Workers’ grievances and resolution mechanisms in Chinese manufacturing firms: key characteristics and the influence of contextual factors

Organizational citizenship behavior for the environment decoded: sustainable leaders, green organizational climate and person-organization fit

Purpose

This study examines how sustainable leadership influences organizational citizenship behavior toward the environment, directly and through a green organizational climate. This study also investigates the moderating effect of person-organization fit on the relationship between green organizational climate and employees' organizational citizenship behavior for the environment.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 241 employees of manufacturing firms in China with one month's lag. Statistical analyses were conducted with the use of PLS-SEM.

Findings

This study confirmed that sustainable leadership significantly influenced organizational citizenship behavior for the environment, both directly and indirectly through a green organizational climate. It also revealed that the relationship between green organizational climate and employees' organizational citizenship behavior for the environment was contingent on the person-organization fit.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to analyze how sustainable leadership reinforces employees' organizational citizenship behavior for the environment by providing insight into the mediating role of green organizational climate and person-organization fit as a moderator. Moreover, through a combination of three theoretical perspectives (social learning theory, social exchange theory and the theory of person-organization fit), this study advances the academic knowledge on how organizational citizenship behavior for the environment develops, thus providing a more complex explanation of the relationship between the examined variables.

Double-Edged Sword Effect of High-Performance Work System on Employee Well-Being-Moderating Effect of Union Practice

Improving the well-being of the employees is the inevitable choice to improve corporate performance and competitive advantage and the social responsibility that enterprises must undertake. Based on the job demands-resources model, this study introduces perceived organizational support and work stress as the mediator and trade union practice as the moderator to explore the double-edged sword effect of a high-performance work system (HPWS) on the well-being of the employee. Taking 243 employees from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui as samples, we found that HPWS positively affects the well-being of the employee through perceived organizational support and negatively affects the well-being of the employee through work stress. Union practices can significantly reduce the positive effect of HPWS on work stress and further weaken the negative effect of HPWS on the well-being of the employee through work stress. The results of this study provide a new way to explain the impact of the HPWS on the well-being of the employees and find that union practice can weaken the negative effects of HPWS. This study provides a new thinking direction for improving the well-being of employees in enterprises.

Human resource management research and practice in Asia: Past, present and future

The continuing emergence of Asia as a critically important continent for the foreseeable future has renewed interest in understanding theory and practice in this region. This special issue was designed to shed light on human resource management (HRM) issues in this region, and to help guide future research in and on this region. In this introductory article, we first analyze the growth of HRM scholarship in Asia, by examining the research published over the last twenty-five years. We then describe the genesis of this special issue, and summarize the key themes emerging from the review articles in the issue. These include: psychological contract; work-life interface; corporate social responsibility; multinational corporations and their subsidiaries; the challenges of global talent management; convergence-divergence; state socialism to post-state socialism; and incorporating the context. We further offer suggestions for future research by proposing critical topics and emerging themes, including: employee voice; diversity and inclusion; employee well-being and resilience; preparing and responding to crises; and green human resource management. We conclude by offering theoretical perspectives and highlighting key recent developments which are likely to impact future practice, and should be addressed by scholars.

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This paper analyzes the growth of HRM scholarship in Asia, by examining the research published over the last 25 years.

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We provide a summary of the key themes emerging from the review articles in the special issue collection.

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We also offer several suggestions for future research that remain under-explored in the Asian context.

Chinese workers’ history: passive minds docile bodies

Purpose

This paper aims to describe an exploratory study that has sought to understand how an institutionalised docility rather than resistance has been created in the minds of Chinese workers by the Chinese State. The study proposes that this docility has been crucial in enabling China to become a world leading economic powerhouse.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws on Foucault’s concept of governmentality and uses the genealogical method to examine the historical events that have shaped the mentalities of today’s Chinese workers. Original interviews (n = 74) with everyday workers across industries and locations illustrate this.

Findings

It was found that the utilisation of centuries-long Confucian hierarchical rules by successive regimes has created a cumulative effect that has maintained workers docility and their willingness to submit themselves to poor working conditions that – ultimately – benefit the Chinese State and business, though this is at their expense. This finding is in juxtaposition to current research that claim that their working conditions are fostering a rising consciousness and resistance among Chinese workers.

Originality/value

This paper provides a novel explanation for why Chinese workers accept their poor working conditions and thus critiques current perspectives about Chinese worker resistance.