Human Resource Management Journal

Publisher:: Wiley
Publication date:: 2021-02-01

ISBN:: 0954-5395

Issue Number

No. 33-4, November 2023

Latest documents

Building organisational resilience capability in small and medium‐sized enterprises: The role of high‐performance work systems
Although organisational resilience is crucial to small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in turbulent business environments, research has yet to establish whether and how human resource management (HRM) systems can help build an SME's organisational resilience to influence firm performance. Drawing on the perspective of HRM as an internal capability builder and human capital resource theory, we develop a model that depicts how high‐performance work systems (HPWSs) build organisational resilience capabilities in the forms of bounce‐back and bounce‐forward resilience, leading to firm performance. We test our model using data from 1140 participants (including top management team members, middle‐level managers, and entry‐level employees) from 177 Nigerian SMEs. The structural equation modelling results show that HPWSs contribute to bounce‐back resilience via human capital value but to bounce‐forward resilience via both human capital value and heterogeneity. We also find that bounce‐forward resilience is related to firm performance but bounce‐back resilience is not.
Implementing the equality, diversity, and inclusion agenda in multinational companies: A framework for the management of (linguistic) diversity
Advancing, both conceptually and practically, the equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) agenda, which is notoriously difficult to implement, this paper addresses the under‐researched area of global diversity management (GDM) in multinational companies (MNCs). Drawing on Harrison and Klein's (2007) conceptualisations of diversity (separation, variety, and disparity) and two core concepts (fluidity and reciprocity) that reflect recent developments in the EDI literature, we propose a two‐step framework for implementing the EDI agenda through GDM. We argue that to achieve inclusion, we first need to think differently about diversity and differences (i.e., view diversity in a positive light and recognise and appreciate differences as fluid), in order to act differently (i.e., promote reciprocal effort to leverage diversity). We illustrate our framework with the specific case of linguistic diversity, a diversity dimension that is particularly salient, but also often neglected in MNCs, and discuss the implications of the proposed framework for EDI theory as well as human resource management policies and practice.
Getting to what works: How frontline HRM relationality facilitates high‐performance work practice implementation
The lack of an efficient support system for people with multiple, long‐term health conditions has increased costs, worsened health outcomes, and prompted policymakers to implement a boundary‐spanning role within healthcare settings. While scholars have demonstrated the benefits of coordination roles and other such high‐performance work practices (HPWPs) in this sector, the actual implementation of these practices is less clear. Based on a comparative case study approach, 153 interviews, and other qualitative data, this article explores frontline managers' HR philosophies and practices (‘frontline HRM relationality’) to explain possible variation in efforts to implement the boundary‐spanning role of care coordinators (CCs). Despite strong policy support for the role, coordination has improved unevenly because of varying degrees of HRM relationality: findings show that higher frontline HRM relationality was associated with lower inter‐occupational professionalization differences and higher boundary‐spanning coordination. The article contributes to a nascent literature on HPWP implementation by theorizing frontline HRM relationality as a continuum that moderates professionalization‐related coordination problems and highlights the importance of frontline HRM relationality for implementing HPWPs in professionalized settings.
Issue Information
No abstract is available for this article.
Refugee recruitment and workplace integration: An opportunity for human resource management scholarship and impact
Employment underpins the successful resettlement and integration of refugees, and human resource (HR) professionals are integral to successful employee–employer relationships. Until recently, research has largely overlooked the role of HR professionals in the recruitment and integration of employees at work. Reviewing the literature on refugee employment through an HR lens, this review offers insights and practical solutions that contribute to the effective recruitment and workplace integration of refugees. We identify strategies such as onboarding programs, job enrichment and internships that offer realistic job previews, and the opportunity for people from a refugee background to validate and demonstrate their credentials. In addition, we describe the benefits of organisations’ engagement in external relationship management to champion changes in industrial relations and foster cross‐sector partnerships that aid refugee employment. In the discussion, we describe the practical implications of our review, and highlight directions for future research that addresses different stakeholder needs and priorities.
Employee‐perceived ‘motivation‐enhancing HRM practices’ and career ambition: Social subjective norms explain workplace deviant behavior
