Showing papers in "International Journal of Human Resource Management in 2003"

Creating value for employees: investment in employee development

Abstract: Relying on a social exchange theory we examine the relationships among perceived investment in employees' development (PIED), job satisfaction, organizational commitment and intent to leave. Individual-level analyses from a sample of 405 nurses from two countries indicate that PIED is positively associated with job satisfaction and affective commitment but not with continuance commitment. As expected, job satisfaction and affective commitment fully mediate the relationship between PIED and intent to leave. Overall, this research shows support for partial measurement equivalence and equivalent structural parameters across both samples.

The importance of HR practices and workplace trust in achieving superior performance: A study of public-sector organizations

Abstract: This paper assesses the impact of bundles of HR practices on workplace trust, job satisfaction, commitment, effort and perceived organizational performance. A theoretical model is developed and tested using data collected through a postal survey of UK local government employees. The results support the hypothesis that HR practices are powerful predictors of trust and organizational performance. These findings demonstrate the need for public organizations to re-evaluate their current battery of HR practices in an attempt to improve overall performance.

Impact of people management practices on organizational performance: analysis of a causal model

Abstract: Although researchers in strategic human resource management have established a relationship between HRM practices and organizational performance, the intervening process connecting HRM system and o...

Building effective organizations: transformational leadership, collectivist orientation, work-related attitudes and withdrawal behaviours in three emerging economies

Abstract: Previous cross-cultural research on transformational leadership has focused mainly on replicating the augmentation effects of transformational leadership over transactional leadership on followers' attitudes and behaviours Relatively few studies have systematically examined cultural impacts in moderating the influence of transformational leadership on work-related outcomes taking a cross-cultural perspective Using a field survey of 577 employees from banking and financial sectors in three emerging economies, namely: China, India and Kenya, we examined the moderating effect of collectivism on the relationships between transformational leadership, work-related attitudes and perceptions of withdrawal behaviours Our results found support for the moderating effect of collectivism on the relationship between transformational leadership and work-related outcomes, such as facets of job satisfaction, organizational commitment and perceptions of organizational withdrawal behaviours In addition, our results lend

Organizational culture and human resources in the environmental issue: a review of the literature

Abstract: From the resourced-based view, the weakness of organizations' business culture and their shortcomings in human resources may be important obstacles in the process of environmental action. However, as the number of works on these questions is still limited, our aim is to integrate the classical literature concerning business culture and human resources and the small number of works concerning these aspects of environmental management. Several issues, such as managerial duties, the role of organizational culture in the formation of environmental internal stakeholders' awareness, organizational involvement in environmental issues, environmental training and concern, environmental motivation and incentives and implementation and organizational innovations, may be very important for thesuccess of companies' environmental strategy. However, it seems necessary to carry out studies in which qualitative and quantitative methodologies are applied.

Innovative human resource practices and organizational commitment: an empirical investigation

Abstract: In the contemporary business environment, human resource (HR) is an indispensable input for organizational effectiveness. Hence, an effective management of human resources has an important role to play in the performance and success of organizations. Competitive pressures have encouraged organizations to be proactive in diagnosing HR problems and to adopt more innovative HR practices since these were no longer a matter of trend, but rather of survival. The present study attempted to explore the relationship of three dimensions of innovative human resource practices (IHRPs): that is, the extent of introduction of IHRPs, their importance for organizational goal achievement and satisfaction with implementation of IHRPs, with organizational commitment (OC). Regression analyses showed that the perceived extent of introduction of innovative human resource practices by the organizations was the most significant predictor of organizational commitment.

Repatriation: empirical evidence from a longitudinal study of careers and expectations among Finnish expatriates

Abstract: One of the newer areas of research in the field of international human resource management concerns the repatriation of international assignees at the end of their time abroad. This paper is one of...

Employee involvement, organizational change and trust in management

Abstract: Trust is an important concept in social science research as a key factor in organizational success and human resource practice. Few models of organizational change encompass the role of trust in the process of change. Further, little empirical research has focused on the potential effects of change strategies on employee trust in management. To address this gap, this paper explores the effect that different types of change strategies may have on employee trust in management. More specifically, it examines the effect of several types of major organizational change – technological, structural and work role – and types of employee involvement. Using data from the most recent Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey, covering over 2,000 workplaces and over 19,000 employees, statistical analysis reveals significant negative effects of change on trust. However, the effects vary by type of change and employee involvement. Structural reorganization is particularly corrosive of trust in management. However...

