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Building on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study aims to explore how overall justice climate (OJC) and cross-cultural psychological capital (CCPsyCap) help highly skilled expatriates develop creative behaviours despite disruptive global macro-events. This topic has not been extensively researched in the context of expatriation, especially amongst self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries.

The data were collected through a web-based questionnaire from 307 SIEs coming from the MENA region and working in different sectors of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The responses were analysed via partial least squares-structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).

Empirical evidence shows that no significant direct correlation exists between the OJC and the creativity of SIEs. However, the results demonstrate that this relationship was completely mediated by CCPsyCap.

The context of high uncertainty may limit individuals' cognitive abilities amongst individuals, in turn, reducing their level of creativity. In this regard, this study identifies the need for host organisations to develop fair human resource policies to enhance creative behaviours amongst SIEs in such a context. It also underlines the role of psychological resources as a coping mechanism that helps those expatriates cope with the diverse challenges of their international assignments.

This study offers new theoretical support for understanding how the combination of OJC and psychological resources constitutes a springboard for enhancing SIEs' creativity in a context of hardship. This study also advances the COR theory by adopting a “cross-level resources caravans” approach.

Previous research assumes that technologies 4.0, particularly big data, may be highly relevant for organizations to increase human resources (HR) communication strategies, but the research provides little or no evidence on whether and how these tools are applied in employees and labor market relations. This study intends to offer a first insight on the adoption of data-driven HR/talent management approach, contributing to the ongoing debate on the Industry 4.0. This study aims to investigate the use of 4.0 technologies in HR and talent management functions, focusing also on the adoption of big data analytics for internal and recruitment communication.

The analysis of the literature enables to define the research questions and an exploratory web survey was carried out through a structured questionnaire. The analysis unit of the empirical survey includes the communication and marketing managers of 90 organizations in Italy, examined in the Mediobanca Report on the “Main Italian Companies.”

Findings highlight a lack of the use of 4.0 technologies and big data analytics in employee and labor market relations and reveal some sectoral differences in the adoption of 4.0 technologies. Moreover, the study points out that the development of HR analytics is hampered by short-term perspective, data quality problems and the lack of analytics skills.

Due to the exploratory research design and the circumscribed sample from a single country (Italy), further cross-national evidence is needed. This study provides digital communication managers with useful insights to improve the data-driven HR/talent management approach, which is a strategic asset for ensuring a sustainable competitive advantage and optimizing business performance.

The study offers an overview about the use of big data analytics in internal and recruitment communications. Considering the alignment between Italian and European trends in the use of big data and in the adoption of HR analytics, the study can provide insights also for other European organization.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a multistakeholder scale for assessing an excellent human resource (HR) function to demonstrate the extent to which it is focused on creating value from the perspective of its key internal and external stakeholders.

At the first stage, an in-depth literature review was conducted to extract the best practices for an excellent HR function. Then, to test the validation of the developed framework, it was sent to HR academics and practitioners in different countries. The survey responses were analyzed using the methods of the structural equation modeling (SEM) and confirmatory factorial analysis.

This study proposes an excellent HR multistakeholder assessment scale consisting of ten criteria based on the perceptions of internal and external HR stakeholders.

This study suggests a framework for assessing overall HR excellence based on the perceptions of key internal and external HR stakeholders. In addition, it is recommended that future researchers empirically test the developed scale across various industries and firm sizes.

HR managers, by using this framework, could continuously assess their HR excellence and compare their HR excellence with other companies’ HR excellence in the industry and then plan for continuous improvement in different HR areas to improve their stakeholders’ experiences.

This paper identifies the enablers and results of an excellent HR department and designs a multistakeholder feedback scale to better understand key internal and external HR stakeholders’ perceptions.

This paper aims to examine two types of age-related human resources (HR) practices, i.e. age-specific and age-inclusive HR practices and firm-level (meso-level) factors that foster or hinder the implementation of these two types of practices.

