The interplay effects of skill-enhancing human resources practices, customer orientation and tourism SMEs performance

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shpresim Domi ◽  
Fabjola Domi

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the interplay of skill-enhancing human resources practices, customer orientation (CO) and tourism small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) performance indicators. Design/methodology/approach Data for 194 valid cases are gathered through face-to-face techniques in Albanian tourism SMEs. Structural equation modeling is implemented to analyze data and test the hypothesis proposed. Findings Overall, both skill-enhancing human resources (HR) practices (i.e. recruitment/selection and training) are not associated with SMEs performance. Results suggest that using HR selection/recruitment practices are not associated to SME’s CO. Contrary, implementing skill-enhancing HR training practices is significant for SMEs strategy to focus and address customers’ wants and needs. Finally, it was found that the CO mediates the relationship between skill-enhancing HR training practices and performance, but this was not true on the skill-enhancing HR recruitment/selection practices-performance relationship. Originality/value This study makes contributions by further informing the debate about the direct and indirect link between skill-enhancing HR practices and performance. Additionally, it examines the precise role of the skill-enhancing HR practice on SMEs’ culture and or strategy to create value for customers.

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 236-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jurgita Lazauskaite-Zabielske ◽  
Ieva Urbanaviciute ◽  
Rita Rekasiute Balsiene

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of work engagement in the relationship between job and personal resources and performance results. Design/methodology/approach Two samples from public (n=250) and private sector (n=475) organizations were surveyed. The hypotheses were tested through AMOS using structural equation modeling. Findings The results of the study confirmed the assumptions of the Job Demands-Resources Model. Specifically, job resources and personal resources predicted performance results via work engagement in both samples. Moreover, in alignment with previous studies (e.g. Bakker et al., 2004), work engagement was moderately related to job performance. Originality/value The present study expands previous research by investigating how job and personal resources facilitate engagement and performance expressed in terms of annual performance appraisal results.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 296-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thi Hong Nguyen ◽  
Angelina Nhat-Hanh Le

Purpose The paper aims to explore the role of climate for creativity and innovation as the situational variable to lead to both expected and unexpected consequences (e.g. performance and unethical behavior), by discovering the relationships among task characteristics (e.g. difficulty, clarity and performance pressure), individual psychological aspects (e.g. mindfulness and self-justification) and work environmental conditions (e.g. peer behavior and climate for creativity and innovation). In this study, task characteristics are proposed to positively associate with unethical behavior via mindfulness. Moreover, climate for creativity and innovation is proposed to moderate the relationship between self-justification and unethical behavior. Finally, unethical behavior is predicted to positively influence on performance. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from the sample of salespeople, who are working for variety of companies in Vietnam. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and SmartPLS 3 are implemented to test the path model. Findings Emphasizing both bright and dark sides of promoting creativity and innovation, the study highlights the role of climate for creativity and innovation in strengthening the positive relationship between self-justification and unethical behavior. In turn, unethical behavior positively influences performance. Further, the findings indicate that mindfulness contributes in explaining unconscious unethical behavior. Originality/value Exploring the relationships among climate for creativity and innovation, unethical behavior and performance, this paper contributes for deeper understanding of variety aspects of innovation. Demands for an intelligent management in modern workplaces are suggested.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-297
Author(s):  
Francisco Trincado-Munoz ◽  
Leslier Valenzuela-Fernández ◽  
Melany Hebles

PurposeWhile companies have increasingly encouraged employees to adopt a customer orientation, less attention has been given to the impact that customer orientation has on employees' job outcomes and performance. Previous research has used job demands-resource theory (JD-R) and proposed several mechanisms through which customer orientation influences performance, yet the intervening variables in the process have shown inconsistent results. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the contextual role of organizational justice on the relationship between customer orientation and performance through work engagement. In this way, offering more understanding of the contingent effects that intervene in the customer orientation–performance relationship.Design/methodology/approachUsing a structural equation model (SEM) in a sample of 249 marketing, sales and management managers in Chilean companies, this paper tested different hypotheses concerning the role of work engagement, organizational justice and customer orientation in relation to perceived performance.FindingsThis study informs that organizational justice (procedural and distributive justice) moderates the relationship between customer orientation and performance through work engagement. Precisely, the findings reveal that at lower values of organizational justice, changes in customer orientation negatively influence work engagement and in turn performance.Originality/valueThe results contribute to strengthening customer orientation theory by integrating a contextual variable often omitted: organizational justice. By exploring the moderation effect of organizational justice on customer orientation, this paper reveals contingent effects of employees' perceived fairness on the organization in the relationship between customer orientation and performance through work engagement. The findings encourage managers to look after employees' perceived organizational justice when they implement customer-oriented approaches, in particular, of those employees who work in the frontline sales and service positions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 420-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arshad Mahmood ◽  
Muhammad Naseer Akhtar ◽  
Usman Talat ◽  
Chuanmin Shuai ◽  
James C. Hyatt