Effects of training on business results.

Abstract: Currently, there is general agreement about the importance of training as a tool to help companies in the development of sustainable competitive advantages based on their human resources. However, the investment of companies in training activities is still very low. Among other reasons, that is due to the fact that they do not evaluate the effects of training on performance and therefore they do not know its economic impact for the company. There is also a lack of academic research analysing that issue, mainly at the empirical level. This paper studies empirically the effects of training on performance (effectiveness and profitability) using a sample of 457 European SMEs (including Spanish companies).1 Our results show some evidence of significant relationships between training and performance.

Human resource management and knowledge management: enhancing knowledge sharing in a pharmaceutical company

Abstract: There is a gap in understanding the implications for human resource management practices of the rising interest in managing knowledge (Scarbrough and Carter, 2000). As a response, this paper takes an organizational learning perspective to reflect more critically upon the problems of managing knowledge. In particular, it highlights employees' unwillingness to share knowledge with others as crucial in determining the contribution human resource practices can make to managing knowledge ( Alvesson and Karreman, 2001; Easterby-Smith et al., 2000; Hayes and Walsham, 2000; Mueller and Dyerson, 1999; Pritchard et al., 2000; Willmott, 2000). Specifically, the paper considers the contribution that human resource management practices can make in mediating a functionally based organizational structure and culture in a global pharmaceutical company.

Challenges for the boundaryless career odyssey

Abstract: The boundaryless career, which challenges the assumptions of the traditional hierarchical career, has proved to be a remarkably popular and influential concept. However, we argue that it remains theoretically and empirically undeveloped, which limits its explanatory potential. We draw on some New Zealand empirical research highlighting the issue of who gets studied. Focusing on women's career experience, local ethnic groups and collective cultures we argue that these experiences represent a challenge to boundaryless career theory. Some of the theoretical assumptions on which boundaryless careers have been built are also interrogated: freedom from boundaries, individual volition and minimal influences from societal structures. We conclude that the boundaryless career story/odyssey is in danger of becoming a narrow career theory applicable only to the minority, if there is no engagement with theoretical and empirical critiques.

Trust in public-sector senior management

Abstract: Trust is widely regarded as an important ingredient of organizational effectiveness. Although there is accumulating empirical evidence supporting the important role of trust in organizational contexts, there is limited empirical evidence that focuses on the nature, determinants and influence of trust in senior management. This is particularly true in the public-sector environment. In this paper, based on a review of the literature, we propose a model that identifies key antecedents and consequences of trust in public-sector senior management. We used data collected from two public-sector organizations to identify levels of trust and correlates of trust in senior management. We also conducted a series of regression analyses to identify more clearly the extent to which each of the antecedents influenced trust in senior management and the extent to which trust in senior management influenced each of the consequences. The results suggest that effective organizational communication, procedural justice, organiz...

Assessing the team environment for knowledge sharing: an empirical analysis

Abstract: The self-managed work team is an organizational structure that is much used by companies today. It is put forward as the most appropriate setting for the creation and transfer of knowledge, while p...

Trust, individualism and job characteristics as predictors of employee preference for teamwork

Abstract: Employee resistance has long been recognized as a key constraint on the success of organizational change initiatives. However, it is only recently that employee attitudes towards working in teams has been specifically investigated as a factor influencing team effectiveness. Using data from 218 employees in 40 self-managing work teams, we examined the relationship between trust, individualism, job characteristics and team members' attitudes towards teamwork. Providing a partial test of Mayer et al.'s (1995) relational model of trust, the results indicate that the two situational forms of trust (trust in co-workers and trust in management) were stronger predictors of an employee's preference for teamwork than propensity to trust. Trust in co-workers was found to partially mediate the relationship between a person's propensity to trust strangers and their preference for working in a team. The importance of considering the dispositional variables of propensity to trust and individualism as factors that influe...

