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Drawing upon organizational support theory and family-like exchange perspective, this paper aims to investigate whether mentoring influences protégés’ work engagement, and the roles of perceived organizational support (POS) and family-like employee-organization relationship (FEOR) between mentoring and protégés’ work engagement.

Matched data were collected from 290 protégés and their mentors in two large state-owned enterprises in Northwest China. Multiple regression analyses and bootstrapping methods were used to test the hypotheses.

The results show that mentoring is positively related to protégés’ work engagement, and POS and FEOR play multiple mediation roles in the relationship between mentoring and protégés’ work engagement.

The primary contribution of this study is exploring the impact of mentoring on protégés’ work engagement. Additionally, this study uses organizational support and family-like exchange perspective to understand how mentoring influences protégés’ work engagement.

Despite a few studies examining the effect of mentoring on protégés’ work engagement, but focusing excessively on organizational socialization and social exchange, as such, limited attention has been given to the role of emotions. This is, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, the first study to investigate the effect of emotional factors (including POS and FEOR) on the relationship between mentoring and protégés’ work engagement in Chinese organizational culture.

Although domestic research on Chinese management is emerging, a suitable domestic theory is still needed to support and explain Chinese management practice. Given that, this paper aims to extract ideas of cultivation from Confucianism and propose a theoretical framework of self-cultivation with a purpose to provide new explanations for domestic (nondomestic as well) management practice.

Drawing from pre-Qin cultivation discourse and management practice, this paper develops a theoretical framework of self-cultivation and discusses its implications.

This paper argues that self-cultivation emphasizes self-consciousness, initiative and selflessness. It also includes self-reflection, self-discipline, self-study and self-improvement, as well as self-dedication, all of which reflect the ideal realm of “self-cultivation.” This “realm” refers to the process of pursuing an ideal personality and high moral standards.

This paper contributes to the literature by identifying various potential applications of self-cultivation theory to domestic research on organizational behavior in China.

Employees’ bootlegging innovation behavior is common and plays an important role in enterprise management. Based on the resource conservation theory and self-regulation theory, the purpose of this study is to explore the influence mechanism of leaders’ abusive supervision on employees’ bootlegging innovation behavior, with psychological safety as a mediator and mindfulness at workplace as a moderator.

Survey data were gathered from 591 employees’ self-assessment questionnaires in China. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the research model through SPSS and AMOS.

This study found that the leaders’ abusive supervision negatively affects employees’ bootlegging innovation behavior; employees’ psychological safety completely mediates the negative effect of leaders’ abusive supervision on employees’ bootlegging innovation behavior; and mindfulness at work moderates the influence of leaders’ abusive supervision on employee’ bootlegging innovation behavior, as well as the influence of leaders’ abusive supervision on employees’ psychological safety.

This study has significant implications in passive leadership that affect employees’ innovation. Authors found that leaders’ abusive supervise, mindfulness at workplace play a crucial role in employees’ bootleg innovation through psychological safety.

Theoretically, this study has enriched the antecedent research on employees’ bootlegging innovation behavior from the perspective of negative leadership behavior and employee psychology. And this study considered mindfulness at workplace as a boundary condition.

This paper aims to adopt the mutuality perspective from the field of human resource management (HRM) to examine family firms, specifically human resource (HR) practices that are likely to be found in Thai family firms.

The cross-case analysis of three successful unreformed or authoritarian family firms in Thailand draws on semistructured interviews with top managers and/or HR managers as well as the employees of each family firm, field visits to each firm and a review of archival documents and Web-based resources.

This paper proposes that the recruitment of employees via alternative or substream recruitment channels (especially the recruitment of current employees’ relatives or family members), paternalistic employee relations practices and the management of aging employees, specifically with regard to the absence of retirement age, the facilitation of financial planning, reduced workload, the appointment of mentors/advisors and the encouragement of aging employees to transfer knowledge to younger generations tend to be found across Thai family firms, especially the unreformed or authoritarian type. These HR practices are implemented across family firms because they help to manage high levels of debt that have accumulated over many years so that employees attain financial literacy before retirement and to foster and maintain positive relationships between managers and employees across firms. These positive relationships thus foster the retention of capable and loyal, aging employees who have been developed within the firm and who have worked with the firm for a long time (so-called Look-Mor), leading to the maintenance of tacit knowledge and experience within firms and the alleviation of the problem of labor shortage. Theoretically, this paper proposes that a family-like corporate culture typically found in family firms serves as the antecedent to the adoption and implementation of those HR practices (so-called culture determinism). In particular, the fit between corporate culture and HR practices is likely to foster the strong commitment among employees to firms and the feelings of job security among these employees (so-called commitment match in the mutuality of the employment relationship).