Based on a cross-case analysis of four firms across industries in Thailand, a developing country, the empirical evidence draws on semi-structured interviews with the top managers, HR managers and aging employees of four firms; field visits; nonparticipant observations; and a review of archival documents and Web-based reports and resources.

This paper proposes that age-specific HR practices primarily include those HR practices under the regulation HR bundle and some HR practices under the maintenance and recovery HR bundles. Additionally, the factors fostering the implementation of age-specific HR practices in firms include group corporate culture, nonunionism within the workplace, paternalistic leaders, a focus on the development of internal labor markets within firms and the need for tacit knowledge transfer from aging employees to younger-generation employees, whereas the factors hindering the implementation of age-specific HR practices in firms include age biases within firms. Moreover, age-inclusive HR practices primarily include HR practices under the development HR bundle and some HR practices under the maintenance and recovery HR bundles. Additionally, the factors fostering the implementation of age-inclusive HR practices in firms include the procedural justice climate, the transition from a family ownership structure to a professional ownership structure and result-/output-based corporate culture, whereas the factors hindering the implementation of age-inclusive HR practices in firms include experience-/seniority-based corporate culture. In fact, some of the meso-level factors that foster or hinder the implementation of age-specific and age-inclusive HR practices tend to be influenced by the national institutional and cultural contexts of the developing country where firms that implement such HR practices are located.

This paper aims to fill the research gap by examining both age-specific and age-inclusive HR practices. Additionally, this paper analyzes the factors fostering or hindering the implementation of these two dimensions of age-related HR practices across firms by using a case study of firms in Thailand, a developing country. To date, most studies in this area have focused on one of these dimensions, while comparisons between different HR dimensions are rather scarce. Finally, this paper contributes to the prior literature on strategic HR and comparative institutional perspective on HR strategies and practices as proposed by Batt and Banerjee (2012) and Batt and Hermans (2012) that future research should go beyond the meso-level (organizational) context. In this regard, some of the factors that foster or hinder the implementation of age-specific and age-inclusive HR practices tend to be influenced by the national institutional and cultural contexts of the developing country of Thailand.

AI-based chatbots are revamping employee communication in organizations. This paper examines the adoption of AI-based employee experience chatbots by employees.

The proposed model is developed using behavioral reasoning theory and empirically validated by surveying 1,130 employees and data was analyzed with PLS-SEM.

This research presents the “reasons for” and “reasons against” for the acceptance of AI-based employee experience chatbots. The “reasons for” are – personalization, interactivity, perceived intelligence and perceived anthropomorphism and the “reasons against” are perceived risk, language barrier and technological anxiety. It is found that “reasons for” have a positive association with attitude and adoption intention and “reasons against” have a negative association. Employees' values for openness to change are positively associated with “reasons for” and do not affect attitude and “reasons against”.

This is the first study exploring employees' attitude and adoption intention toward AI-based EEX chatbots using behavioral reasoning theory.

Various scholars suggest that there is a lack of research on the recruitment in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and also a scarcity of theoretical basis for the recruitment procedures used by these companies. As the vast majority of studies concentrate on larger organizations, they may not accurately reflect the challenges faced by smaller-sized entities to profoundly and accurately comprehend their recruitment procedures. In addition, the use of technology in recruitment has grown in importance in today’s quickly evolving business environment, particularly in light of the COVID-19 pandemic footprint. This study aims to examine the recruitment procedures used by SMEs and how they have been compelled to adjust to different extents to these technological improvements by the effects of the aforementioned epidemic.

With the aim to investigate the current recruitment practices in SMEs and the extent to which digital technologies are embraced by these companies within human resources (HR) procedures, this research relied on interviews with SMEs representatives. The qualitative methods used provided access to relevant data and insights, as they allowed close interactions with top managers and CEOs of ten companies from various sectors. Thus, the research results draw a vivid and reliable image of the procedures and practices used by small and medium-sized companies to attract, select and retain their staff.

