Knowledge that Transforms

Strategic participation is important for HR professionals who wish to have increased influence in their organizations. While a number of previous studies have suggested a link between strategic human resource management and firm performance, few have explored the specific factors enabling HR strategic participation. This study examines the impact of HR service quality and expectations of HR contributions on HR strategic participation. A total of 244 survey responses were received from 42 companies in Taiwan. All hypotheses were supported, thus signifying significant relationships between HR service quality, expectations of HR contributions, and HR strategic participation. The study results also indicate that HR professionals are able to proactively increase the value of HR in organizations by enhancing HR service quality and addressing potential internal customers' needs accordingly.

The most influential current idea in the theory of conflict management concerns the design features and supposed superior outcomes of conflict management systems combining interest‐based and rights‐based practices for resolving conflict in organizations. Yet much of the literature in the area is highly prescriptive and draws heavily either on exemplary case studies or descriptive data. Using focus groups of HR practitioners and experts in conflict resolution to develop a questionnaire covering the main conflict management practices associated with the theory of conflict management systems, the study analyzes data from a survey of firms in the Republic of Ireland to examine quantitatively the effects of conflict management systems on organizational outcomes. While proactive line management and supervisory engagement in conflict resolution as a key dimension of conflict management systems is found to be positively associated with a range of organizational outcomes, no evidence is found for the kind of system effects proposed in the theoretical and prescriptive literature.

This article compares and contrasts the Renault‐Nissan and DaimlerChrysler‐Mitsubishi mergers to consider the relative and combined effects of national and organizational culture on the performance of Nissan and Mitsubishi. It also examines the reasons why the Renault‐Nissan merger was successful and the DaimlerChrysler‐Mitsubishi merger failed. It finds that Japanese national culture influenced organizational culture and HRM practices, which created organizations that had no sense of urgency, profit orientation, or accountability and led to poor market and financial performance. It also finds that leadership was a major factor impacting on the success of the turnaround efforts of these two organizations. These findings have implications for leaders and human resource management practitioners engaged in international business and are of particular relevance to Western organizations working with organizations in high‐context countries with a collectivist rather than individualist orientation.

The development of gender diversity in leadership positions is a critical need for many companies as they develop strategies for how they will compete in the future. In this article, we test hypotheses about diverse leadership succession, using survey and archival data. Survey data were collected from executives and managers who responded to questions about their succession planning, successors, and the context of diversity in their work environments. Results indicate that the nomination of women as successors was positively associated with more favorable diversity climates for women. Furthermore, we found that the nomination of female successors was positively associated with the performance of incumbent managers who nominated them as their successors. We also found that the performance of incumbent managers moderated the relationship between diversity climate and the nomination of female successors. Lower‐performing incumbents were less likely than higher‐performing incumbents to nominate women as successors when the diversity climate was unfavorable. When the diversity climate was favorable, lower performers were more likely and higher performers were equally likely to nominate women as successors. We found no differences in the degree of objectivity in incumbents' descriptions of the strengths of female successors versus their male counterparts or in the degree of subjectivity in their developmental needs.

Changing workforce demographics have highlighted the need to provide training and development opportunities for older workers. This article critically examines the current state of research on the use of systematic instructional design procedures to develop work‐related training that is inclusive of older workers. The review reveals a disconnect between what the literature recommends to achieve age‐inclusive design and what is offered as evidence of age‐inclusive design. Age‐related generalizations about cognition and learning capacity often serve as the basis for design decisions, with little attention paid to the role of training context and content. The article recommends that this disconnect be resolved and offers some specific suggestions about how human resource managers can integrate sound instructional design principles into the training and development component of their talent management strategies.

The ability of firms to attract qualified job applicants is a critical component of the human resource management process. However, while a large body of research has examined the relationship between firm recruitment practices and applicant pool attributes, very little research has investigated what factors are associated with organizational decision makers' utilization of specific recruitment tactics. We draw on labor economics, sociological, and agency theoretical perspectives to make predictions regarding the use of screening‐oriented recruitment messages in actual web‐based job advertisements. Results suggest that perceptions of labor supply, recruiting firm reputation, and the use of quality‐based compensation incentives are associated with use of screening‐oriented messages, which in turn are associated with applicant pool quality. These findings hold important theoretical insights into the factors shaping firm recruitment activity and provide practical strategic implications for managing firm recruitment objectives.

The unfolding model emphasizes the role of shocks (jarring events that initiate exit cognitions) in the turnover process. In contrast to earlier survey‐based research, we used exit interviews to classify organizational leavers along the model's paths. The data provide support for the model but highlight several aspects of shocks not addressed by previous research. Employees on the same path may experience distinctly different shock subgroups (e.g., work or nonwork), some employees require shock combinations (e.g., push and pull shocks) to motivate leaving, and some dissatisfied employees experience shock‐like events (final straws) that confirm previous exit cognitions rather than initiate them. The research demonstrates how organizations can use exit interviews to better understand their employee exit patterns.

We investigated the effect of context‐specific versus general subconscious goals on job performance in a call center. Employees (n = 54) were randomly assigned to a condition where they were primed by (a) a photograph of people making telephone calls in a call center, (b) a woman winning a race, or (c) a control group. Job performance was measured by the (1) number of and (2) monetary value of pledges from donors. None of the participants in the two experimental conditions showed conscious awareness of a prime. Analysis of variance indicated that both a subconscious context‐specific and a subconscious general goal aroused the implicit need for achievement as assessed by a projective measure, the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). Both types of primed goals led to a significant increase in the number of pledges during a four‐day workweek. Consistent with goal‐setting theory, employees in the context‐specific condition raised more money than those in the general achievement (one‐tailed t‐test) and control (two‐tailed t‐test) conditions.

While it is well established that high‐performance work systems (HPWSs) affect firm‐level outcomes within large, complex organizations, less is known about how they create benefits for firms within the small‐business sector. Using a knowledge‐creation perspective, this study examines the impact of HPWSs in small and medium enterprises and examines whether the impact observed depends on the small‐business leader's capacity to obtain additional HR knowledge from an external expert, as well as the leader's HR background and knowledge. Archival and survey data were obtained from 294 small‐business organizations, with survey responses obtained from both the small‐business leader and an HR consultant assigned to the small business. Findings suggest that leader perceptions of HR effectiveness are positively related to the use of HPWSs and that this relationship is moderated both by the communication patterns between the small‐business leader and the HR consultant assigned to the firm and the small‐business leader's HR knowledge.

Research to date has identified CEO pay structure as an important factor in the environmental and social performance of the organization but has not considered how pay may influence these sustainability efforts at the middle‐management level. We address this void with an experimental manipulation of direct and indirect pay incentives for an environmental sustainability project and production cost savings project. Counter to our predictions, investment in sustainability versus cost savings is significantly lower when incentives for both projects are equivalent, and investment is only comparable when incentives for the sustainability project are superior. Further investigation using qualitative data attributes this to differences in the salient social norms that individuals hold and an apparent undervaluing of the indirect incentive derived through sustainability's contribution to cost savings. The results shed light on primary ways in which human resource management practices may be used to embed support for sustainability initiatives throughout the organization.