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The purpose of this study is to analyze how the design of performance appraisal is influenced by the competitive strategy of the firm. Then, this paper examines if the alignment between appraisal and strategy impacts firm performance.

The study sample includes 258 Spanish firms in the manufacturing and services sectors. This information was gathered through questionnaires addressed to the CEO and the senior human resources manager. Several econometric models are estimated, using robust regression analysis and including a set of relevant control variables.

A positive relationship is found between an innovation strategy and developmental performance appraisal. A cost strategy has a negative impact on the adoption of developmental performance appraisal. The findings also confirm that firms with a quality strategy and developmental appraisal have higher performance. In addition, firms adopting an innovation strategy and administrative appraisal enjoy higher return of equity.

Future research should analyze the dynamics of the relationships between appraisal, strategy and performance to rule out the flaws of cross-sectional data. Another potential extension is the analysis of the interactions of the design of other human resources management practices with both competitive strategy and firm performance.

Firms can improve performance by aligning performance appraisal design with strategy. Those with an innovation strategy should choose administrative appraisal, and those competing on quality should focus on developmental appraisal.

This paper compares the theoretical recommendations on performance appraisal for different competitive strategies, what firms actually do, and the impact that the alignment between appraisal and strategy has on firm performance.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact on manufacturing performance of human resource management (HRM) practices across two job levels within manufacturing firms in Argentina and Uruguay: that of line managers and frontline workers. HRM practices are categorised into three bundles defined by the AMO theoretical framework: ability, motivation and opportunity.

The article uses data from a survey to 301 manufacturing plants in Uruguay and Argentina. Given the characteristics of the dependent variable, linear regression models have been estimated in order to test the hypotheses.

The results show that the ability and opportunity bundles for line managers are positively associated with manufacturing performance. However, only the motivation bundle affects manufacturing performance for frontline workers.

The main limitations are the use of cross-sectional data, the focus on two specific countries and the analysis of two employee categories that are not completely homogenous. The paper extends the contingency perspective in HRM by examining the relevance of job level as a contingent factor in the HRM-performance relationship in the manufacturing industry.

The results suggest that manufacturing companies should target HR investments more towards line managers than to frontline employees. More specifically, they should concentrate efforts on the ability and opportunity bundles.

The article contributes to the very limited empirical evidence on the impact of HRM differentiation on firm performance by analysing sub-dimensions in a context not previously analysed.

El objetivo del trabajo es analizar el impacto sobre los resultados de manufactura de la aplicación de prácticas de Dirección de Recursos Humanos en dos niveles de empleados dentro de las empresas industriales argentinas y uruguayas: los supervisores y los operarios de producción. Las prácticas de DRH son clasificadas en tres paquetes de acuerdo con el marco definido por el modelo AMO: capacidad, motivación y oportunidad.

El artículo utiliza datos procedentes de una encuesta realizada a 301 plantas industriales en Uruguay y Argentina. Dadas las características de la variable dependiente, se estiman modelos de regresión lineal para contrastar las hipótesis.

Nuestros resultados muestran que los paquetes de prácticas orientados a la capacidad y la oportunidad para los supervisores están asociados positivamente con los resultados de manufactura. Sin embargo, solo el paquete de prácticas orientado a la motivación afecta a los resultados de manufactura para los operarios de producción.

Las principales limitaciones son el uso de datos transversales, el enfoque en dos países concretos y el análisis de dos ocupaciones que no son completamente homogéneas. Este trabajo extiende la perspectiva contingente analizando la importancia del nivel jerárquico del puesto como un factor de contingencia en la relación DRH-resultados en la industria manufacturera.

Los resultados sugieren que las empresas industriales deberían dirigir sus inversiones en DRH más hacia los supervisores que hacia los operarios. Más concretamente, deberían concentrar sus esfuerzos en los paquetes de capacidad y oportunidad.

El artículo contribuye a la escasa evidencia empírica sobre el impacto de la diferenciación de la DRH sobre los resultados de manufactura analizando subdimensiones en un contexto no estudiado con anterioridad.