An important limitation of this study concerns its methodology. Because this study is based on the case studies of only three unreformed or authoritarian family firms located in Thailand, the findings in this paper only propose substream or alternative HR practices that are likely to be found across Thai family firms; therefore, generalization to all other types of family firms and all other family firms across countries is not possible. Examining whether the HR practices proposed in this paper are uniquely found across family firms should be the subject of future research. Another limitation of this study is that it does not include firms located in other industries, such as the health-care industry and the hotel and restaurant industry. Future research could explore the HR practices implemented by family firms in these industries. Moreover, quantitative studies using large samples of family firms across industries might be useful in deepening the understanding of the HR practices implemented in family firms from the mutuality perspective on HRM.

This paper has practical implications for top managers and/or HR managers across firms not only in Thailand but also in other countries. First, top managers and/or HR managers across family firms, especially those of the unreformed or authoritarian type, should implement the HR practices proposed in this paper that are aligned well with a family-like corporate culture found in family firms to foster the strong commitment among employees to firms and the feeling of job security among these employees. Second, other types of firms (e.g. publicly owned corporations and multinational corporations) that do not have a family-like corporate culture may have to adapt some of these HR practices to their corporate culture and workplace atmosphere within their firms. Third, to manage and retain high-quality aging employees within firms, top managers and HR managers across various types of firms should implement some of the HR practices for managing aging employees proposed in this paper so that the firms can retain invaluable aging employees over time.

This paper provides social/policy implications for the government and/or relevant public agencies of Thailand and of several other emerging market economies. These governments should encourage the firms located in their countries to implement some of the HR practices proposed in this paper to maintain and support knowledgeable and skillful aging employees in their firms.

This paper contributes to the two main bodies of literature on HRM and family business in the following ways. First, most previous studies on HRM have focused on the mainstream HR practices used in large firms while neglecting the alternative or substream HR practices used in family firms. Additionally, relatively little research has specifically examined the mutuality perspective with regard to HRM. Thus, this paper extends the literature on HRM and family business settings regarding HR practices that are likely to be found across Thai family firms, corporate culture as an antecedent of the adoption and implementation of those HR practices, and the fit between corporate culture and HR practices with respect to mutuality in the employment relationship. Moreover, the literature on HRM has typically overlooked the underresearched country of Thailand; most studies in this area have primarily focused on developed countries or other emerging market economies, including China and India. The findings of this paper provide an in-depth analysis of HR practices that are likely to be found in family firms located in the emerging market economy of Thailand according to the mutuality perspective with regard to HRM.

The purpose of this paper primarily contributes to the social enterprises and human resource management (HRM) literature by examining the roles of founders in shaping how workers in social enterprises are managed.

This paper uses a cross-case analysis of three social enterprises in the food and agricultural products and food and beverage industries in Thailand. The case study evidence in this paper draws on semi-structured interviews with each social enterprise’s founders, managers and employees; field visits to each social enterprise in Bangkok and other provinces in Thailand; and a review of archival documents and web-based reports and resources. This paper uses thematic analysis to pinpoint, examine and record the patterns or themes found in the data.

This paper proposes that the founders of social enterprises play a variety of roles in shaping the human resource (HR) systems and practices used in these enterprises. First, founders serve as role models for managers and employees of social enterprises. Second, founders serve as succession planners for social enterprises. Third, the founders serve as builders and enforcers of corporate culture in social enterprises. Finally, founders serve as builders and enforcers of the HR systems and practices used in these enterprises. Put simply, without the roles of founders, the corporate culture and HR systems and practices of social enterprises might not be sustainable over time.

Because this research is based on case studies of three social enterprises located in Thailand, the findings may not be generalizable to all other social enterprises across countries. Rather, the aim of this paper is to further the discussion regarding the roles of founders in shaping the HR systems and practices used in social enterprises. Another limitation of this research is that it does not include social enterprises in several other industries, including the entertainment and media, printing and publishing and hotel and restaurant industries. Future research may explore how the founders of social enterprises in other industries shape the HR systems and practices used in those enterprises. Moreover, quantitative studies using large samples of social enterprises across industries might also be useful in deepening the understanding of a topic that is important from the perspectives of both social enterprises and HRM.

This paper has practical implications for founders and/or top managers of social enterprises is not only Thailand but also other countries. It also has social/policy implications for the government and/or relevant public agencies in Thailand and for several other developing countries/emerging market economies.

