Eleanor Zhai

Integrating the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity model in human resource management with the eclectic paradigm in international business research, we examine the role of country-level human capital development in the high-performance work systems (HPWS) and organizational performance (OP) association. We posit that there is a substitution relationship between country-level human capital development and organization-level HPWS in shaping OP. HPWS generates a stronger effect on OP in countries with a lower level of human capital development and thus a greater need for HPWS to boost performance. Training & development plays a key role in turning human capital available in a country into talent resources useful in an organization, thereby strengthening the HPWS-OP association. This role is stronger in countries with a lower level of human capital development. We conduct meta-analyses of 56,868 business entities from 20 countries/regions in 232 samples from 1994 to April 2024, and find evidence to support our arguments.

Based on broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, this study posits that strategic human resource management (SHRM) systems enrich positive emotions associated with psychological empowerment and resilience and in turn, broaden employees' momentary thought-action repertoires. People with such positive psychological emotions build enduring personal resources to buffer the negative impacts of adversity and produce better performance outcomes. An integrative model is developed and examined through a two-stage structural equation modelling method of meta-analysis based on data involving 60,637 individuals in 87 independent datasets from 79 primary studies published up to September 2020. Empirical evidence suggests that psychological empowerment and resilience both independently and collectively mediate the relationship between SHRM systems and performance outcomes. This study makes an innovative attempt to incorporate theories of positive psychology into SHRM research, throwing fresh light on the promoting factors (i.e., SHRM) and psychological mechanisms (i.e., psychological empowerment) antecedent to employee resilience leading to desired performance outcomes. This study has practical implications for managers in relation to the importance of cultivating a psychologically empowered and resilient workforce, especially in difficult times such as those during the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

Drawing on systems theory, this paper aims to search for a leverage point in a high-performance work system (HPWS) wherein a small change of a constituent part significantly enhances the effect of the whole system on organizational performance (OP). Based on meta-analysis of 59,207 firms and establishments from 240 sample studies up to December 2021, the paper examines the effect of HPWS composition, coupled with country of origin and industrial affiliation, on the HPWS–OP relationship. The paper finds that training and development serves as a leverage point to significantly strengthen the synergy of HPWS. However, this leverage point works in advanced countries rather than developing countries, and in service industries rather than manufacturing industries. The finding indicates that a leverage point is not omnipresent, but contingent on country of origin and industrial affiliation. This study has practical implications for managers, highlighting the importance of a leverage point to the HPWS–OP relationship and the contingency nature of the leverage point.

Purpose

This paper extends the institution theory to examine the relationship between high-performance work system (HPWS) and organizational performance (OP), and analyzes how country of origin interacts with performance measures and industrial affiliation in moderating the HPWS–OP relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper collects data of 60,142 firms and establishments in 252 studies published up to December 2021 and employs meta-analysis techniques to test hypotheses on the role of country of origin in moderating the HPWS–OP relationship in conjunction with performance measures and industrial affiliation.

Findings

The paper finds that, firstly, there is a positive relationship between HPWS and OP, but the relationship is much stronger in developing than advanced countries. Secondly, the relationship is stronger when OP is measured in operational than financial term in both developing and advanced countries, but the moderating effect of performance measures is stronger in developing than advanced countries. Thirdly, the relationship is stronger in service than manufacturing industries in developing countries, but no such variation is found in advanced countries.

Originality/value

The study for the first time unveils the important role of country of origin in interacting with performance measures and industry affiliation to condition the HPWS–OP relationship, and provides a coherent explanation based on institutional theory. The study sheds fresh light on the HPWS–OP relationship, and has important implications for managers.

This paper extends the resource-capability-based view in strategic management and discusses the capabilities for the firms to stay competitive in emerging economies. Faced with low levels of efficiency, technology, and skills, firms in emerging economies need to implement best management practices to overcome operational inefficiency while engage in innovation processes to address new opportunities. They have to develop the capabilities to enhance efficiency, the capabilities to undertake innovation, and the synthesis capabilities to combine the two to keep rivals at bay. The paper tests hypotheses against a data set of more than 20,000 firms from 36 emerging economies provided by the World Bank in 2012–2015 and finds strong evidence to support the arguments. The paper finds that the three sets of capabilities are positively related to productivity and, through it, financial performance.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a resource-based framework to explain the relationship between high-performance work system (HPWS) and organizational performance (OP) and the moderating role of performance measures.

Design/methodology/approach
The paper takes a meta-analysis approach, and tests hypotheses against data of 47,741 firms and establishments in 192 studies published by June 2016.

Findings
The paper finds that HPWS has a greater positive effect on operational than financial performance. Moreover, HPWS influences operational performance more strongly in developing than advanced countries and at the firm level than the establishment level, but such variations are not evident in the effect of HPWS on financial performance.

Practical implications
The paper suggests that managers should treat human resource management (HRM) practices as a system, and develop HPWS for operational gains which in turn lead to financial gains. Managers need to take different approaches to develop HPWS for high performance depending on the country of origin and the level of organization.

Originality/value
Based on studies of individual HRM practices, previous meta-analytical studies suggested that the HPWS-OP relationship is invariant across performance measures. Taking HRM practices as integral components of HPWS, this paper extends the resource-based theory to demonstrate that performance measures interact with country of origin and level of analysis to moderate the HPWS-OP relationship.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to relate participative decision-making (PDM) to organizational learning, and examine the impact of PDM on organizational performance

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