Quality‐Related HR Practices, Organizational Ethics, and Positive Work Attitudes: Implications for HRD

• Published date: 01 December 2013
• Date: 01 December 2013
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/hrdq.21169

Quality-Related HR Practices,

Organizational Ethics, and

Positive Work Attitudes:

Implications for HRD

Sean Valentine, David Hollingworth, Clare A. Francis

Existing research suggests that human resource (HR) practices and

corporate ethics, both of which are orchestrated through human resource

development (HRD), enhance employees’ work attitudes. Consequently, this

study examined the degree to which employees’ perception of organizational

ethics mediates the relationship between their perceptions of quality-related

HR practices and work attitudes. Results obtained from structural equation

modeling of data acquired from 187 professionals in a fi nancial services

fi rm showed full mediation. Stronger perceptions of quality-related HR

practices were associated with increased perceptions of organizational

ethics, and stronger perceptions of organizational ethics were associated

with more positive work attitudes. The results suggest that quality-based

HR practices can be used in companies to advance an ethical context,

ultimately yielding more favorable work attitudes.

Key Words: quality, ethics, satisfaction, commitment, intention to stay

The usual parts of an employee’s work situation point to tasks that are per-

formed in exchange for compensation provided by an employer. However,

countless other policies, procedures, rewards, penalties, and guidelines also

defi ne many aspects of the exchanges that occur between individuals and

companies. Collectively, these factors are embodied in HR practices,

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY, vol. 24, no. 4, Winter 2013 © Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) • DOI: 10.1002/hrdq.21169 493

This research was supported, in part, by a grant from the Senate Scholarly Activities Committee at

the University of North Dakota. An earlier version of this study was presented at the 2011 Decision

Science Institute 42nd Annual Meeting, Boston, MA (November 19–22).

494 Valentine, Hollingworth, Francis

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT QUARTERLY • DOI: 10.1002/hrdq

operational approaches (e.g., quality improvement), organizational climate,

employee attitudes, and much more. Research papers indicating that such

variables (especially HR-related ones) are associated with important organiza-

tional consequences are prevalent (e.g., Bartlett, 2001; Becker & Huselid,

2006; Egan, 2008; Huselid, 1995; Park & Jacobs, 2011), with one particular

area focusing on how employee supervision impacts different work outcomes

within the domain of quality management. In particular, the quality manage-

ment literature explores how work performed by employees can be modifi ed

to increase motivation and performance (Rothschild, 2000). Such quality-

related practices are an important subset of HR, and the operations literature

clearly indicates that workforce supervision is an essential component of qual-

ity management (Flynn, Schroeder, & Sakakibara, 1994, 1995a; Kaynak,

2003; Nair, 2006; Zu, Fredendall, & Douglass, 2008).

Employment is also influenced by the approaches/policies used to

develop employees’ ethics and work attitudes. HR professionals likely rein-

force ethics in companies by targeting the factors that precipitate positive

work outcomes and well-being among employees, such as increased self-

respect and self-direction (Holman, 2002; Rothschild, 2000). More specifi -

cally, by enhancing organizational justice and workplace fairness (Miller,

1996; Winstanley & Woodall, 2000a) and focusing on transparency and equal

opportunity with regard to personnel policy (Winstanley & Woodall, 2000b),

Ideally, HR professionals can provide a positive employment environment.

HR practices can help establish and strengthen a corporate ethics (e.g.,

Berenbeim, 2010; Craft, 2010; Heiland, Daniels, Shane, & Wall, 1984). There

is “interest in the role of the HR specialist as a guardian of ethics, with the HR

function assuming the role of ‘ethical stewardship’ and ethical leadership”…

and the “HR manager’s role in raising awareness about ethical issues, in pro-

moting ethical behaviour and in disseminating ethical practices more widely

among line and project managers” (Winstanley & Woodall, 2000a, p. 7). HR

professionals get involved in ethics by “communicating codes of ethical con-

duct, providing training in ethics, managing compliance and monitoring

arrangements and taking a lead in enforcement proceedings” (p. 7).

HRD processes/activities, including those intended to develop both indi-

viduals and organizations, should play an even more signifi cant role by provid-

ing the necessary learning mechanisms needed to encourage employees to think

and perform favorably in their jobs. According to Swanson (1995), the concep-

tual bases of HRD include economic theory, systems theory, and psychological

theory, and these perspectives demonstrate how individual, process, and orga-

nizational performance can be simultaneously increased by providing proper

interventions. For instance, limited resources may constrain organizations and

encourage certain ethical choices based on the inherent (opportunity) costs and

benefi ts of different alternative courses of action. Yet the tenets of economic

theory and human capital theory (see Holton & Naquin, 2005;

and Zidan, 2001, for discussion) suggests that a company should be ethical