Human Capital Resource Pipelines

Although human capital resources (HCR) can be important for organizational performance, researchers have defined and measured HCR in various ways. Consequently, it is unclear whether existing measures provide valid inferences about HCR or their relations with other constructs. We conducted this three-study research to address these issues. In Study 1, we reviewed HCR definitions (k = 84) and found that most definitions focus on collective knowledge, skills, and abilities. Recent definitions also tend to include other characteristics (e.g., personality). In Study 2, a content analysis of HCR measures (k = 127) revealed that only 23.6% of the measures focused solely on HCR and they tended to assess only one or two dimensions of the construct (i.e., were deficient). Many measures (46.5%) assessed both HCR and other constructs (i.e., were partially contaminated), and other measures (29.9%) assessed only non-HCR constructs (i.e., were fully contaminated). In Study 3 (k = 94), we found that HCR measures that were less deficient demonstrated stronger criterion-related validity for predicting unit and firm performance. Interestingly, partially contaminated measures were somewhat more predictive than uncontaminated measures (ρ = .35 vs. .25, respectively), mainly because they assessed both HCR and other constructs that are related to performance. Both types of measures demonstrated stronger validity than fully contaminated measures. Overall, findings suggest that extant HCR measures often are deficient and/or contaminated. We discuss implications, as well as offer guidance for measuring HCR in future research. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Resources for What? Understanding Performance in the Resource-Based View and Strategic Human Capital Resource Literatures

This study integrates research from strategy, economics, and applied psychology to examine how organizations may leverage their human resources to enhance firm performance and competitive advantage. Staffing and training are key human resource management practices used to achieve firm performance through acquiring and developing human capital resources. However, little research has examined whether and why staffing and training influence firm-level financial performance (profit) growth under different environmental (economic) conditions. Using 359 firms with over 12 years of longitudinal firm-level profit data, we suggest that selective staffing and internal training directly and interactively influence firm profit growth through their effects on firm labor productivity, implying that staffing and training contribute to the generation of slack resources that help buffer and then recover from the effects of the Great Recession. Further, internal training that creates specific human capital resources is more beneficial for prerecession profitability, but staffing is more beneficial for postrecession recovery, apparently because staffing creates generic human capital resources that enable firm flexibility and adaptation. Thus, the theory and findings presented in this article have implications for the way staffing and training may be used strategically to weather economic uncertainty (recession effects). They also have important practical implications by demonstrating that firms that more effectively staff and train will outperform competitors throughout all pre- and postrecessionary periods, even after controlling for prior profitability.

Although a large body of human capital research supports the critical role of human capital resource (HCR) in unit performance, very little research has paid attention to where HCR originates and how HCR influences team performance. Drawing on human capital, faultline, and multilevel theories, we build on two forms of a team’s KSAOs that capture the level and configuration of the KSAOs (i.e., the mean level of KSAOs and KSAO-based faultlines). We examine how both the mean level of KSAOs and KSAO-based faultlines influence HCR, how team processes (i.e., communication, transactive memory system, and team positive affect) affect these relationships, and how HCR impacts team performance. Using a sample of 268 undergraduate students in 66 teams, we find that the mean level of KSAOs and KSAO-based faultlines significantly interact to influence HCR. The conceptual arguments and empirical findings developed in this study contribute to the human capital literature by building knowledge about a team’s KSAOs, HCR, team processes, and team performance.

Human resource management (HR) and organizational performance are the focus of this study in the context of government sector management in Indonesia. This study aims to identify and analyze the influence of human resource capital, organizational capital, and relationship capital on performance. The research method used is quantitative research with path analysis techniques. The results of the analysis show that the three independent variables have a significant influence on employee performance, with a total contribution of 87.80%. Human resource capital has the most dominant impact, followed by organizational capital and relationship capital. Although relationship capital has a significant impact, it still requires support from high human resource capital and organizational capital. The implication of this study is the importance of human resource management in achieving the success of government organizations in the future, with a focus on the management of State Civil Apparatus (ASN) and the challenges faced such as disciplinary violations and abuse of authority. In addition, this study also highlights the importance of organizational capital and relationship capital in improving overall organizational performance and building mutually beneficial relationships with stakeholders. With a deep understanding of the complexity of the relationships between the variables studied, this study provides important insights for decision makers in designing human resource management strategies and stakeholder relationship management to achieve organizational success in the future.

The organized human capital is the process of human capital such as knowledge, skills, ability at individual level aggregating and transforming to human resources at organizational level, which makes the organized human capital have the unique imprint of organizations with characteristics of inimitability, non-substitutability and dynamic alignment based on the specific strategic goals of organizations. It may become the important source of organizational competitive advantages and make contributions to strategic objectives achievement and value appreciation. Based on sorting out the contributions of economics, psychology, education and management to the development of human capital theory, it systematically summarizes the theoretical framework and core views of organized human capital resources management, places emphasis on the analysis of the role of human capital in revealing strategic human resources management and the black box mechanism in the improvement of organizational performance, focuses on the construction of organized human capital pool and strategic matching & redundancy mechanisms, as well as the emergence of human capital resources and the transformation & formation processes of organized human capital resources, and epitomizes research implications & future research directions.

The dynamic capabilities of firms and its underlying human capital resources are thought to underlie the competitive advantage of firms. In this study we examine empirically the process whereby human capital is amassed, and combined with other resources to manifest operational, then dynamic capabilities. Our research question asks, how do new ventures amass and configure the human capital of their firms? We utilize an inductive longitudinal, multi-case study approach to reveal the micro-processes through which biotechnology start-up firms amassed and configured their human capital resources for viability and competitive advantage. Our findings reveal two important overlapping micro-processes: gathering and hunting, and potentiating. These two micro-processes converge to form organizational capabilities and outcomes for the firm. We discuss the implications of the findings in extending the literature on human capital emergence and dynamic capabilities.