This study’s findings are of increased interest to HR professionals, recruiters and managers in SMEs, who aim to attract and retain the best talent and optimize their recruitment strategies in a rapidly changing business environment, enabled by technological advancements. Effective HR recruitment procedures adapted to the specific needs of small and medium-sized companies can lead to several benefits for the organization, including improved employee selection, reduced turnover and increased organizational productivity.

Although the interviews examined here encompass recruitment techniques from SMEs in a variety of industries, the results’ generalizability is limited by the sample size and geography. Furthermore, the findings’ dependability is dependent on the accuracy of the data provided by the respondents.

This investigation confirms some of the theoretical underpinnings which point to the lack of formalized structures and procedures in the recruitment process in SMEs, which enjoy more flexibility in managing HR processes. In addition, the results reinforce the arguments indicating an adjustment between HR strategies or policies and organizational goals in smaller enterprises which adapt faster to changes in the market. Moreover, it becomes apparent that there is a relationship between the quality of job descriptions and the successful fit in attracting the right candidates for the open positions. Furthermore, digital technologies offer opportunities for expanding the recruiters’ reach to a wider audience and also support the selection stage, thus increasing the chances of finding suitable staff. As the need to shift from traditional recruitment to e-recruitment in SMEs has been highlighted in the literature, the qualitative research revealed that this need was driven on the one hand by the COVID-19 pandemic when these companies successfully adapted and implemented new online methods of recruiting, but also by the lack of skilled labor, leading to the expansion of recruitment to other parts of the country or even to other countries.

With regard to the proportion of men and women used in small and medium-sized companies, there is a clear need to involve and train more women in the predominantly male-dominated industrial and IT sectors. From this point of view, companies tend to devote more interest to integrating communities of women in these industries, as well as in key management positions. Another point of interest that the study highlights is the fact that SMEs have started to get creative with the benefits package they propose to candidates and focus on remote work, hybrid office–home working, or seasonal work to offer future employees a better work–life balance.

The added value of this investigation is filling the gaps in the current literature concerning recruitment procedures currently used by SMEs, the challenges they face and the solutions they advanced to solve them. Furthermore, SMEs often drive innovation and competition in the market and play a crucial role in the supply chain of larger companies, providing them with the goods and services they need to operate and supporting the availability and reliability of products from larger companies. They are often the driving force behind revitalizing local economies and creating new employment opportunities. Consequently, the underlying significance of this study is rooted in the need to modernize and simultaneously improve HR recruitment procedures through the integration of technology and a focus on innovation.

This paper aims to apply a mixed-methods approach to redefine essential work skill sets, propose components of these skill sets that are necessary for workers in the contexts of emerging market economies (EMEs), examine potential selection tools that should be applied across firms and explain implications for the labour process theory (LPT) of work.

During the first phase of this study, qualitative data was collected from methods, including semi-structured interviews with human resources (HR) experts from the Personnel Management Association of Thailand, top and HR executives and managers of firms across industries in Thailand. Non-participant observations were made during the pre-interview, interview and post-interview stages. Analysis of archival documents and Web-based resources was then conducted. The authors used the qualitative data obtained from the first phase to develop survey instruments for conducting quantitative research during the second phase of this study.

