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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the broad debate regarding universalistic and contingency perspectives of human resource management (HRM). Design/methodology/approach – Building on recent evidence of HRM differentiation within organisations, the present article studies variation in experienced HR practices across job level and whether the impact of HR practices on commitment, intention to quit and well‐being across job level is best explained by universalistic or contingency claims. Findings – Both studies found that employees in higher job levels report a greater number of HR practices. Findings further indicated that the associations between HR practices and the three outcomes were largely invariant across job level, thus supporting universalistic notions of HRM across job levels. Research limitations/implications – Data from both studies were cross‐sectional and single‐source, thus limiting causal inferences. More generally, there is a need to better understand HR differentiation within organisations and whether it offers an effective HR strategy. Originality/value – Few studies have examined systematic variation in HR practices across employee groups and universalistic/contingency arguments within organisations. The studies presented are among the first to offer an evaluative as well as descriptive analysis of the issues under investigation.

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.

Competitive strategy is one of the key factors traditionally related to performance, but research explaining the mechanisms through which this strategy improves business results is scant. This study aims to shed light on this relationship by analyzing human resource management (HRM) strategy as an essential tool for transforming business strategy into results.

Focusing on two generic competitive strategies, the authors establish hypotheses on the need for alignment among four echelons: business strategy, HRM system objectives, HRM system capabilities and business performance. The authors test these hypotheses with structural equation modeling techniques using data provided by 204 industrial companies.

The results show that to get the most out of a competitive strategy based on quality differentiation, HRM system objectives and capabilities must be focussed on quality. In the same way, a competitive strategy based on innovation differentiation requires HRM system objectives and capabilities focussed on flexibility to achieve the maximum impact on performance. In this second case, alignment is fundamental in low dynamic environments.

This research not only provides additional evidence for the strategic relevance of the human resources (HR) function but also reveals the potential benefits of focusing on objectives and capabilities rather than on practices. Moreover, it shows that the role of HRM objectives and capabilities in the implementation of a competitive strategy can be shaped by factors beyond the company's control, such as environmental dynamism.

While an established stream of research evidence has demonstrated that human resource management (HRM) is positively related to organisational performance, explanations of this relationship remain underdeveloped, while performance has been considered in a narrow fashion. Exploring the relevant but often neglected impact of creativity climate, the purpose of this paper is to examine key processes (mediation and moderation) linking high-performance human resource practices with a broad range of organisational performance measures, including employee performance and HR performance.

The paper draws on a People Management Survey of 169 HR managers from top performing firms in the Republic of Ireland.

The findings provide general support for the role of creativity climate as a key mediator in the HRM-performance relationship. The impact of HPWS on performance is judged universal with little evidence of variation by strategic orientation.

Sophisticated HRM is found to directly impact a range of organisational performance outcomes. Creativity climate provides an understanding of the mechanisms through which such impact takes effect. Organisations should develop a clear and consistent HR philosophy to realise HR, employee and organisational performance.

The paper offers a more intricate understanding of the key factors shaping both the operation and impact of the HRM-performance relationship. Creativity climate offers an important vehicle to better understand how the HRM-performance relationship actually operates. The paper also highlights the potential of examining multiple organisational performance outcomes to offer more nuanced and considered insights.

Recent trends in total quality management (TQM) argue in favor of incorporating environmental concerns into TQM and considering external stakeholders. The aim of this study is to bring environmental consciousness in the soft TQM dimension of human resource management (HRM) and assess its interrelationship with stakeholder integration towards achieving a competitive advantage.

An empirical study was conducted in the transportation sector, specifically targeting managers in Greek shipping companies involved in global cargo transport and vessel operations. A structured questionnaire was administered, yielding 109 responses. The collected data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

The findings reveal the positive effect of both green HRM (GHRM) and stakeholder integration on the innovation differentiation advantage and market differentiation advantage of shipping companies. Results confirm the complementary (partial) mediating effect of GHRM in the relationship between stakeholder integration and both types of competitive advantage.

The primary limitation resides in data collection exclusively from shipping companies in Greece. A longitudinal approach would be beneficial for examining how the relationship between variables changes over time.

The findings of the study could assist shipping managers in their decisions to allocate resources for developing GHRM practices and for involving stakeholders in organizational practices to overcome competition.