Very little research has examined the various roles of founders in shaping how workers in social enterprises are managed. In addition, there has been relatively little research focusing on the characteristics of social enterprises’ founders in developing countries, including Thailand. This paper aims to fill this gap in the literature on social enterprises and HRM regarding how the founders of small, hybrid organizations such as social enterprises in Thailand play their roles as builders and enforcers of HR systems and practices and other roles relevant to the management of workers.

Studies have explored perceptions of human resource management (HRM) system strength and how they can relate to employee-level outcomes. However, the authors understand little about the boundary conditions for such relationships. Here, the authors apply signaling theory to explain the relationship between HRM system strength and affective commitment as well as the role of an organization's communication climate and organizational collectivism.

The authors conducted an initial study among HR practitioners (N = 115) to determine their perception of HRM system strength, its outcomes and boundary conditions. The authors then conducted a second study to increase the reliability of our earlier findings by focusing on non-HR employees (N = 179).

The findings in both studies indicate that employee perceptions of HRM system strength positively and significantly relate to affective commitment. Moreover, the results show support for the moderating roles of both communication climate and organizational collectivism. These findings are novel and extend the nomological network of employee perceived HRM system strength.

These findings offer valuable practical insights regarding approaches to strengthen the relationship between HRM system strength and affective commitment. In particular, we offer practical recommendations pointing to the relevance of improving the communication climate as well as the sense of belonging within the organization (organizational collectivism).

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the social enterprises and human resource management (HRM) literatures by examining how institutional and cultural contexts influence human resources (HR) practices, i.e., recruitment practices (specifically, recruitment channels) and employee relations (ER) practices that are adopted in social enterprises in the developing country of Thailand.

This paper applies an embedded cross-case analysis of four social enterprises in Thailand across a variety of industries. The case study evidence in this paper draws on semi-structured interviews with each social enterprise’s representatives; field visits to each social enterprise in Bangkok and in other provinces in Thailand; and a review of archival documents and web-based reports and resources. This paper uses thematic analysis to pinpoint, examine and record the patterns or themes found in the data.

Based on these four case studies, this paper proposes that the deficiencies in the Thai skill formation system, especially skill shortages, are associated with the adoption of alternative or substream recruitment channels among social enterprises. Additionally, the weak and highly fragmented ER institution and the cultural context that favor conflict avoidance and unassertiveness among workers within the workplace are associated with the adoption of a paternalistic ER practice in these enterprises.

This paper has only focused on the role of national skill formation system, ER system, and the cultural context that favor conflict avoidance and unassertiveness among workers within the workplace. Future research may explore how other institutional and cultural domains influence the adoption of HR practices in these enterprises in the context of emerging market economies. Additionally, because this research is based on the case studies of four social enterprises in a variety of industries in Thailand, the findings of this paper may not be generalizable to all social enterprises across countries. Another limitation of this research is that it did not include social enterprises in several other industries, including the entertainment and media industry and the printing and publishing industry, and it does not include other forms of social enterprises, such as community-led social ventures. Future research may explore how institutional and cultural contexts influence HR practices adopted in social enterprises in other industries or in other types of social enterprises. Moreover, quantitative studies using large samples of social enterprises across industries might be useful in deepening our understanding of a topic that is significant from the perspective of both social enterprises and HRM.

This paper provides practical implications for HR professionals, founders and top managers of social enterprises not only in Thailand but also in other countries that face the problem of a skill shortage in the labor market.

This paper provides policy implications for the government of Thailand and the governments of several other emerging market economies in which the skill shortage is particularly severe. These governments should focus on solving this problem to alleviate severe competition among several types of organizations in the labor market. Furthermore, these governments should foster the implementation of a partnership model for employee–management relationships within the workplace. In this model, employees and management perceive each other as partners rather than enemies to sustain win–win solutions to any problems or disputes that may occur.

This paper aims to fill the gap in the literature regarding how social enterprises manage HR across contexts, especially in developing countries where institutional and cultural contexts might differ from those of developed countries. Batt and Banerjee (2012) suggested that the literature on HRM, including strategic human resource management (SHRM), should extend beyond the organizational context and examine how institutional contexts influence the adoption of organizations’ HR practices. Additionally, Batt and Banerjee (2012) noted that the majority of studies in the HRM literature focus on profit-oriented firms in the private sector and ignore other types of organizations such as non-profits or social enterprises.

Ethical decisions determine which individuals and/or groups benefit, and which suffer. Such decisions by executives impact front-line providers directly and customers indirectly; they are important because repercussions in service interactions feel personal. The purpose of this paper is to fill an important gap in the service literature by exploring how high-level executives make ethical decisions, creating values and culture within an organization; the results include testable propositions.

The research used a grounded theory approach, wherein high-level executives in successful service organizations responded through in-depth interviews. Complete interview transcripts were analyzed using standard qualitative methodology, including open coding to better understand and categorize the data, axial coding to seek out crucial relationships between concepts, and selective coding to develop research propositions.

