Human resource management practices in Chinese organisations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize the indigenous concept of suzhi at individual and organizational levels, and identify its dimensions for human resource management (HRM) research and practice in China. Design/methodology/approach – Based on a comprehensive review of suzhi literature, Chinese cultural and historical literature, as well as Western mainstream HRM research, a multidimensional suzhi framework is conceptualized. Findings – As an indigenous expression, suzhi can be and has been adopted for Chinese HRM research and practice. As a multidimensional construct, one’s cognitive suzhi is jointly determined by corresponding moral suzhi, wenhua (knowledge-based) suzhi and zhuanye (professional) suzhi. Cognitive suzhi, in turn, determines one’s behavioral suzhi that drives employees to enhance organizational performance, and this relationship is moderated by psychological suzhi. Research limitations/implications – The proposed framework provides new insight for Chinese indigenous management research, particularly in developing suzhi measurement for different dimensions. It also informs HRM practices in recruiting, selection, performance analysis and employee career development. Originality/value – The complexity of suzhi dimensions from an organizational HRM perspective is analyzed. The resulting suzhi framework offers new insight for HRM research and practices in China.

Self-report questionnaires are the predominant method used in human resource management (HRM) research to assess employees’ work-related psychological constructs (e.g., processes, states, and attributes). However, this method is associated with significant shortcomings, including the introduction of self-serving bias and common method variance when used exclusively. In this chapter, the authors challenge the assumption that individuals themselves are the only accurate source of the self-focused information collected in HRM research. Instead, the authors propose that other-ratings – ratings of a target individual that are provided by a workplace observer, such as a coworker, supervisor, or subordinate – can accurately assess commonly measured work-related psychological constructs. The authors begin by explaining the advantages of other-ratings for HRM research and practice, reviewing the history of other-ratings and how they emerged in the personality and person-perception literature, and outlining how they have been used in HRM research to date. Then, the authors build upon Funder’s (1995) realistic accuracy model to develop a theoretical argument detailing why workplace others should be able to accurately judge how another employee thinks and feels about work. Next, the authors highlight existing evidence in the literature on the accuracy of other-ratings and present the results of a preliminary meta-analysis on the ability of other-ratings to predict self-ratings of work-related psychological constructs. Finally, the authors discuss potential moderators of other-rating accuracy and reflect on a number of practical considerations for researchers looking to use other-ratings in their own work. The authors intend for this chapter to meaningfully contribute to the larger conversation on HRM research methods. Other-ratings are a simple, yet powerful, addition to the methodological toolkit of HRM researchers that can increase flexibility in research design and improve the overall quality of research.

This bibliometric analysis explores the profound influence of academic research on Human Resource Management (HRM) strategy, employee performance, and global organizational success. Leveraging a comprehensive dataset from reputable academic databases, the study employs bibliometric techniques to analyze patterns of publication, citation, collaboration, and keyword trends within the HRM research domain. The findings reveal a multifaceted landscape of HRM scholarship. Co-authorship network analysis identifies prolific authors and research clusters, highlighting the collaborative nature of HRM research. Citation analysis uncovers highly influential publications, showcasing the impact of seminal works on HRM theory and practice. Keyword analysis unveils emerging research themes, reflecting the field's responsiveness to evolving challenges and trends. Notably, the analysis underscores the significance of evidence-based HRM practices and the global context in which HRM operates. It recognizes the role of academic research in shaping HRM strategies that enhance employee performance and contribute to global organizational success. This study provides valuable insights for HRM practitioners, researchers, and organizational leaders by offering a comprehensive overview of the evolving HRM landscape. It emphasizes the importance of collaboration, the influence of seminal works, and the dynamic nature of HRM research. Understanding these dynamics is pivotal for advancing HRM scholarship and driving organizational excellence in a globalized world.

<i>Managing Human Resources in China: The View from Inside Multinationals</i>, by Yu Zheng. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. xx+287 pp. US$110.00 (cloth), US$49.99 (paper), US$36.00 (eBook).

The importance of human resource management (HRM) practices to improve organizational attitudes and behaviors is not yet widely acknowledged. However, is not clear whether the effect of HRM practices on outcomes vary depending on the level of specific personal resources. The present paper aims to examine the relationship between HRM practices and work engagement by focusing on the moderating role of adaptability. We used cross-sectional data with surveys from 1219 Italian employees in public, private, and non-profit organizations. The results of structural equation models (SEM) showed that HRM practices were positively related to work engagement overall for employees with low adaptability. Therefore, adaptability moderated the relationship between HRM practices and work engagement. In terms of originality, this study is based on the paucity of empirical studies linking developmental HR practices to employees’ work engagement. Hence, the present study addressed this gap by examining the relationship between the perception of HRM practices and work engagement, as well as how adaptability moderated this relationship. These findings are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications for HRM.

