Knowledge that Transforms

In 1986, the government of Vietnam commenced the move from a centrally planned system to a market‐oriented economy with a multisectoral economic structure and a multiownership system.This process, known as Doi Moi, has had a major effect on the economic and social fabric of Vietnam. Although the body of research on this topic has grown, few studies have explored the effect of these economic changes on the internal operations of enterprises. In particular, little is known about the relationship between these new forms of ownership and how enterprises structure their human resource management. This article seeks to explore this relationship through detailed case studies of 32 enterprises covering the range of ownership types.The findings reveal a diversity of human resource management practices, but certain practices are now more prevalent in particular types of enterprises; human resource management remains the overall exception. The article concludes by considering the theoretical and practical implications of these results for economies undergoing transition.

In this study, we examine the provision of employment security and career advancement opportunities in firms of diverse institutional ownership and the impact of such practices on employee and firm outcomes. The sample included 478 state‐owned and non‐state‐owned firms (i.e., domestic private firms, Sino‐foreign joint ventures, and wholly‐foreign‐owned firms) in the People's Republic of China. We found that the provision of employment security was greater in state‐owned than in non‐state‐owned firms. The provision of career advancement opportunities in domestic private firms and Sino‐foreign joint ventures was similar to that in wholly foreign‐owned firms, but greater than that in state‐owned firms. The provision of career advancement opportunities was positively related to employee organizational commitment, citizenship behaviors, and firm performance. The provision of employment security was positively related to employee organizational commitment, but not to citizenship behaviors or firm performance.

Based on signaling theory, this study examines the impact of Web‐site design and content characteristics on applicants' intentions to pursue employment, the mediating effects of engagement with the Web site and attitude toward the organization, and the moderating effects of applicant race on these relationships. The design characteristics of ease of use and usefulness impact attraction indirectly through Web‐site engagement and attitude toward the organization. Further, Web sites' parasocial interaction (allowance for two‐way communication) predicts intentions to pursue both directly and indirectly through engagement and attitude toward the organization. Unexpectedly, diversity statements did not impact attraction in the full sample. Multigroup analyses revealed that many of the paths between the predictors of parasocial interaction and (to a lesser extent) diversity statements and the outcomes differed by race, with stronger effects observed for blacks than whites. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

The human resource function has undergone dramatic change, owing, it would seem, to greater use of rapidly evolving information technology. This study presents the results of an empirical investigation into the associations between the use of information technology and the roles and effectiveness of the human resource function. The results support relationships between information technology use and greater involvement in the strategic HR roles of business partner and change agent. Positive associations between information technology use and technical and strategic effectiveness also revealed the transformational potential of information technology–supported human resource management applications.

Although many employers have adopted policies to supportthe integration of work with personal and family life, expected positive gains are not always real‐ized. One reason for this gap is that practitioners and researchers often overlook how variation in policy implementation and use by different employee stake‐holder groups fosters a culture of inclusiveness. We discuss four ways in which work‐life policies are implemented (the level of supervisor support for use, universality of availability, negotiability, and quality of communication) and show how these affect the degree to which policies are seen as promoting inclusion or exclusion.These implementation attributes affect whether an adopted policy is perceived to fulfill work‐life needs and act to signal the organization's support for individual differences in work identities and life circumstances. Implications for HR practitioners are discussed.

Wecompute a sequential equilibrium for the U.S.Army'sTargeted Selective Reenlistment Bonus Program in whichtheArmy offers a bonus, soldiers with a low cost of serving in an undesirable location accept the bonus and are sent to an undesirable location, and soldiers with a high cost of serving in an undesirable location reenlist but decline the bonus.Wefind that this program benefits both theArmy and soldiers, increases retention, increases the number of soldierswho serve in an undesirable location, and better matches soldiers to assignments.We discuss implications of our model on human resource management practices for theArmy in its administration of the bonus program and its application to other large organizations that set wages through a rules‐based mechanism.

We asked two leaders with experience in both military and corporate leadership, Dr. Ervin J. Rokke andWalter F. Ulmer Jr., to describe their perceptions of the differences between these two arenas. Both believe that compared to most corporate entities, the military provides greater opportunities for early leadership, uses participation and feedback to strengthen communications, prioritizes the welfare of subordinates, and emphasizes a foundation of core values.They also note that the transparency of both corporate and military approaches to leadership has led to shared learning and that despite operating in different environments, military and business have much to learn from eachother.

No abstract.

Commentary on “A Performance‐Based, Minimalist Human Resource Management Approach in Business Schools”

Although growth has occurred in contract employment arrangements both in the public and private sectors, scant research has been conducted on the organizations and employees affected by these arrangements.This study examines the employment relationship of long‐term contracted employees using a social exchange framework. Specifically, we examine the effects of employee perceptions of organizational support from contracting and client organizations on their (a) affective commitment to each organization and (b) service‐oriented citizenship behavior. We also examine whether felt obligation toward each organization mediates this relationship. Our sample consists of 99 long‐term contracted employees working for four contracting organizations that provide services to the public on behalf of a municipal government. Results indicate that the antecedents of affective commitment are similar for the client and contracting organization. Employee perceptions of client organizational supportiveness were positively related to felt obligation and commitment to the client organization. Client felt obligation mediated the effects of client perceived organizational support (POS) on the participation dimension of citizenship behavior. Our study provides additional support for the generalizability of social exchange processes to nontraditional employment relationships. Implications for managing long‐term contracted employees are discussed.