Knowledge that Transforms

This study explores the role of HR practices for individual and organizational success via a survey of 4,811 employees from 32 units of 28 companies operating in India. We report on employee perceptions of the effectiveness of three specific human resource practices within their firms and the relationship of these practices to career success, performance, and potential. Companies operating in India appear to be creating strong human resource climates based on structured HR practices in performance management, professional development, and normalized performance ratings. The perceived effectiveness of these HR practices influences employees' perceptions of career success and, to a lesser extent, organizationally rated performance and potential. We report differences in perceptions of HR practices among national, international, and global companies and among the industries of information technology (IT), manufacturing, and services. The relationship to perceived HR practices and outcomes was partially contingent on firm geographic scope and industry sector. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

This study describes and reports the methods training professionals use to learn about training transfer. Specifically, this study focused on trainers' use and perceived utility of the literature (research and practitioner‐based) to develop their knowledge of how to support training transfer in their organization. Consistent with extant research conducted on human resource professionals, our survey results suggest that training professionals seek knowledge mostly through informal learning (e.g., job experiences, discussions with internal and external training professionals, books, searching the Web), but they prefer to learn about training transfer in discussions with external trainers and academics. As a follow‐up to the survey, our interview results indicate that trainers select learning methods based on source quality, motivation, and accessibility, but these differed based on which learning methods were chosen. Ideas to guide future human resource researchers are presented within the framework of information‐seeking theory. This paper concludes by discussing practical implications for increasing trainer competencies that support training transfer in organizations.

This study examines workplace issues of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) employees. Specifically, we analyze the effect of firm GLBT nondiscrimination policies on that firm's stock market value. Corporate equality index (CEI) is used as a proxy for how firms manage GLBT issues. Results reveal that changes in firms' standardized CEI scores are positively associated with changes in firms' standardized stock price trend during the following year. Our findings suggest that the stock prices of firms with more progressive GLBT nondiscrimination policies relative to competing firms in the same industry outperform otherwise equivalent firms with lower CEI scores.

The aim of this research was to explore relations between work and family demands and resources, work‐to‐family conflict (WFC), and work and family outcomes in a cross‐cultural comparative context involving Taiwanese and British employees. Two‐hundred and sixty‐four Taiwanese employees and 137 British employees were surveyed using structured questionnaires. For both Taiwanese and British employees, work and family demands were positively related to WFC, whereas work resources were negatively related to WFC. Furthermore, WFC was negatively related to family satisfaction. More importantly, we found that nation moderated relationships between work resources and WFC, WFC and work, and family satisfaction. Specifically, work resources had a stronger protective effect for Taiwanese than British in reducing WFC, whereas WFC had a stronger detrimental effect on role satisfaction for British than Taiwanese. It is recommended that both culture‐general and culture‐specific effects should be taken into consideration in designing future WFC research and familyfriendly managerial practices.

Small firms face many challenges in creating a productive workforce given often severe resource constraints and informal organizational structures. This may be particularly problematic in industries with intense product‐market competition. In this study, we focus on the relationship between product‐market competition and labor productivity, particularly as influenced by both adopting human resource management (HRM) practices and having a group culture within the organization. We examine our model using data from 145 UK‐based small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises. Our findings suggest that having a group culture is a key factor in the extent to which HRM practices are adopted, as well as how effective adopting these practices is for increasing labor productivity.

Despite rapid growth in using Web sites to recruit applicants, little theoretical or empirical research has examined how firm attributes influence the effectiveness of recruitment Web sites. We developed and tested a model that examines the relationships among the firm's reputation as an employer, the attributes of the firm's Web site, and applicant attraction using data on business students' reactions to the recruitment Web sites of 144 firms. Results indicated that the amount of company and job attribute information provided on a recruitment Web site, the Web site's vividness, and the firm's reputation as an employer have a three‐way interactive effect on prospective applicants' perceptions of the recruiting organization. As such, certain Web site attributes were more effective for firms with poor reputations and others for those with a good reputation. The implications of these results for recruitment research and for firms using Web sites as recruitment tools are discussed.

Today's workforce encompasses a wide variety of employees with specific needs and resources when it comes to balancing work and life roles. Our study explores whether various types of work‐life balance support measures improve employee helping behavior and performance among single employees, employees with a partner, and employees with a partner and children. Using a sample of 482 employees at 24 organizations, the results showed that the organization's work‐family culture improved work performance among parents but reduced performance among singles. Singles' work outcomes improved, however, when they had access to flexible work arrangements, whereas couples benefited from their supervisors' social support. The results stress the importance of the employee's household structure when considering appropriate support for balancing work and life roles.

In this study, we develop a theoretical conceptualization and an operational definition of structuring of human resource management (HRM) processes and examine how this structuring enables employee creativity at work. Analyzing the data collected from employees and their managers in knowledge‐intensive workplace settings, we examine a mediation model that suggests that the relationship between structuring of HRM processes and employee creativity is best explained in terms of the intervening variables of perceived uncertainty, stress, and psychological availability. Results suggest that structuring of HRM processes is negatively associated with perceived uncertainty and stress. These perceptions produce a sense of psychological availability, which in turn enhances employee creativity. This study offers new insights about diagnosing the level of structuring of HRM processes and the ways managers and HR directors facilitate its implementation in their organization.

This paper investigates how human resources are managed in firms of different ownership forms in India and the extent to which strategic human resource management (hereafter strategic HRM) techniques have been adopted to support an innovation‐oriented business strategy. Based on a qualitative study of 54 Indian managers from different firms, this study highlights the Indian institutional context for strategic HRM. It reveals the extent to which the Western approach to and configuration of high‐commitment/performance models of HR practices may differ from those found in Indian firms. This study also has a number of practical implications for HR professionals, HR practices, and organizations in the global context.

It has often been argued that low turnover leads to less innovation in organizations, not only because fewer job vacancies are available for outsiders with new ideas, but also because longer‐tenured employees might be more resistant to change. In this study, we propose that job embeddedness may actually strengthen employees' motivation to generate, spread, and implement innovative ideas in organizations. In a longitudinal study with a diverse sample, we found that job embeddedness was positively and significantly related to innovation‐related behaviors, even after controlling for demographic variables, the job attitudes, and the job perceptions that are frequently associated with job embeddedness. In addition, we found some support for the proposed moderating effects of career stage; that is, the relationship between job embeddedness and implementing innovative ideas was stronger for individuals in the mid‐ and late stages of their careers than for those in the early stage of their careers. This article concludes with directions for developing future theory.