This paper presents an overview of the goals of Research in Human Resource Management (HRM): to advance theory and research in HRM, present literature reviews that offer new directions for research, and consider novel theoretical models that enhance the knowledge base in our field. Although we have amassed a great deal of theory and research in HRM over the last century (Zedeck, 2011), we believe that there are numerous changes affecting today’s organizations, and these challenges create demands for new or modified models and research in HRM and Organizational Behavior (OB). Therefore, we review the implications that several organizational challenges (e.g., transition of the economy and employment relationship; and increased diversity, globalization, and technology) have for the transformation of HR practices, and changes in HR theory and research. We also provide a brief review of the papers included in this volume.

This study attempted to narrow the dearth in the literature with regard to the influence of human resource management (HRM) practices on employees. The study, using a sample of clerical front liners in service-based cooperatives in West Malaysia revealed that HRM practices (training and development, performance appraisal, communication and participation, and rewards) had a significant direct positive and indirect positive relationship with employee performance. The indirect relationship was mediated by affective organisational commitment. In contrast, HRM practices only had an indirect relationship with turnover intention, mediated by affective organisational commitment. Affective supervisory commitment did not mediate the relationship between HRM practices and employee performance nor the relationship between HRM practices and turnover intention. The results suggested that HRM practices can enhance employee performance directly as well as indirectly, through fostering affective organisational commitment. In addition, HRM practices can reduce turnover intention only indirectly through enhancing affective organisational commitment.

Purpose This study aims to conduct a comparative analysis of human resource management (HRM) practices between domestic and multinational enterprises within India, a large emerging economy. It also highlights the distinct institutional arrangements that potentially influence the employment practices of these organizations. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from a diverse sample of domestic and multinational enterprises in India. The study utilized multivariate analysis to examine HRM practices, focusing on training and development, incentives and rewards and retention practices. Findings Contrary to initial expectations, the results indicate that DEs place significantly more emphasis on HRM practices than MNEs. This finding suggests that organizational scale and global presence do not consistently translate into a greater emphasis on critical HRM parameters. Instead, DEs leverage their local market knowledge and understanding of cultural and institutional nuances to prioritize effective HRM strategies. Research limitations/implications The study did not categorize the nationality of MNEs, which could reveal how different cultural contexts impact HRM practices. It is possible that MNEs headquartered in distinct cultural contexts may exhibit varying behaviors compared to enterprises based in different cultural environments. Additionally, while our findings reveal that domestic enterprises prioritize certain HRM practices over multinational firms, the question remains whether this emphasis translates into favorable organizational performance outcomes. Practical implications Both multinational and domestic enterprises should tailor their HRM practices to align with local dynamics and institutional arrangements. DEs can use their emphasis on HRM practices as a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining local talent, while MNEs should enhance cross-cultural competence to better integrate within different national contexts. Originality/value This study introduces a critical rethinking of HRM practices by illustrating the unique ways DEs and MNEs navigate institutional complexities within India. Unlike traditional assumptions that emphasize the superiority of MNE practices, this research uncovers how DEs strategically leverage local institutional knowledge to outperform MNEs in HRM dimensions. By embedding these findings within institutional theory, this study extends the theoretical discourse on organizational adaptability in emerging markets and provides actionable insights for aligning HRM strategies with local institutional contexts, fostering a comprehensive understanding of HRM dynamics across diverse economies.

Knowledge sharing is one of the important factors in knowledge-based industries due to the fact that knowledge sharing can result in knowledge creation (Noanaka, Umemoto, & Seonoo, 1996) and innovation (Kamsak & Bulutlar, 2010; Wang & Wang, 2012). Thus, by considering that innovation can impact different dimensions of performance (financial and non-financial), (Cohen, 2010), increasing knowledge sharing is one of the necessities in any type of company. Knowledge sharing can be relevant to individual tendency for donating and collecting knowledge (Van Den Hoof & De Ridder, 2004) Different researches have been conducted about influential factors on knowledge sharing. Such researches have emphasized on environmental factors, motivational factors, individual factors, etc. (Wang & Noe, 2010; Li & Poon, 2011) that among such factors, many different theories such as social capital, resource-based review (RBV) and social exchange can be observed. Through narrowing these factors according to available concepts in human resource management (HRM) and organizational behavior, HRM practices have key role on increasing knowledge sharing. HRM practices have strategic contribution (Lengnick-Hall, Lengnick-Hall, Andrade, & Drake, 2009) as well as previous researches (Huselid, 1995; Wright, Gardner, & Moynihan, 2003; Chen & Huang, 2009) regarding RBV theory have the capability to impact employee behavior in case of sharing knowledge. Fong, Ooi, Tan, and Lee (2011), studied impact of HRM practices (training, staffing, performance appraisal, team work and reward) on knowledge sharing as gap of previous researches. Results demonstrated that HRM practices have a key role on improving knowledge sharing. If we consider talent as one of the knowledge resources or as a scope for dependent researches to impact of talent on sharing knowledge, so according to conducted research by Gelen et al. (2013) role of justice will be highlighted in case of relationship between HRM practices and knowledge sharing. It will result to the fact that existed interaction between equity theory (Pritchard, 1969) and underlying theories of researches will become important. There was little focus about this subject in previous researches. However, Khanmohammdi (2014) also emphasized on moderating role of justice in case of relationship between IT, management support, training and reward and knowledge sharing. Universities of Malaysia currently attempt to improve their position in global ranking. One of the helpful aspects for improving scientific level of universities is utilizing of high potential of lecturers. In this regard, improving knowledge sharing level among lecturers results in science creation (Khanomohammadi, 2014). Through considering lecturers as talents and also importance of knowledge sharing among them, it is necessary to clarify role of HRM practices and justice. Hence, this research aims to examine what is the relationship between HRM practices, perceived justice, and knowledge sharing in the Malaysian universities.