Ability‐motivation‐opportunity (AMO) based human resource management (HRM) practices connote positive organizational outcomes, in general. This study has identified the deviant outcome of motivation‐enhancing HRM practices by delineating how it can lead to an undesirable workplace behavior like unethical pro‐organizational behavior (UPOB) through employees' career ambition. Further, such effects are amplified in the presence of UPOB descriptive and injunctive norms. The hypotheses were tested by using two multi‐wave time‐lagged studies for sales executives working in organizations representing two different industries. Career ambition partially mediated the relationship between motivation‐enhancing HRM practices and UPOB. The conditional indirect effect of motivation‐enhancing HRM practices on UPOB through employees' career ambition was stronger when they perceive high level of descriptive and injunctive norms in the workplace. While the relationship between career ambition and UPOB was strengthened for high descriptive and injunctive norms, it was weakened for low injunctive norms but not for low descriptive norms.
How can people benefit, and who benefits most, from using socialisation‐oriented social media at work? An affordance perspective
Past research has predominantly regarded (private) socialisation‐oriented social media (SoSM) use at work as a counterproductive behaviour and has thus focussed more on its dark side. However, given the prevalence of social media in today's work life and the various affordances this technology can have, social media might have important bright sides. In this research, drawing on the affordance perspective, we propose that the day‐to‐day use of SoSM at work is positively associated with perceptions of social connectedness, which is further positively associated with life satisfaction and task performance. We examined our hypotheses using an experience sampling study of 134 full‐time employees in China across 10 consecutive workdays. The results of multilevel modelling showed that, as expected, daily SoSM use at work related positively with employees' perceptions of social connectedness, which in turn predicted their daily life satisfaction and daily task performance. We also found that the relationship between daily SoSM use at work and perceived social connectedness was stronger for employees with higher, rather than lower, perceived workloads. We suggest this moderating effect occurs because social media is an efficient medium, providing greater affordances, through which busy workers can meet their belongingness needs. Overall, our study sheds light on the previously less‐studied positive effects of social media use at work.
Common good human resource management, ethical employee behaviors, and organizational citizenship behaviors toward the individual
What happens to the behaviors of employees when their organizations' human resource management (HRM) systems take into account any challenges to the common good? Despite common good HRM (CGHRM) having recently been raised, the existing literature has not yet investigated the role played by CGHRM in relation to employee behaviors. Drawing on social exchange theory, we addressed this issue by exploring CGHRM and its influences on employee ethical behavior and organizational citizenship behaviors toward the individual (OCBI). We conducted this study in Vietnam, in two subsequent stages. Stage 1 involved a mixed‐method approach to develop and validate four items suited to measure CGHRM. In Stage 2, we examined a mediation‐moderation model showing the relationship between CGHRM and employee behaviors, and investigated the roles played by value commitment and spiritual leadership. We also included a survey using time‐lagged data and different sources. The findings reveal that CGHRM directly and positively influences ethical employee behaviors and OCBI, and indirectly and positively influences these two types of behavior via value commitment. Interestingly, the relationship between CGHRM and ethical employee behaviors was found to be significantly stronger when combined with high levels of spiritual leadership. Unexpectedly, however, spiritual leadership was not found to moderate the CGHRM‐OCBI relationship.
Does change incite abusive supervision? The role of transformational change and hindrance stress
To remain competitive, organizations tend to change their established ways of working, their strategy, the core values, and the organizational structure. Such thorough changes are referred to as transformational change. Unfortunately, transformational change is often unsuccessful because organizational members do not always welcome the change. Although organizations often expect their supervisors to be successful role‐models and change‐agents during the transformational change process, we argue that initiating transformational change could increase supervisors' hindrance stress levels, which may result in abusive behaviors towards employees. More specifically, in a multi‐source survey and an experimental study, we find evidence that transformational change is associated with supervisors' experienced hindrance stress, which subsequently led to more abusive behaviors towards employees.
Reducing day‐level emotional exhaustion: The complementary role of high involvement work systems and engaging leadership
High involvement work systems (HIWS) have been found to be improve employee well‐being. The underlying processes through which HIWS influence employee well‐being and the conditions under which these practices work are not fully understood. This study draws on job demands‐resources theory to address this gap by theorising two novel mediators, that is, work pressure and bonding social capital, to explain how HIWS influence emotional exhaustion. We further proposed that engaging leadership as a proxy of line manager implementation of HIWS would strengthen these relationships. An integrated model is presented on how, why, and when HIWS influence employee well‐being. Using data collected from 97 employees in a pharmaceutical company via a general survey and then a diary survey for 5 working days, this study found that HIWS alleviated day‐level emotional exhaustion through their experience of higher day‐level bonding social capital and lower day‐level work pressure and these relationships were stronger under high level of engaging leadership.