The empirical findings demonstrate that essential work skill sets are “soft skills” that help workers survive and thrive in the business arena in EMEs. These essential work skill sets have implications for the LPT of work in that they play an important role in transferring the power of negotiation from employers to workers in the labour market. Essential work skill sets here can be divided into eight skill domains: (1) ideation and system thinking, (2) information and digital literacy, (3) social skills with appreciation for diversity and inclusion, (4) communication and language, (5) creativity and innovation, (6) emotional quotient (EQ) for self-management and development, (7) growth/outward mindset and (8) cognitive skills for the job role. Within each essential work skill set, there are several skills that workers in the current world of work need to possess (42 skills in total). Additionally, potential selection tools include behavioural observation, behavioural-based interviews, STAR (Situation, Task, Action and Results) interviews, role plays, case studies and simulations, high-pressure interview questions, project assignments, assessment centres, in-depth interview questions and special methods, such as face reading and fingerprint reading. Top and HR managers across industries strongly agree that the eight essential work skill sets and 42 skills are necessary for workers to survive in the business arena in EMEs. They also strongly agree that talent selection tools, especially behavioural-based interviews, are used by their firms to select high-skilled job candidates in the labour market.

Because the eight essential skill sets proposed in this paper are based primarily on the qualitative data obtained from top/HR managers in firms across some industries, generalization to respondents across other industries or across other EMEs may be limited. It is possible that the context of other EMEs may be different from that of Thailand. In this regard, some of the essential work skill sets that are suitable in the case of Thailand may not be suitable in the case of other EMEs. Future studies should thus explore how institutional contexts of other countries/economies shape the definition of essential skill sets and their components, as well as potential selection tools that shall be applied to select high-skilled labour in those contexts.

This paper provides practical implications for top managers and/or HR managers of firms across various industries in EMEs. In particular, managers should internally train and develop their employees/workers to possess the eight essential skill sets: (1) ideation and system thinking, (2) information and digital literacy, (3) social skills with appreciation for diversity and inclusion, (4) communication and language, (5) creativity and innovation, (6) EQ for self-management and development, (7) growth/outward mindset and (8) cognitive skills for the specific job role so that their employees/workers can survive and thrive in the era of the brittleness, anxiety, non-linearity and incomprehensibility of the business world under pandemic conditions. Additionally, top managers and/or HR managers of these firms should apply the potential selection tools proposed in this paper to probe into job candidates’ past experience and behaviours to better predict such candidates’ success at work. In this regard, job candidates/workers should prepare themselves to possess these essential work skill sets so that they can be successful in the business arena and should understand potential selection tools that firms may apply to recruit and select them.

This paper provides social/policy implications for the government and/or relevant public agencies of Thailand and of other EMEs. These governments should encourage firms across industries to invest resources in training and developing their employees/workers to possess those essential work skill sets so that these employees/workers are industry-ready, leading to the alleviation of the problems of skill and mismatch in the labour market.

This paper contributes to the prior literature on human resource management (HRM), the comparative institutional perspective on employment systems based on the varieties of capitalism (VoC) framework and the LPT of work in the following ways: first, this paper fills in the research gap in the field of HRM that calls for studies that explore how the COVID-19 pandemic shapes essential skill sets and skills development among workers within firms (Cooke et al., 2021). Second, this paper provides implications for the LPT of work regarding how essential work skill sets are likely to return the power of negotiation from employers to workers in EMEs during the current situation. Third, the VoC framework tends to focus on only two types of economies, liberal market economies and coordinated market economies. However, this paper examines essential work skill sets and potential screening tools in the context of the underresearched country of Thailand, an EME. In fact, the Thai labour market is quite different from that of other EMEs labour markets, as it is impacted by an aging workforce. This paper contributes to the literature on comparative institutional perspectives on employment systems as it redefines essential work skill sets, proposes various components of these skill sets among workers and examines potential selection tools that are applied across firms located in EMEs.

The purpose of this paper is to study the implications of managing human resource (HR) flexibility and absorptive capacity (AC) of knowledge for the implementation of agile innovation methods in the new product development (NPD) process of manufacturing firms.

To achieve this, the authors have carried out a meta-analysis by defining first a research question that determines the design of bibliometric data and compilation. The study question is: How firms can support agile initiatives in innovation considering their HR flexibility and AC? The Web of Science Collection has been consulted in three steps with several search strings. The analysis of 161 references without duplicities in the period 1997–2021 provides the foundations for exploring the research question.