Using data collected from a sample of 661 Spanish manufacturing plants, each with a minimum workforce of 50 employees, and representing all the manufacturing industries, this paper examines the factors that determine the level of investment made by firms in training. Investment in total training was found to be positively influenced by the degree of internationalization, the degree of technical change, the adoption of quality assurance systems, and the implementation of advanced work organization practices. The analysis of different types of training shows that, except for basic training, the determinants are quite similar to the ones found for total training.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between 5S use, contextual factors and performance. The contextual factors comprise structural features of the firm, environment, human resources and technology and quality management. The performance measures refer to improvements in productivity, quality, employee satisfaction, lead time and new product design.

A questionnaire survey was conducted in 203 Spanish manufacturing plants, with personnel interviewees. The hypotheses proposed were verified using correlation analysis and analysis of variance.

The results show the existence of a positive relationship between the use of 5S and some contextual factors such as size, the integration of the plant in a multinational group, the type of product manufactured, the technology used and the quality programmes in the plant. Moreover, 5S is positively related to some operational performance measures, especially those referring to quality and productivity.

This paper contributes to the scarce empirical literature analysing the factors related to the use of 5S and its association with manufacturing performance.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the specific relationship between information and communication technologies (ICT) and high performance work practices (HPWP) at employee level, both generally and per job category.

Generalized ordered logit and logit models are estimated in relation to data from 31 European countries using the fourth European Working Conditions Survey.

This paper reveals a generally positive association between ICT use and HPWP participation by workers but different results when ICT and HPWP variables are analysed separately. Worker autonomy and participation in autonomous teams are linked to greater ICT use, but the cases of job rotation and task variety are not so clear. Additionally, the authors find how worker occupation conditions such links and note divergences between high and low-skilled positions.

The cross-sectional nature of the data does not allow the authors to report causal relations.

The results suggest that depending on the work practices to be considered, as well as occupation, some ICTs are more suitable than others.

Two main features make this paper novel. First, previous studies on the link between ICT and HPWP made use of indexes, rendering the generation of assorted results impossible. Thus, the authors study how different ICT variables are related to different HPWPs at employee level. Second, the authors test whether employee occupation is a moderator in such relationships.

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to provide empirical evidence on the relationships among new technologies, innovative work practices and upskilling in the Spanish case. Design/methodology/approach – Using detailed plant‐level data from a survey of Spanish manufacturing firms, we apply estimation methods, such as tobit and ordered probit models, to test the hypothesis that the use of ICT, AMT, and innovative work practices is positively related to upskilling. Findings – As available empirical evidence shows for other countries, we have found that AMT, ICT and innovative work practices are positively related to skills, although they have different effects on workforce composition and training. We have also found several significant effects of the interactive terms of the three technologies and work practices considered on the selected variables of upskilling. Research limitations/implications – The main limitation is the lack of time series data. Cross‐sectional data do not allow the use of lagged variables and make it impossible to analyse the evolution of the adoption of new technologies and work practices by firms and their dynamic effects on skills, or to study causalities among variables. In addition, the study relates only to manufacturing industries. Further research should consider expanding the analysis to the service sector and studying possible complementarities between technology and work practices, in terms of labor cost savings. Originality/value – This paper offers empirical evidence for Spain on the relationship between new technologies, innovative work practices and upskilling considered jointly. It analyses two different technologies: ICT and AMT. The paper also focuses on different dimensions of upskilling.

The purpose of this paper is to study how high-involvement work systems (HIWS) affect job satisfaction, and tries to disentangle the mechanisms through which the effect occurs.

The authors use data for a representative sample of 10,112 Spanish employees. In order to test the mediation mechanism implied by the hypotheses, the authors follow the procedure outlined in Baron and Kenny (1986). Given the nature of the dependent variables, ordered probit models were estimated to study the effect of HIWS on the mediating variables (job interest, effort and wages), and regression models were estimated to analyze the effect of HIWS on the final attitudinal variable (job satisfaction).

