Knowledge that Transforms

Human resource ( HR ) managers’ commitment to their occupation ( HR ) leads to the proper delivery and implementation of HR practices and, therefore, is deemed as a critical factor for the success of HR practices. Based on sociocognitive, human capital, and signaling theories, this study examines: (a) HR managers’ own and their chief HR officer's ( CHRO ) HR ‐specific human capital as antecedents of their commitment to HR , and (b) the mediating mechanism through which the CHRO ’s HR ‐specific human capital positively influences HR managers’ commitment to HR . Based on 146 HR managers from 146 organizations in South Korea, the findings of the current study suggest that HR managers with higher levels of HR ‐specific human capital and those working with CHROs with higher levels of HR ‐specific human capital tend to have higher levels of commitment to HR . In addition, CHROs with higher levels of HR ‐specific human capital positively influence HR managers’ commitment to HR by signaling to them that HR and its function are valued and cared about by their organizations. Theoretical and practical implications of this study are discussed along with study limitations and further research directions.

When the government and companies invest in childcare, both do it with good intentions. While politicians have the intention of enhancing fertility and well-being of families, employers expect positive responses from working parents based on the norm of reciprocity. Since industrialized countries increase public family support year by year, the question arises as to whether this may trigger unanticipated consequences. If both the state and companies invest in substitutive services, they might unintentionally spark competition. Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine whether public childcare may “crowd out” the reciprocity effects of corporate childcare on working parents. In Switzerland, state family policies vary among the 26 cantons, so we are able to compare cantons with a high and low number of cantonal childcare services. Using survey data taken from 414 working parents living in different Swiss cantons, we examined whether public childcare affects organizational-related responses of working parents. First, our results support the expected level of reciprocity: working parents in companies with their own childcare services show higher organizational commitment than parents in companies without this support. Second, we find evidence for a crowding-out effect: in family-supportive cantons with numerous public childcare services, working parents’ commitment to companies with their own childcare services is lower than in less family-friendly cantons. This finding reignites an old economic debate on the crowding out of voluntary private investments due to governmental policies.

Professor Bruce Kaufman's look back at two seminal books published at the beginning of the strategic HRM field and examination of two recent books to trace the evolution of the field identifies some issues, but ones with which the field has dealt for a number of years. His choice of our book HRM and Performance provided the wrong target, and consequently his analysis seemed to miss the mark.

This article concerns rates of wage growth among women and minority groups and their impact on pay gaps. Specifically, it focuses on the pay progression of people with more than one disadvantaged identity, and on the impact of merit pay. Recent research indicates that pay gaps for people in more than one disadvantaged identity category are wider than those with a single‐disadvantaged identity. It is not known whether these gaps are closing, at what rate, and whether all groups are affected equally; nor is it known whether merit pay alleviates or exacerbates existing pay gaps. In addressing these issues, the analysis draws on longitudinal payroll data from a large UK ‐based organization. Results show that pay gaps are closing; however, the rate of convergence is slow relative to the size of existing pay disparities, and slowest of all for people with disabilities. When the effect of merit pay is isolated, it is found to have a small positive effect in reducing pay gaps, and this effect is generally larger for dual/multiple‐disadvantaged groups. These findings run counter to the well‐established critique of merit pay in relation to equality outcomes. The implications of this are discussed, and an agenda for research and practice is set out.

We suggest that a firm's benefits can relate to important organizational outcomes that have strategic implications. We propose a number of mechanisms that could relate benefits to strategic outcomes, including the notion that benefits can help attract and retain the type of employees who are most likely to perform in ways consistent with the firms’ strategies. We illustrate this with the case of supplemental retirement benefits in an actual setting, the long-haul trucking industry. We report positive organization-level relationships associated with the management choice of offering these benefits. Our results show that firms offering supplemental retirement plans engage in significantly safer driving practices, as measured by the proxy of driver insurance costs, as hypothesized. These findings show that benefits can be related to outcomes that have strategic implications for the firm. By showing that retirement plans may be of value to organizations, we help to bridge the academic-practitioner divide and provide motivation and guidance for additional work on this important but underresearched topic.

This work studies sales managers’ perceptions of performance‐oriented HR practices, and the mediating and moderating processes through which these practices are linked with affective commitment. Specifically, we tested whether work engagement mediated the relationship between perceptions of performance‐oriented HR practices and affective commitment using a sample of 117 sales managers from one large retail store. Furthermore, we tested whether managers’ savoring strategies would moderate the positive relationship between perceptions of performance‐oriented HR practices and work engagement, and if the strength of the hypothesized indirect effects were conditional on the use of savoring strategies. Results showed that the relationship between perceptions of performance‐oriented HR practices and affective commitment was mediated by work engagement. In addition, savoring strategies were found to moderate the relationship between perceptions of performance‐oriented HR practices and work engagement, so that the highest levels of work engagement were found in individuals who reported high perceptions of performance‐oriented HR practices and high use of savoring strategies. Finally, results support a conditional indirect effect of performance‐oriented HR practices on predicting affective commitment via work engagement when levels of savoring strategies were moderate to high, but not when their use was low. Altogether, these results demonstrated that work engagement and savoring strategies represent key elements in explaining how perceptions of performance‐oriented HR practices are associated with affective commitment.

It is a common belief that CEOs must delegate to be successful. We hesitate to support this generalization and investigate how the distribution of responsibility within top management teams ( TMTs ) can influence the likelihood of a CEO ’s dismissal. Consistent with an agency theory perspective, our results indicate that CEOs may choose not to delegate their responsibilities to other executive TMT members, so as to benefit from an increased information asymmetry vis‐à‐vis the board of directors. Taking the resource‐based view as a complementary theoretical perspective, we find that non‐delegating CEOs benefit from their greater firm‐specific knowledge, which the board of directors considers as a valuable resource that should be retained. Our work also demonstrates that a more intense CEO–TMT interaction weakens the relation between non‐delegation and the likelihood of CEO dismissal. In sum, our research shows that the CEO ’s delegation decision does not necessarily lead to a competence distribution that is in the firm's best interest; rather, it reflects a complex interplay between the potentially opportunistic career interests of the CEO , the involvement of other TMT members and the board of directors.