Data analysis revealed two groups of interviewees, one more outcome-oriented in decision making and the other more process-oriented. The organizations led by more outcome-oriented executives have strong family-like (or paternalistic) cultures, whereas the organizations led by more process-oriented executives value adaptability and diversity.

The executives interviewed are quite successful; therefore, it is not possible to make inferences about unsuccessful executives or those leading poorly performing organizations. Propositions developed relate that process-oriented executives use both analytical measures and intuition in decision making, whereas outcome-oriented respondents rely more heavily on analytical measures.

Service executives apparently make ethical decisions while focusing either on processes or on outcomes; members of these two groups use different evaluative criteria to identify a successful decision. Decisions relating to people within the organization are perceived by the executives to be especially salient, apparently owing to interpersonal interaction in services.

There are inherent social implications when ethical decisions are made, because these decisions determine which individuals or groups benefit, and which suffer.

This research is among the first to interview high-level service executives about their ethical decision making when their choices define culture and values within their organizations. Findings offer a new look at how differences between executives that focus on processes and those that focus on outcomes may shape organizational cultures and lead to consideration of different criteria in making and evaluating decisions.

This chapter develops a theoretical model using the equifinality perspective to connect multiple systems of HR practices to alternative organizational structure types. We argue that firms following an exploitation strategy maintain competitive advantage through high levels of efficiency and reliability in production and delivery of existing products or services. Firms following an exploration strategy maintain a competitive advantage through continuous innovation and knowledge exchange and combination. Hence, organizations are more likely to successfully execute either strategy by implementing an HR system that would create the organizational structural characteristics that support the workforce requirements of the chosen strategy.

This paper aims to bridge the literatures on social enterprises and human resource management to examine the recruitment practices, specifically the recruitment channels, which are used by social enterprises to attract workers and how and why these practices differ from those used by more mainstream organizations.

It uses the cross-case analysis approach and evaluates four different social enterprises in Thailand. These four social enterprises are located in different industries, including food and beverages, textiles and garments, printing and publishing and entertainment and media. The case study evidence draws on semi-structured interviews, field visits and observations and a review of archival documents and Web resources.

Through these case studies, this paper proposes that social enterprises typically use sub-stream or alternative recruitment channels that differ from those used by more mainstream organizations to attract qualified workers whose beliefs and attitudes are consistent with the objectives of social enterprises, to avoid severe competition in the labor market and to foster the internal development of their employees over time.

One limitation of this research is its methodology. Because this research is based on case studies of four social enterprises across industries in Thailand, it does not claim generalizability to all social enterprises and their recruitment channels. Rather, the results of this research should lead to further discussion of how and why social enterprises are able to recruit qualified candidates, solve financial and human resources constraints and survive severe competition among organizations in the labor market.

This paper also provides managerial implications for human resources practitioners, founders and top managers of social enterprises, not only in Thailand but also in other countries across the globe. First, these human resources practitioners, founders and top managers can use sub-stream or alternative recruitment channels to recruit employees to their social enterprises because these channels should help them attract qualified candidates whose beliefs, attitudes, knowledge, skills, experience and work performance fit with the philosophy and objectives of social enterprises. Second, they can use mainstream recruitment channels only when they have sufficient budgets to support this activity because these channels are expensive and may not support the dual missions of social enterprises. Third, they may attempt to search for an alternative source of potential employees, such as the blind and the disabled, to alleviate the problem of skill shortages at the occupational level and at the national level as a whole.

This paper provides policy implications for the government of Thailand and the governments of several other emerging market economies where the problem of skill shortages is particularly severe. Specifically, these governments should pay attention to solving the problem of occupational-level skill shortages to alleviate severe competition among several types of organizations in the labor market.

First, the findings in this paper extend the literature on human resource management, specifically on recruitment and selection practices, regarding how and why small and emerging organizations such as social enterprises can compete with mainstream organizations to survive severe competition in the labor market. Second, this paper contributes to the literature on social enterprises, specifically regarding how social enterprises resolve the issue of financial constraints to access skilled employees whose identification is consistent with the objectives of social enterprises. Finally, social enterprises in the under-researched country of Thailand are frequently overlooked in the literature. The four social enterprises in this paper are located in a variety of industries, including food and beverages (the Doi Tung Development Project and Doi Chaang Coffee), textiles and garments (the Doi Tung Development Project), printing and publishing (Butterfly Publishing House) and entertainment and media (Payai Creation). These industries, especially the printing and publishing industry and the entertainment and media industry, are also understudied in the literature on human resource management.