Due to the demographic change in age, societies, firms, and individuals struggle with the need to postpone retirement while keeping up motivation, performance, and health throughout employees’ working life. Organizations, and specifically the Human Resource Management (HRM) practices they design and implement, take a central role in this process. Being influenced by macro-level trends such as new legislation, organizational HRM practices affect outcomes such as productivity and employability both at the firm and individual level of analysis. This editorial introduces the Special Issue on “Age-related Human Resource Management Policies and Practices” by conducting an interdisciplinary literature review. We offer an organizing framework that spans the macro-, meso-, and individual level and discusses major antecedents, boundary conditions, and outcomes of age-related HRM practices. Further, we propose a typology of HRM practices and discuss the role of individual HRM dimensions versus bundles of HRM practices in dealing with an aging and more age-diverse workforce. Building on these considerations, we introduce the eight articles included in this special issue. Finally, taking stock of our review and the new studies presented here, we deduct some recommendations for future research in the field of age-related HRM.

Recent studies have examined the impact of human resource management (HRM) practices on workplace performance. Most find that the adoption of a coherent system of new HRM practices such as flexible job definitions, cross-training and work teams, along with extensive reliance on incentive pay, results in substantially higher levels of productivity than more traditional HRM practices. Studies have found that there is a correlation between HRM systems and labour productivity. We find that greatest contributor to labour productivity is the employee’s wage is congruent with the literature. The literature to date has shown that HRM practices in isolation may increase productivity or may reduce productivity because they have an inefficient side to them. Our study shows that when aggregated, HRM practices reduce productivity in Canada. Somewhat surprisingly, when combined with benefits, they increase productivity substantially. The main message from the aggregate productivity regressions is that: HRM by itself reduces productivity while HRM with BENEFIT increases productivity. Training by itself increases productivity and training with HRM also increases productivity. Wages clearly have the greatest impact on voluntary quits. HRM is not found to be statistically significant in the reduction of voluntary quits.

The objective of this study is to argue transition from human resource management (HRM) to strategic human resource management (SHRM). In addition, this study also discusses the theory of SHRM. The research methodology of this study is based on arguments from SHRM literature. The significant of paper is a discussion of SHRM theory. Key terms are personnel, employee, and capital in management of human resources by firms. Practitioners call human resources as personnel in personnel management (PM); and call human resources as an employee in HRM. Practitioners do not clarify the term yet for human resources in SHRM. This paper suggests “capital” term for human resources in SHRM. Secondly, return on investment (ROI) of HRM might be positive organizational attitude and behaviours. HRM makes investment to employees, and ROI of HRM is important to SHRM because positive attitude and behaviours increase individual performance of employees. Thirdly, there is a triangular relation in SHRM theory. This is named as trigonometry of SHRM. There are dependent variables, independent variables, and moderators in this triangular. Finally, SHRM can be described with employee performance and firm performance relationship. In this relation, HRM practices lead to increased individual performance, and individual performance increases performance of business departments such as logistics, supply, finance, marketing, production etc. and performance of business departments has an impact on firm performance. In this SHRM model, HRM has an impact on firm performance through individual performance and business departments. All are described is SHRM theory in this study. For HRM case, HRM has two purposes in firm management. Those purposes are performance and recruitment. HRM aims to increase individual performance of employees. If HRM aims to increase firm performance through individual performance, it is description of SHRM. HRM has an impact on individual performance via HRM practices. HRM practices are keys to increase individual performance. Because employees implement business processes in firm management. Those processes are such as production, marketing, stock, supply, logistics, finance and others. Individual performance of employees increases performance of those business processes in firm management. Therefore, it is important to increase individual performance through HRM practices. This is a HRM theory in this study. Moreover, HRM does recruitment of employees for functioning these business processes. Because all needs human resources to effectively implement processes in firms.