The effect of human resource management practices on Japanese MNC subsidiary performance: a partial mediating model

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between a bundle or system of human resource (HR) practices and firm performance and the processes through which these HR practices affect organizational outcomes. Using a sample of fifty-two Japanese multinational corporation subsidiaries operating in the United States and Russia, we examine the impact of HR systems on firm performance mediated by employee skills, attitudes and motivation in an attempt to shed light on the so-called ‘black box’ through which HR practices lead to firm performance. The results support the notion that employee skills, attitudes and behaviours play a mediating role between HR systems and firm outcomes in multinational corporations. These findings illustrate the varying impact of synergistic systems of HR practices and their generalizability in different national contexts.

Transferring human resource practices from the United Kingdom to China: the limits and potential for convergence

Abstract: Substantial effort has been devoted to exploring the transfer of human resource management practices within multinational companies. Particular attention has been paid to countries with ‘strong’ HRM traditions, to transfers between economically developed countries and to firms in the manufacturing sector. This paper addresses the transfer of a British-owned retail firm's HRM practices from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China. From a variety of perspectives the expectation might be that the transfer of parent-country practices in this instance would be limited: HRM has not been considered a particular strength of UK firms; retail firms operate in a multi-domestic context directly serving local customers rather than as part of an integrated international production network; and there is a high cultural distance between the UK and China. When this multinational retailer entered the China market the express intention was to replicate as nearly as possible the management style of its UK stores...

Human resource strategy and firm performance in Pacific Rim countries

Abstract: This paper examines the impact of high-performance work system (HPWS) techniques on organizational performance in four East and Southeast Asian economies that have been at the forefront of Asia's rapid development. All now face considerable competitive pressures from newer emerging markets (e.g. China, India, Vietnam, Eastern Europe) and thus experience many of the same sources of uncertainty from globalization as more economically developed countries, especially in the period following the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Many companies in Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand are experimenting with features of American-style high-performance work systems. We collected data from nearly 700 companies in the region, both subsidiaries of MNCs (American, Japanese and European) and locally owned firms. Statistical techniques were used to measure the effects of HPWS techniques on perceived financial performance. In general, the results indicated HPWSs worked effectively, even under tremendously variable conditions...

Gender, Family and Career in the Era of Boundarylessness: Determinants and Effects of Intra- and Inter-organizational Mobility

Abstract: Changes in patterns of long-term employment make understanding the determinants of different career forms increasingly important to careers research. At the same time, the rise of dual-earner families demands greater attention to the ways in which gender and family characteristics shape careers than has been paid by traditional research. This paper addresses these issues, examining the determinants and consequences of intra-organizational and inter-organizational mobility, using a sample of employees from dual-earner couples. We find significant gender differences in these different types of career mobility, and in the effect of family relations on different forms of mobility. Women experience more inter-organizational mobility, while men experience more intraorganizational mobility. Having more children positively influences men's intra-organizational mobility, but increases inter-organizational mobility for women. Marital instability increases intra-organizational mobility among women, but has no effect...

Career fields: a small step towards a grand career theory?

Abstract: Little theory development has been done that accounts for the changes in the forms, actors and contexts of careers that we currently can see. Looking at careers from a ‘grand’ and unified theoretical perspective has a number of advantages. In particular, grand social theories allow the link between a well-elaborated and differentiated framework for social phenomena and for careers. Moreover, looking at careers from a unified perspective allows discussion of the great variety of aspects to careers in a single theoretical language. Based on the work of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, this paper focuses on social fields as one major element of an effort towards a more comprehensive theoretical framework for professional and managerial careers. In particular, it discusses the constituting characteristics of career fields as social fields and the application of this concept to work-related careers. Rather than adopting or adapting a specific theory in order to illuminate a specific national context, this p...

Human resource management, institutionalization and organizational performance: a comparison of hospitals, hotels and local government

Abstract: The relationship between human resource management (HRM) and firm performance has been a hotly debated topic over the last decade, especially in the United States. The question arises as to whether the domination of US-oriented models, however appropriate they might be for, say, the USA, holds in other, for example, more institutionalized contexts. Now we have the opportunity to study recent empirical data on the effectiveness of human resource management in the Netherlands, using control versus commitment HR theory (Walton, 1985; Arthur, 1994) in combination with New Institutionalism (DiMaggio and Powell, 1983). We were able to include three different Dutch branches of industry, i.e. health care, local government and tourism. Empirical results suggest that the effect of HRM is lower in highly institutionalized sectors (hospitals and local government) than in a less institutionalized sector like hotels.