This study contributes to the discourse on TQM by empirically investigating the combined impact of GHRM and stakeholder integration on competitive advantage – an aspect that has been relatively overlooked in existing literature.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Results show that to get the most out of a competitive strategy based on quality differentiation, HRM system objectives and capabilities must be focused on quality. In the same way, a competitive strategy based on innovation differentiation requires HRM system objectives and capabilities focused on flexibility to achieve the maximum impact on performance. In this second case, alignment is fundamental in low dynamic environments.

The briefing saves busy executives, strategists and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

In the past two decades, the way enterprises in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) manage their human resources has changed dramatically. Multinational enterprises (MNEs) have entered into the “strategic investor” phase, where now the integration of PRC operations into the MNE network receives growing attention. For these companies HRM is often of high strategic importance. This article seeks to explore how differences in HRM practices in such businesses vary with their ownership forms. The study is based on in‐depth interviews with HRM managers – on the PRC country‐level – in 12 MNEs. The large majority of the participating companies clearly stated that today the HRM function is of high strategic importance for their operations in the PRC and is predominantly controlled by the MNE partner. Although equity ownership stake is an important variable influencing HRM policies and practices, it is shown that it needs to be seen in conjunction with other possibly non‐equity control‐mechanisms.

While there is a growing body of research demonstrating that HR Shared Services can offer a value-creating structure for HRM within organizations, there remains considerable room for improving our understanding of it. The premise of this chapter is that the mixture of HR Shared Services outcomes leans on the diversity of the governance structures, which rest in turn on several contingency factors. This means that every HRM Shared Services Model (SSM) is unique in its structure, and thus the value proposition of every HRM SSM is unique. Therefore, instead of promoting a standard package of values expected from HR shared services, organizations should develop unique value propositions that are contingent on their unique governance structures.

This research aims to answer the call for more empirical research on identity theory by exploring the role and impact of human resource management (HRM) policy, and the gap between HRM policy and practice, on organizations and their employees. It looks at the role that soft policy plays in obscuring hard practice and considers the impact of unions and HRM role on policy.

This study uses survey data collected from the senior members of the HRM function in 189 large Australian organisations.

The research found a gap between policy and practice with soft policy being used more often than soft practice. It found that a gap between policy and practice has a negative impact on outcomes. Strategic HRM (SHRM) positively impacts on the implementation of soft practices reducing the gap between policy and practice and impoverished HRM that lacks resources, power and time, has a larger gap between policy and practice. Unions did not improve outcomes by minimizing the gap between policy and practice.

This paper used survey data from HRM managers, who whilst being the best single source of information, may have distorted their responses. Further research is required to confirm these results using several data sources.

Managers and HR functions should increase both soft policy and soft practice and ensure there is no gap between policy and practice. To achieve this, organizations should ensure that the HRM function is both strategic and effectively resourced.

This research makes a theoretical and empirical contribution to debates on the role that HRM rhetoric plays in organizations. It also adds value to SHRM research and practice.

Sponsorships targeting an internal audience, e.g. employees, are still under-researched. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how employees perceive and evaluate a sponsorship that is designed with the purpose of improving customer services and explore how the company may benefit from the sponsorship.

The study is anchored in critical realism and based on a single case study using multiple methods. The authors survey the impact of the sponsorship on employees’ (n=653) perceptions of their ability to communicate with customers, to perform their personal best, to engage in teamwork, as well as employee retention. The authors use individual and group interviews to qualify the analysis and the access to company data on customer satisfaction rates to provide an indication of the effect of the sponsorship.

Results indicate that close to half the employees respond that the campaign positively impacted their ability to communicate, improve personal performance and to engage in teamwork. The analysis also reveals that the commitment of the direct leader has an impact on employees’ interest and commitment to the campaign. Data on customer satisfaction show that reducing the number of dissatisfied customers and increasing the number of customers willing to recommend the company to others has been accomplished, thus indicating that the sponsorship has had a positive impact on company performance.

By combining sponsorship research with insights from the HRM literature, the study provides empirically based knowledge to the hitherto limited research on the internal audience of sponsorships. The study provides a plausible indication of a positive relation between a sponsorship design and company performance.