Perceptual asymmetries in perceived quality of HR function resulting from ownership transformation: A public‐to‐private scenario

• Published date: 01 February 2022
• Author: Muhammad Ali Asadullah,Naima Fatima,Ahmad Nabeel Siddiquei,Maria Rasheed,Karim Wahba
• Date: 01 February 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2324

ACADEMIC PAPER

Perceptual asymmetries in perceived quality of HR function

resulting from ownership transformation: A public-to-private

scenario

Muhammad Ali Asadullah

1

| Naima Fatima

1,2

| Ahmad Nabeel Siddiquei

3

|

Maria Rasheed

4

| Karim Wahba

5

1

Department of Business Administration, Air

University, Multan, Pakistan

2

HR Assistant, Barnet Carer Centre, North

Finchley, UK

3

Bond Business School, Bond University, Gold

Coast, Australia

4

Lahore Business School (LBS), University of

Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan

5

Business Faculty, Emirates College of

Technology, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Correspondence

Ahmad Nabeel Siddiquei (Adjunct Teaching

Fellow) Bond Business School, Bond

University.

Email: asiddiqu@bond.edu.au

Policymakers use privatization to transform a drowning public sector firm into a prof-

itable institution while ignoring its effects on different organizational members. This

study advances HR research on ownership transformation and its human resource

implications by exploring potential effects of privatization on changes in perceptions

of key HR service providers and service receives (i.e., HR and Non-HR line managers)

about the quality of HR business partnership role. This qualitative investigation is

based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with eight Non-HR and three HR line

managers of a privatized fertilizer company in Pakistan. We proposed that the trans-

formation of ownership positively affects the line manager's perceptions about stra-

tegic partner and change agent role of the HR Function. The line managers'

perceptions about the expert administrative role remained almost unaffected, while

their perceptions about employee champion role of HR Function are negatively

affected after privatization. This study has contributed to the existing knowledge by

highlighting the role of ownership transformation, particularly privatization in

employees' perceptions about the business partner role of HR Function in a

fertilizer firm.

1|INTRODUCTION

Privatization is a common phenomenon to sell a public firm to some

private entity (Battaglio Jr, 2009; Vrangbæk, Petersen, &

Hjelmar, 2015; Zahra, Ireland, Gutierrez, & Hitt, 2000). The critical

drivers of privatization include improving the strategic and financial

performance of the firm, coping with industrial pressures, raising reve-

nues, or resolving social and economic issues (Bremmer, 2010;

Megginson & Netter, 2001). Studies have noted that privatization

often results in new leadership and management, downsizing, chang-

ing human resource policies and practices, and new products and ser-

vices offerings (Dharwadkar, George, & Brandes, 2000;

Makhija, 2003; Ramamurti, 2000; Xu, Tihanyi, & Hitt, 2017). There

seems to be a mutual consensus among organizational researchers

that privatization brings stressful consequences for human resources

such as ambiguity, job dissatisfaction, job insecurity, physical and

psychological health issues, and poor communication and participation

(Jimmieson & Tucker, 2018; Pahkin, Mattila-Holappa, Nielsen,

Widerszal-Bazyl, & Wiezer, 2014; Seo & Hill, 2005; Sheng, Zhou, &

Zhao, 2012).

While the potential causes and effects of privatization on the

organizational workforce are widely studied, the impact of privatiza-

tion on surviving employee's

1

perceptions about post-privatization

HR policies and practices still needs further attention. The human

resource (HR) management researchers working on both public and

private ownership transformations have ignored how do the surviving

employees respond to such changes in HR Function and HR policies

and practices in a post-privatization context. The existing literature on

privatization (e.g., Battaglio Jr, 2009; Battaglio Jr & Ledvinka, 2009;

Petersen, Hjelmar, & Vrangbæk, 2018; Vrangbæk et al., 2015) is more

focused on the issues like public-private partnerships, organizational

transformation, change consultation, change planning and

Received: 27 April 2020 Revised: 16 June 2020 Accepted: 21 July 2020

DOI: 10.1002/pa.2324

J Public Affairs. 2022;22:e2324. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/pa © 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd 1of13

https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2324