This paper bridges multiple levels to investigate how human capital resources at the firm level are influenced and created by human capital at the individual level. Using a novel approach that draws on longitudinal data from the Utah real estate industry, we test the impact of two dimensions of human capital-specialization and overlap-on the value of human capital to individuals and firms. We uncover a paradox of human capital, wherein firms improve performance by employing specialized agents and by constructing profiles with significant human capital overlap, but agents prefer to be generalists or unique specialists. This tension, and the fact that employees can readily depart, highlight the difficulty in creating sustainable advantages from human capital resources. Firm implications are discussed.

Although research identifies analytical and storytelling skills as the two broad human capital inputs required to perform people analytics, further research is required to better understand how People Analysts that is, the enactors of people analytics, perceive the impact of these skills on their performance. Accordingly, this study draws on the human capital resource (HCR) and HCR complementarity frameworks to investigate the individual and collective impact of analytical and storytelling skills on People Analysts perceived job performance. A mixed‐method sequential explanatory research design is adopted, finding mixed results. Consistent with existing research, results from Phase 1 find People Analysts perceive storytelling skills to be positively associated with their job performance. However, contrary to existing claims, the findings reveal that analytical skills are only perceived to be significant in influencing People Analysts job performance when combined with storytelling skills, supporting a complementarity HCR relationship. To further explain the findings from Phase 1, Phase 2 involved collecting data from 50 people analytics professionals via semi‐structured interviews. Results from the thematic analysis reinforce the survey findings while also illustrating that People Analysts perceive the complementarity relationship between analytical and storytelling skills as important for improving job performance. Accordingly, we argue that debate in this area should be reframed to acknowledge the necessity of complementarities in building people analytics capabilities.

Human resource management (HR) and organizational performance are the focus of this research in the context of government sector management in Indonesia. This study aims to identify and analyze the influence of human resource capital, organizational capital and relationship capital on performance. The research method used is quantitative research with path analysis techniques. The results of the analysis show that the three independent variables have a significant influence on employee performance, with a total contribution of 87.80%. Human resource capital has the most dominant impact, followed by organizational capital and relationship capital. Even though relationship capital has a significant impact, it still requires support from high levels of human resource capital and organizational capital. The implication of this research is the importance of human resource management in achieving the success of government organizations in the future, with a focus on the management of the State Civil Apparatus (ASN) and the challenges faced such as violations of discipline and abuse of authority. In addition, this research also highlights the importance of organizational capital and relationship capital in improving overall organizational performance and building mutually beneficial relationships with stakeholders. With a deep understanding of the complexity of the relationships between the variables studied, this research provides important insights for decision makers in designing human resource management strategies and managing stakeholder relationships to achieve organizational success in the future.

Teaching Old Dogs New Tricks: Acquisition or Accumulation of Resources?

Human capital resources are key for organizations to gain a competitive advantage. Learning based on formal training and development programs, informal learning, and knowledge sharing influences the development of human capital resources. This article provides a selective review of research on learning that occurs in many different forms and at the individual, team, and organizational levels. It is organized around five themes—thinking differently about learning, reconsidering the form and design of learning, facilitating learning in the workplace, expanding the scope of learning outcomes, and improving methodology in learning research. These themes provide a framework for understanding how learning can contribute to the development of human capital resources and organizations’ competitive advantage. For each theme, relevant research is reviewed, and limitations and future research directions are provided.

Life processes cannot continue in the absence of a means of survival. This explains why people continue to look for ways to make a living and satisfy their insatiable desires This study aims to investigate the relationship between human capital and financial resources in selected denominational institution in Ghana. This research is applied a questionnaire to measure and assess the mentioned relationship. The sample size is 368 persons who were chosen through purposive sampling technique. A Minitab 20.3 software was used to generate the required results. According to findings of empirical analysis, it is demonstrated that there is a significant and positive relationship between human capital and resources. The results also revealed that human capital elements of education, training and succession planning were predictors of resources. It recommended that human capital must be improved for better management of denominational resources.

This paper, based on human resource capital theory, discusses the bargaining problem about human resource capital of public organization through the introduction of bargaining problem. Further, we construct the theory model of investment and proceeds on human resource capital in public organization.

Research Summary This paper uses formal modeling and simulation to develop a more robust theory of how entrepreneurs gain access to human capital resources through their strong and weak social network ties. Whereas prior work focuses on the informational context in which an endeavor operates (i.e., is it risky or uncertain), the models developed in this paper introduce untested assumptions implicit in prior work regarding strong tie superiority, the effects of social media, and human capital heterogeneity. Through a series of simulation analyses, the paper explores a broad range of values for these alternative assumptions and identifies the conditions under which strong and weak ties are the most likely source of human capital for entrepreneurial endeavors. Managerial Summary Entrepreneurs often need to enlist the support of others to achieve their objectives. This paper develops a better understanding of how entrepreneurs can access the human capital their endeavors require through their social network ties. The paper explores a broad range of conditions to identify when an entrepreneur's strong social network ties are the most likely source of human capital—and when the entrepreneur's weak ties are the most likely source. This paper challenges the assumption that strong ties have an inherent advantage over weak ties in entrepreneurial settings, investigates the impact of social media networks, and highlights the challenges entrepreneurs face when attempting to enlist the support of individuals with different types of human capital.