Anna Bos-Nehles

Purpose: This study explores how line managers care for their subordinates by taking their individual needs into consideration during HRM implementation. Design/methodology/approach: An interpretive multi-case study approach, interviewing 2 HR managers, 12 line managers and 22 employees from retail units in Lithuania, is used to explore line managers' caring in HRM implementation. Findings: Line managers integrate caring with HRM implementation by: (a) getting to know their employees, voicing their needs, recognizing their strengths and encouraging their promotion and (b) modifying HRM practices to support employees' needs. Practical implications: Line managers need not only to be provided with flexibility in HRM implementation to take care for their employees, but should be encouraged to utilize it. This motivates more active engagement in HRM implementation, resulting in HRM practice improvement and personalized satisfaction of employees' needs. Originality/value: First, we contribute to the understanding of the HRM implementation process by showing that HRM implementation can be approached as an opportunity to adapt HRM practices to take care for employees. Next, we find that line managers' caring behaviors contribute to their understanding of their dual managerial role in HRM implementation and caring for employees' needs and well-being. We also extend the HRM implementation literature by showing that caring for employees' needs is integrated into HRM practices, driving line managers' active engagement in HRM implementation and practice modification. Finally, we find that to take care for employees, managers initiate tailor-made HR arrangements and engage in workforce differentiation.

This study aims to examine three propositions of how human resource (HR) system strength meta‐features—distinctiveness, consistency and consensus—operate together to better understand how they relate to affective commitment. We test a continuum proposition based on an additive (the sum of all features) and a compensatory model (the features as counteractive), a precursor proposition based on a mediation model, and an equifinality proposition based on a configurational model (distinguishing between different profiles of the features). The findings, drawn from a survey of 2844 part‐time employees from a Dutch home care organisation, demonstrate that all three meta‐features are important for generating HR management system strength and affective commitment among employees, but not to the same extent. We also find evidence that consistency is positively and directly related, whereas distinctiveness and consensus are positively and indirectly related to affective commitment via consistency.

Purpose: Many HRM practices are never thoroughly implemented, or are implemented ineffectively. To better understand what line managers need to implement HRM practices effectively, the authors have developed and validated a psychometrically sound measurement instrument dealing with line managers' attributions for effective HRM implementation. Based on the theory of causal attributions, the authors distinguish between internal and external attributions that determine how line managers implement HRM practices on the work floor.Design/methodology/approach: A multidimensional approach has been used, and, after collecting data from 471 line managers, thorough scale development guidelines and validation procedures have been applied for instrument development.Findings: The instrument's psychometric qualities have been assessed by calculating the reliability and validity of line managers' internal attributions – including its composing dimensions of desire and competences – and their external attributions – including the dimensions of support, capacity and policy and procedures. In particular, both convergent and discriminant validity as well as intra-class correlations have been established. The newly developed measures are found to be of good quality. The scales appear to discriminate well between the distinguished groups and show a good variation within groups.Practical implications: The developed measurement instrument helps HRM professionals to better understand line managers' attributions to effectively implement HRM practices and to provide them with support and training for effective HRM implementation.Originality/value: Previous research has already identified weaknesses in HRM implementation, but lacked addressing the causes of this. The study presents antecedents for HRM implementation effectiveness, based on the causal attribution theory, and a psychometrically validated instrument to measure these antecedents.

Despite increasing interest in human resource management (HRM) implementation as an explanation for the association between HRM and firm performance, considerable confusion remains about what implementation means. In order to develop conceptual definitions of HRM implementation and implementation effectiveness, this study builds on three different literatures outside the HRM field (strategy, innovation, and change management), which have addressed this topic extensively. As a result, implementation is characterized as a dynamic process, involving the interaction among multiple actors, starting with the adoption of a new practice and ending with its routinization. This is distinguished from implementation effectiveness as an outcome of that process. The study helps to achieve construct clarity, hence providing a more solid basis for future research and allowing for a better consolidation of findings. The authors also develop an agenda for further research by reviewing a number of theoretical and methodological approaches that have been used in implementation research across fields, including HRM. Overall, the study aims to establish implementation research as a highly relevant academic and practical quest not only in HRM, but also in other management literatures.