Empirical results show that HIWS results in higher levels of effort, higher wages and perceptions of a more interesting job. Moreover, greater involuntary physical effort reduces job satisfaction while higher wages, greater voluntary effort, involuntary mental effort and having an interesting job increase job satisfaction. The net effect of these opposing forces on job satisfaction is positive.

The use of secondary data posits some constrains in aspects such as the type of measures or the failure to control for personal traits. Additionally, the non-longitudinal nature of the data set implies that some relationships cannot be considered causal in the intended direction.

Managers should implement HIWS since in general they increase job satisfaction. A significant portion of this positive effect is channeled through perceptions of interesting job, higher wages and increased effort demands. Managers should pay attention to implementation issues.

The paper contributes to enrich the understanding of the relationship between the HIWS and job satisfaction, proposing a model that aims to disentangle the mediating mechanisms through which HIPWS affect job satisfaction. Unlike previous attempts, this model integrates opposing views about the positive or negative effects associated with HIWS.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze which factors determine the use of just‐in‐time (JIT) in companies. More precisely, the paper aims to study the role played by two variables of organizational context (size and age) and three infrastructure practices (advanced manufacturing technologies – AMT, quality management, and work organization).

The hypotheses were tested using data collected from 203 manufacturing plants with at least 20 employees. Data were collected by means of personal interviews with plant managers. Regression analyses have been performed to test the hypotheses.

The results reveal the existence of diversity in the factors that affect the use of the different components of JIT. Infrastructure practices are shown to be more determining than contextual factors. This happens in particular with AMT, basic quality tools and the management of the relationships with suppliers and customers.

The main limitations of the research are those derived from the cross‐sectional character of the data and from information coming from surveys, especially when the measures are subjective.

The paper stresses the need to develop adequate infrastructures in technology management, quality management and work organization to obtain all the benefits of JIT implementation.

The paper highlights the role of organizational context and, especially, infrastructure practices in the incidence of JIT in the manufacturing industry. Moreover, the identification of different dimensions of JIT systems makes it possible to conclude that the influence of the different factors considered is not uniform across all JIT elements.

In this chapter we use data from industrial plants to find out whether seniority-based pay is used as a motivational device for production workers. Alternatively, seniority-based pay could simply be a wage-setting rule independent of incentives. Unlike previous papers, we use a direct measure of seniority-based pay as well as measures of monitoring devices and explicit incentives. We find that those firms that base their wages partly on seniority are less likely to offer explicit incentives. They are also less likely to invest in monitoring devices. We also discover that these companies are more likely to engage in other human resource management policies, which result in long employment relationships. Overall these results suggest that seniority-based pay is indeed used as a motivational device.

The purpose of this paper is to elucidate the relationship between the political orientation of television viewers and their perception of television programming quality.

Information from a sample of 2,843 viewers is used. Ordinary least square models are estimated to test the theoretical hypotheses.

The results suggest that the ideological position of viewers has a significant bearing on their evaluation of the quality of television channels. They also point to the key role played by news programming in the audience’s general assessment of channels quality.

There are a number of limitations to this research, which are largely related to the data analyzed, since they are cross-sectional and measures based on a single item are used. Future research in this field ought to take the multidimensional nature of the concepts discussed here into greater consideration.

If political orientation colors viewer perception of quality television, it seems worthwhile for television schedulers to have more information about the political-ideological profile of their audience, so as to design a more appealing programming range for their target viewers. Regarding the impact of the perceived quality of news programs on the perceived quality of the whole channel, it would make sense for television managers to invest in news programs not only on the basis of the size of the audience reached, but also as a way to build up a strong brand and to differentiate it from competitors.

There is scarce empirical research on the perceptions of quality media and television by viewers. This paper develops and tests hypotheses that contribute to a better knowledge of the mechanisms that generate the perceptions of consumers about the quality of television channels.