The authors propose research hypotheses to analyze the interrelationship between HR flexibility, AC and agile innovation according to the literature-based discussion. The authors have identified and develop metrics to pilot the transition to agile that have been also adapted to specific innovation departures points before the transition. The authors also propose and discuss some organizational changes and practical guidelines to pilot transitions to agile that should be useful to the firm’s strategic decision of implementing the most adequate type of agile innovation.

Even though flexibility and innovation are very important needs for many firms, agile schemes are still under-studied topics in the NPD of manufacturing firms. There are no specific studies in the literature that analyze the interrelationship between HR flexibility, AC and agile innovation, identifying common aspects and different approaches. Thus, this study is of original nature and the developed managerial tools, composed of metrics and organizational changes, will be useful to managers and permitted the authors to achieve the proposed goal.

This study aims to explore the emergence of the human resource (HR) analyst role. The job posts on LinkedIn display the industry demand and skills required by the organizations. This study identifies the different knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA) required for an HR analyst role in different stages of professional growth (i.e. entry-level, middle-senior level and top-level) across different industries/sectors as applicable to the crisis.

A total of 80 job posts were extracted from LinkedIn. Details such as industry, job levels, qualifications, job experience, job functions, job descriptions (JDs) and job skills (JS) were collected. Further, 30 videos were extracted from YouTube and converted into text. Text analysis was conducted using NVivo software to analyze JDs, JS and job functions. Using NVivo, word frequency, word cloud, word tree and treemap were created to visualize the data. Finally, ten in-depth interviews were conducted with senior HRA managers based in India to understand the essential competencies required for the HR analyst role and the strategies to develop them.

The findings indicate that not only technical skills are needed, but business and communication skills are particularly important for all job levels during a crisis. The JD word cloud showed words, such as data, business, support and management, and the word tree depicted HR data and change agents as important words with many related sentences as branches. General JS included analytical, communication, problem-solving and management. Technical JS were the most widely used and included structure query language, system applications & products in data processing, human capital management, TABLEAU, management information system and PYTHON. Strategies to develop these competencies included case studies, live projects, internships on HR analytics (HRAs) assignments and mentoring by senior HRA professionals.

The sample used was small, as the study included 80 job posts available on LinkedIn restricted to India. The study was restricted to qualitative approach and text analytics was used. Survey methods and a quantitative approach can be used to collect data from HR recruiters, job holders and senior leaders to understand the role of HRAs in the job market and then these variables can be tested empirically.

Based on the McCartney et al.’s (2020) competency model for the HR Analyst role, this study has explored the KSA framework using data visualization techniques and used text analytics to analyze LinkedIn job posts for different levels, videos from YouTube and in-depth interviews. It also mapped the KSA for the HR analyst role to the various stages of crisis system management given by Mitroff (2005). The use of social media analytics, such as analyzing LinkedIn data and YouTube videos, are highlighted.

This paper employs human resources (HR) analytics to investigate the pathways through which high-potential managers ascend to C-suite positions, and how different developmental paths influence turnover among executives.

By combining job analysis and competency assessment with sequence analysis, the authors utilize HR analytics to analyze the work experiences of 53 general managers spanning 57 years (n = 2,742), encompassing various roles, job requirements, and 20 executive competencies attached to over 1,000 positions.

This study's findings reveal three distinct developmental paths that lead to the C-suite, characterized by differences in the content, context, timing, and complexity of work experience. Furthermore, the authors identify that a more complex developmental path tends to reinforce executives' competency in self-awareness while inhibiting their development of technical competency, ultimately resulting in reduced executive turnover.

By employing HR analytics to analyze empirical data embedded in job and organizational contexts, this study sheds light on the critical role of timing and complexity of work experiences in executive development. It also offers practical implications for firms seeking to optimize their leadership pipeline and reduce executive turnover by leveraging HR analytics effectively.