Steeds meer Nederlandse werkgevers onderkennen de noodzaak om werkdruk actief aan te pakken. Dit is niet verbazingwekkend, want werkdruk en andere genoemde oorzaken van werkstress zijn kostbaar. In dit artikel wordt onderkend dat werkdrukbeheersing een taak ofwel verantwoordelijkheid is van organisaties en medewerkers. Ook de Nederlandse academische sector heeft een groot werkdruk-probleem en daarom moeten alle Nederlandse universiteiten aan de slag om de werkdruk beheersbaar te maken. Concreet stellen we de vraag wat nodig is voor het versterken van (zelf )leiderschap ten bate van werkdrukbeheersing aan Nederlandse universiteiten. Om deze onderzoeksvraag te kunnen beantwoorden maken we gebruik van de Ability-Motivation-Opportunity (AMO)-theorie en passen deze voor de eerste keer toe in de context van werkdrukbeheersing bij Nederlandse universiteiten. Leidinggevenden en medewerkers kunnen en moeten gezamenlijk aan werkdrukbeheersing werken. De verantwoordelijkheid voor werkdrukmanagement ligt echter niet alleen maar bij (toekomstige) leidinggevenden en medewerkers. Ook HR en de organisatietop zijn aan zet. Voor deze actoren worden specifieke aanbevelingen ontwikkeld die antwoord geven op de vraag welke AMO medewerkers en leidinggevenden nodig hebben ten bate van werkdrukbeheersing.

In this study, we understand HRM implementation as a social process that depends on the social exchange relationships between line managers and both HRM professionals and employees. As such, we offer a fresh approach to understanding HRM implementation by concentrating on the social exchange among HRM actors. We do so by investigating to what extent these exchange relationships influence HRM implementation, as reflected in employees’ perceptions of the presence of HRM practices and their affective commitment. We collected multilevel data from two sources (line managers and employees) and in two phases in a Dutch engineering firm, and obtained fully matched manager – employee information from 75 employees and 20 line managers. Our results show that employees perceive a larger number of HRM practices when they have a good relationship with their line managers and when their line managers are motivated to implement HRM practices. Line managers, in turn, reciprocate perceived support from the HRM department with greater motivation to implement these practices. We conclude that because HRM actors engage in social interactions, HRM practices will be implemented at the organizational level because employees perceive the presence of HRM practices and then reciprocate this with affective commitment.

Purpose: Although we know that HRM practices can have a huge impact on employees’ innovative work behaviour (IWB), we do not know exactly which practices make the difference and how they affect IWB. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to determine the best HRM practices for boosting IWB, to understand the theoretical reasons for this, and to discover mediators and moderators in the relationship between HRM practices and IWB.Design/methodology/approach: Based on a systematic review of the literature, the authors carried out a content analysis on 27 peer-reviewed journal articles.Findings: Working with the definitions and items provided in the articles, the authors were able to cluster HRM practices according to the ability-motivation-opportunity framework. The best HRM practices for enhancing IWB are training and development, reward, job security, autonomy, task composition, job demand, and feedback.Practical implications: The results of this study provide practical information for HRM professionals aiming to develop an HRM system that generates innovative employee behaviours that might help build an innovative climate.Originality/value: A framework is presented that aggregates the findings and clarifies which HRM practices influence IWB and how these relationships can be explained.

The purposes of this paper are to explore the effect that perceived HR practices have on the innovative work behavior (IWB) of individual workers and to examine the role that an innovative climate plays in this relationship. We hypothesize that employees will show greater IWB if they perceive the organizational climate to support innovation and perceive the presence of HR practices related to a compensation system, training and development, information sharing, and supportive supervision. Using data from 463 individuals in four Dutch manufacturing companies, the study tests the effects of employees’ perceptions of HR practices and of an innovative climate on their innovative behaviors. We found that employee perceptions of a compensation system are negatively related to IWB, and that employee perceptions of information sharing and supportive supervision are positively related to IWB. The effect of perceptions of information sharing and training and development on IWB are moderated by an innovative climate, in such a way that information sharing has a stronger effect on IWB and training and development a weaker one. Managers can stimulate innovative behavior by investing in information sharing, supportive supervision, and establishing an innovative climate.