Extending the frontier of research on (strategic) human resource management in China: a review of David Lepak and colleagues’ influence and future research direction

Do you really want to hurt me? The impact of contextual factors on the moderating role of dark leadership in the relationships between learning climate facilitation, employability and turnover intention in the Netherlands and China

Introduction

Both the Dutch and Chinese labor markets experience severe shortages of skilled personnel and high turnover rates, being distressing socio-economic factors. At the same time, large cross-cultural studies indicate that these national contexts are highly different from a socio-cultural perspective. When considering issues on employee development and retainment, the public debate opens for negative attributes as dark leadership, wondering if employees accept to be hurt. This study contributes to the employability research and, moreover, it contributes to the call for the ability to contextualize theories and to the convergence/divergence debate. We applied Western theories to investigate possible contextual differences in the relationships between learning climate facilitation and turnover intention, and to investigate whether this relationship is mediated by employability, and whether dark leadership is a possible moderator.

Methods

To test our hypotheses, we collected data from 368 Dutch and 319 Chinese respondents who participate in an executive master's program, which was analyzed using PLS-Structural Equation Modeling.

Results

Employees in the Netherlands and China were found to interpret our study variables differently. Separate analyses revealed that, in both contexts, learning climate facilitation was both directly and indirectly, via the balance dimension of employability, negatively related to turnover intention. In addition, in the Dutch sample, dark leadership appeared to weaken the relationship between learning climate facilitation and the corporate sense dimension of employability, but the latter did not seem to be a mediator in the relationship with turnover intention. In the Chinese sample, no moderation effects were found.

Discussion

Our results show that both learning climate facilitation and dark leadership are important factors in the development and retainment of personnel and that particularly focusing on 'balancing group and individual goals' is important to retain personnel, regardless of national context. The latter may indicate the need for convergence of HR practices. At the same time, however, the different interpretations of the study's variables may indicate divergence in the meaning of HR concepts. In the discussion section, we elaborate on the study's implications for HR-researchers and -practitioners in national and global business contexts.

The Drivers of Employees’ Active Innovative Behaviour in Chinese High-Tech Enterprises

High-performance work systems are being increasingly used in organisational management. However, such system development over time has resulted in increasingly complex impacts on employee innovation behaviour. How to stimulate innovation in the technological talent pool of individuals at high-tech enterprises has gradually become a research hotspot. Based on an effective sample of 351 technological individuals from high-tech enterprises in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces, this paper discusses the mechanism and boundary conditions of a high-performance work system affecting the active innovation behaviour of such individuals based on self-determination theory. The empirical results show the following: (1) Informational practices and controlled practices in a high-performance work system have mutually exclusive effects on active innovation behaviour, with significant positive and negative effects. (2) The need for autonomy and competence play mediating roles between informational practices and active innovation behaviour; the need for autonomy plays a masking effect between controlled practices and active innovation behaviour. (3) The need for relatedness negatively moderates the effects of a high-performance work system which is focused on the needs for autonomy and competence. The findings reveal the internal mechanism and boundary conditions of high-performance work system influencing active innovation behaviour, which provides a reference for high-tech enterprises to encourage technical talents to innovate, and have important practical significance for improving the core competitiveness of high-tech enterprises.

Barriers to Low-Dose CT Lung Cancer Screening among Middle-Aged Chinese

PURPOSE

The current study aims to explore the barriers for middle-aged Chinese to learn about and uptake low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) lung cancer screening.

METHODS

Data were collected via an online survey in December 2019. Final valid sample included 640 respondents, aged 40-60 years old, from 21 provinces of China. We performed multiple linear regressions to test the potential barriers to LDCT scan.

FINDINGS

Cost concerns, distrust in doctors, fears of disease, lack of knowledge, and optimistic bias are negatively associated with the intention to learn about and uptake LDCT scan.

IMPLICATIONS

Our study contributes to understanding the negative predictors of middle-aged Chinese to get LDCT lung cancer scans. Future campaign programs should help audiences to build comprehensive understandings about lung cancer and LDCT scan. To better promote LDCT scan in China, the government should fund more trial programs continuously and public efforts should be made to rebuild the patient-doctor trust.