Human resource management systems and organizational performance: an analysis of the Spanish manufacturing industry

Abstract: This study analyses the relationship between human resource management systems and firm performance, using the Miles and Snow’s typology (1984). The hypotheses set forth to this respect are tested ...

Strategic human resource management and its effects on firm performance: an implementation of the competing values framework

Abstract: Based on the literature of the competing values framework, this paper develops a new HRM model and attempts to clarify what type of HRM (in terms of the orientation of the function) is linked with various aspects of firm performance. In order to acquire a better view of this much researched issue, three more factors that influence this relationship have been added to the equation: competitive strategy, external environment and organizational size. The empirical research was carried out in Greece among a sample of 104 organizations. The research findings show that when HRM is consistent with the competitive strategy it has significant effects on financial performance. Another important finding is that market performance is positively influenced by HRM flexibility and negatively influenced by HRM control, unless the external environment is complex, when the most successful combination is control-internal orientation.

‘Free actors’ and organizations: critical remarks about the new career literature, based on French insights

Abstract: What is the reality of contemporary careers? Have individuals become masters of their professional destiny? While the ‘new career literature’ puts forward the figure of an individual free to invent his/her career (the ‘free actor model’), this article shows that the changes purported to affect careers are less radical than they seem. Despite a weakening of environments, discriminating career mechanisms are still imposed on cadres, at least in France. Because individuals do not always have the means or the will to escape those mechanisms, ‘external clues’ continue to mark careers more than the new career literature supposes. To account for the realities observed in France, this paper proposes a specific view on careers, which highlights why career rules still exist in the country.

Strategic HR orientation and firm performance in India

Abstract: This study tests the relationship between strategic HR orientation and firm performance. The study has been conducted to add to the growing empirical evidence in this field. The study has been carried out in the Indian setting, where the importance of human resources has gained currency in the last decade. Results show that there is a significant relationship between strategic HR orientation and firm performance.

Trust and HRM in the new millennium

Abstract: This paper introduces the topic of trust in the workplace. The rationale for the growth of interest in trust is explored, as are the implications for HRM policy makers and researchers. Here, we also outline the main thrust of the eight papers incorporated in this special edition. First, we explore the topic of HRM and trust, before moving to issues relating to trust and workplace change. Next we discuss team dynamics, manager–employee relationships and trust and, finally, the characteristics associated with trust and situational, dispositional and affectual factors.

Multinationals and human resource management: between global convergence and national identity

Abstract: (2003). Multinationals and human resource management: between global convergence and national identity. The International Journal of Human Resource Management: Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 363-368.

Affectual trust in the workplace

Abstract: While trust is increasingly recognized as central to the functioning of relationships in general and to business relationships in particular, there has been very little attention paid to the nature of the experience of trust – as distinct from its antecedents and outcomes. When the nature of trust is considered, it is most often presented as a rational calculus of cost and benefit. This ignores the emotional content of trust that, we argue, is central to the understanding of the phenomenon. An understanding of these emotions and the way they combine with the cognitive elements of trust allows a clearer view of why differing conditions lead to different manifestations of trust, and how these in turn lead to different relational benefits. This paper presents an affect-based framework for trust consisting of cognitive and emotional elements. This is used to consider in-depth interviews with service providers talking about their jobs and their employer. The affect-based framework allows us to understand the d...

International adjustment of female vs male business expatriates

Abstract: Despite a host of supportive anecdotal evidence and an increasing demand for business expatriates, women are a relatively untapped source for expatriate assignments. To compare their international ...

Trust me, I'm your boss: Trust and power in supervisor–supervisee communication

Abstract: This study examined employees' perceptions of trust, power and mentoring in manager–employee relationships in a variety of sectors, including health care, education, hospitality and retail. The main theoretical frameworks used were communication accommodation theory and social identity theory, in examining the manager–employee relationships from an in-group/out-group perspective. Computer-aided content analyses revealed a number of emergent communication and relationship themes that impact upon the level of ‘in-groupness’ and therefore trust in supervisor–supervisee relationships. While it may be illusory to believe that any organization can enjoy complete trust among its workforce, it is clear that certain communication characteristics can result in greater trust in manager–employee relationships, even within the context of organizational constraints. It is argued that the results of the study could be used to inform human resource management academics of key aspects of managerial communication that shou...