Flexibility oriented HRM practices and innovation: evidence from China and India

Flexible human resource management systems and employee innovation performance in China – based on the moderated mediation effect

Purpose

This paper aims to explore the impact of flexible human resource management system (FHRMS) on employee innovation performance in Chinese context. The boundary conditions of employability and organizational identity are also discussed.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on 322 questionnaire survey from employees in China. The questionnaires were collected at two time points. This study used the method of multi-level linear model analysis for empirical test.

Findings

This study has three conclusions. First, FHRMS have a significant positive impact on employee innovation performance, with employability playing a mediating role. Second, organizational identity plays a moderating role between employability and employee innovation performance. Third, organizational identity moderates the mediating effect of a human source management systems on employee innovation performance through employability.

Originality/value

The results are helpful to open the “black box” of the influence of FHRMS on employees’ individual innovation performance. This study provides a reference for enterprises to establish flexible human source management system to improve employee innovation performance.

Rethinking the strategic management of human resources: lessons learned from Covid-19 and the way forward in building resilience

Purpose

Numerous empirical studies and meta-analyses have offered ample evidence for the relationship between the strategic management of human resources and a variety of important organizational outcomes, such as individual- and firm-level performance. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, however, steered the discussion away from the traditional performance-related outcomes of the strategic human resource management and brought to the fore the importance of resilience. The purpose of this paper is to identify areas in which strategic human resource management can help organizations to become more resilient.

Design/methodology/approach

On the basis of a brief overview of the different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the management of human resources, this conceptual paper uses the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity framework as the backbone for the development of suggestions for the strategic management of employees to create and maintain organizational resilience.

Findings

A series of actionable suggestions regarding the way forward in building organizational resilience through the effective and ethical management of employees are presented and discussed. Specifically, the importance of using flexibility-oriented human resource management systems is highlighted. This “flexibility-orientation” involves all functions of human resource management, such as selection, training and compensation.

Originality/value

The proposed suggestions can benefit organizations by offering actionable recommendations regarding the management of human resources by taking stock of lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic.