks, of the effective prevention strategies and epidemiological data.

Conclusions. The present study clearly reveals the interest of physicians for accident prevention and puts forward the current obstacles to offering prevention advice during routine consultation. The obstacles mentioned are fairly comparable to those mentioned in other studies, namely, because the reason for the visit does not give such an opening, the lack of appropriate materials and information, the lack of time, the patient's lack of interest, the fact that the issue is not a priority, etc. The problem of lack of priority for certain practitioners underlines the importance of making accident mortality and morbidity statistics available to doctors in order to improve their perception of the magnitude of the problem. The lack of interesting education materials and useful information seems to be a major reason for their failure to carry out such prevention work successfully. These factors should thus be taken into account when developing any policy and/or programme aimed at ‘using’ GPs and paediatricians in the prevention strategies that are adopted.     

Using the past to map out the future of occupational health and safety research: where do we go from here?

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to take stock of the extant research on occupational health and safety (OHS) with the aim of identifying gaps and mapping out a future research agenda for human resource management (HRM) scholars. A comprehensive review of OHS research from 1956 to 2019 was first conducted. A total of 564 articles from 17 leading journals were then identified and categorized into five distinct, yet inter-related, themes: (1) antecedents and work-related factors influencing OHS; (2) industrial policy and regulations surrounding OHS; (3) OHS management practices; (4) approaches to, and models of, managing OHS and (5) outcomes of OHS management. The review also discusses OHS research methodologies and design foci. Overall, we found that OHS research is poorly integrated into the field of HRM, and we identify a plethora of opportunities for HR researchers to add value to this field of research. A future agenda is formulated, encompassing new OHS theory-building, novel directions for empirical research, and innovations in research design and methodology.     

Towards a typology of business process management professionals: identifying patterns of competences through latent semantic analysis

While researchers have analysed the organisational competences that are required for successful Business Process Management (BPM) initiatives, individual BPM competences have not yet been studied in detail. In this study, latent semantic analysis is used to examine a collection of 1507 BPM-related job advertisements in order to develop a typology of BPM professionals. This empirical analysis reveals distinct ideal types and profiles of BPM professionals on several levels of abstraction. A closer look at these ideal types and profiles confirms that BPM is a boundary-spanning field that requires interdisciplinary sets of competence that range from technical competences to business and systems competences. Based on the study’s findings, it is posited that individual and organisational alignment with the identified ideal types and profiles is likely to result in high employability and organisational BPM success.     

Bringing History In: Policy accumulation and general policy alienation

Research mainly looked at problems public professionals have with specific policy programmes. However, policies are not developed in a vacuum. Public professionals are often confronted with (a series of) policy changes, intended to refine, replace or complement other policies. This policy accumulation results in professionals having a certain predisposition towards policies in general. To conceptualize this predisposition, we introduce the term general policy alienation. We investigate whether the earlier developed policy alienation scale can be adapted to measure general policy alienation. Our analyses show that the scale performs satisfactorily. Theoretical relevance, as well as directions for practical applications are discussed.