Using the core aspects of five main models of human resource management (HRM), this article investigates the dominant HRM practices in the Indian manufacturing sector. The evaluation is conducted in the context of the recently liberalized economic environment. In response to ever-increasing levels of globalization of business, the article initially highlights the need for more cross-national comparative HRM research. Then it briefly analyzes the five models of HRM (namely, the `Matching model'; the `Harvard model'; the `Contextual model'; the `5-P model'; and the `European model') and identifies the main research questions emerging from these that could be used to reveal and highlight the HRM practices in different national/regional settings. The findings of the research are based on a questionnaire survey of 137 large Indian firms and 24 in-depth interviews in as many firms. The examination not only helped to present the scenario of HRM practices in the Indian context but also the logic dictating the presence of such practices. The article contributes to the fields of cross-national HRM and industrial relations research. It also has key messages for policy makers and opens avenues for further research.

PurposeTo communicate the development and results of strategic human resource management (HRM) research to the audit research community in order to stimulate audit research specific to HRM audits.Design/methodology/approachPrior research that served as impetus for this paper is discussed. The findings of other studies are presented to make a case for the business impact of strategic human resource management practices.FindingsStudies on the competitive environment of firms, theoretical development in HRM, empirical work on the link between HRM practice and firm performance, and emerging models based on intellectual capital, suggest that there are compelling reasons for internal audit to devote substantial resources to the evaluation of strategic risk in HRM audits.Research limitations/implicationsThe literature is still developing. The literature presented here is not an exhaustive list and does not include all findings, but rather what we perceive to be the most important findings.Practical implicationsBoth “high performance work systems” and “strategic fit” should guide internal audit in planning, designing audit programs, and executing strategic audits of human resources consistent with the risk management paradigm.Originality/valueThis paper bridges a gap between the human resource management literature and the internal auditing literature.

Employer behavior (Arbeitgeberverhalten) plays an essential role when it comes to understanding Human Resource Management (HRM). However, rather few studies actually seem to take concrete behavior of organizations as employers into account. Instead, German textbooks and journals are replete with examples of good in HRM. We argue that, as a result, there is a growing discrepancy between HRM in research/teaching and practice, which unquestionably is a problematic development in an applied science like HRM. Based on our analysis of five leading German textbooks on HRM and five volumes of German Journal of Research in Human Resource Management (2005-2009), we highlight current gaps in academic discussion and we derive some theses concerning current state of discussion. Finally, we discuss our findings and highlight some avenues for further research in our field. Key words: HRM, employer behavior, textbook analysis, bad practice (JEL: M12, M14) 1. Introduction Human Resource Management (HRM) is an important academic discipline, which is institutionalized at most business schools around world. Journals dealing with HRM rank at high positions in VHB JourQual-Ranking and have considerably high Impact- factor s. Research on HRM ranges from identifying best practices in separate domains such as recruiting, trainings, incentives and appraisal to examining impact of creating firm- specific and idiosyncratic bundles of interdependent HR practices in a certain HRM-system on creating competitive advantage (for a current overview, see Reichel & Mayrhofer, 2009). However, identification of optimal bundles of HR practices and question for consistency in employer behavior seems to be an important issue only for researchers from Great Britain or US (cf. e.g. Baron & Kreps, 1999). Although it is obvious that employer behavior C'Arbeitgeberverhalten) needs to be taken into account when it comes to understanding Human Resource Management, few studies from German researchers explicitly address question, which behavior entrepreneurs and enterprises actually show in their role as employers. Instead, German textbooks and journals are replete with examples of good in HRM (cf. results of our analysis in third section of this paper). Bad practices, which ultimately lead to a deterioration of working conditions for a large number of employees and which employers regularly use in order to preserve flexibility or to maximize profit, are frequently neglected in research; even though such practices often are heavily discussed in media. As a result, there seems to be a growing discrepancy between HRM in research/ teaching and practice. In a special forum in Academy of Management Journal on the separate worlds of academics and practitioners in human resource management, Rynes et al. (2007, p. 987) argued that, the gap between science and practice is so pervasive that some have despaired of its ever being narrowed. Unquestionably, this is a problematic development in an applied science like Human Resource Management. In this paper, we take a look at role of employer behavior in research and teaching in Germany and Austria. Based on our analysis of five leading German textbooks on Human Resource Management and five volumes of German Journal of Research in Human Resource Management C' Zeitschrift fur Personalforschun?y ZfP) (2005-2009), we highlight current gaps in academic discussion. The results of our illustrative analysis show, that even though research on employer behavior is essential to understand HRM, it is a widely neglected issue. The paper is structured as follows: In next section, we define notion of employer behavior and we discuss recent developments in employer behavior, which occurred during last years and decades. Subsequently, we examine how scholars approach employer behavior in research and teaching. …