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of the influence mechanisms of specific HR practices variables – salary, job stability and job enrichment – upon employee commitment, through the mediating role of job satisfaction, in a developing country context. Crucially, these indicate employee commitment.Design/methodology/approachThe study analyzed three specific HR practices with a sample of 263 employees in the banking industry of Pakistan. A structural equation modeling methodology is adopted.FindingsThe findings indicate that remuneration strategies were positively related to job satisfaction and employee commitment. Regarding the intervening impact of job satisfaction, this study found that it mediates only for non-monetary strategies between job satisfaction and employee commitment.Research limitations/implicationsA key limitation is that this is a cross-sectional study, perhaps not generalizable over longitudinal approaches. Another limit is posed by the developing country context of this study, perhaps not applicable to some developed countries.Practical implicationsFrom an HR perspective, managing salary structure is an ongoing issue. The proposed model suggests the use of specific practices about satisfaction and commitment as intermediate steps to manage employee commitment.Originality/valueThe research offers a unique understanding from the developing country context of Pakistan. This provides a novel study conducted to examine employee commitment using the high-performance work practices model.


2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuan Trong Luu

Purpose The more HRM systems invest in employees’ work life and career growth beyond legal requirements, the happier employees are. The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of discretionary HR practices in promoting employee well-being as well as mechanisms underlying this effect. Design/methodology/approach The participants for the study came from retail shops of a large information technology company in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The data set collected from these participants was analyzed through multilevel structural equation modeling and bootstrapping methods. Findings The results of this study provided empirical support for the relationships between discretionary HR practices and the psychological, physical and social dimensions of employee well-being. Job crafting was found to serve as a mediator for these relationships. Abusive supervision played a role in attenuating the effects of discretionary HR practices on the dimensions of employee well-being as well as job crafting. Originality/value This inquiry extends the research stream on the HRM-employee well-being relationship by examining the predictive role of discretionary HR practices.


2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1167-1195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andres Ramirez-Portilla ◽  
Enrico Cagno ◽  
Terrence E. Brown

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence that adopting open innovation (OI) has on the innovativeness and performance of specialized small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper also examines the adoption of OI within a firm’s practices and models, and within the three dimensions of firm sustainability. Design/methodology/approach Survey data from 48 specialized SMEs manufacturing supercars were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. SmartPLS software was used to conduct a path analysis and test the proposed framework. Findings The findings suggest that high adoption of OI models tends to increase firm innovativeness. Similarly, the adoption of OI practices has a positive effect on innovativeness but to a lesser extent than OI models. The moderation results of innovativeness further show that OI models and practices can benefit the performance of SMEs. Specifically, two dimensions of performance – environmental and social performance – were found to be greatly influenced by OI. Research limitations/implications Due to parsimony in the investigated model, this study only focuses on OI adoption as practices and models without considering its drivers or other contingency factors. Practical implications This paper could help practitioners in SMEs better understand the benefits of adopting OI to be more innovative but also more sustainable. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on the role of OI practices and models regarding the dimensions of firm sustainability performance by being the first paper to investigate this relationship in the context of small and medium manufacturers of supercars.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 491-507
Author(s):  
Francesco Caputo ◽  
Elisa Giacosa ◽  
Alberto Mazzoleni ◽  
Mario Ossorio

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence regarding the contributions of ambidextrous workforces as a source of value for dynamic companies and organizations facing emerging market turbulence. Design/methodology/approach Using structural equation modeling, the paper analyses the data collected via a semi-structured questionnaire administered to a sample of 1,227 employees from 37 Italian small- to medium-sized enterprises to investigate the effect on companies’ economic performance of ambidextrous workforce-related elements such as study background, previous work experience, work flexibility and soft capabilities. Findings The research shows that multidisciplinary human resources’ study background, previous human resources’ work experience and human resources’ soft capabilities are positively linked to companies’ return on sales, providing indirect evidence about the role of ambidextrous workforces in supporting companies facing emerging market turbulence. Originality/value The research demonstrates the relevant role of human resources in supporting companies to better align themselves to the emerging social and economic variety.


2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (8) ◽  
pp. 1724-1735 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harindranath R.M. ◽  
Bharadhwaj Sivakumaran ◽  
Jayanth Jacob

Purpose The principal purpose of this study is to examine the moderating influence of selling experience on the following two relationships – adaptive selling and job satisfaction and customer orientation and job satisfaction – using unionized salespeople as respondents. It also tests for the mediating role of adaptive selling in the customer orientation–job satisfaction relationship. Design/methodology/approach This paper uses data from a survey conducted on 208 pharmaceutical unionized salespeople from 46 pharmaceutical firms in India. The model was tested using structural equation modeling. Moderation hypotheses were estimated using process macro and the Johnson–Neyman technique. Findings The data fitted the model well. This research found that customer orientation drove adaptive selling behavior and job satisfaction, and that adaptive selling influenced job satisfaction (all positively); it was found that adaptive selling partially mediated the relationship between customer orientation and job satisfaction. Results revealed that job experience negatively moderated the adaptive selling behavior–job satisfaction and customer orientation–job satisfaction relationships. Practical implications The results show that pharma firms may hire young recruits and, importantly, measure their customer orientation and adaptive selling levels. For the purposes of training to enhance customer orientation and adaptive selling, pharma firms may send only their less experienced salespersons. Originality/value To the authors’ knowledge, this study could be the first to examine the interaction of job experience and customer-directed selling behaviors such as adaptive selling and customer orientation on job satisfaction. Moreover, this is possibly the only study in this domain that uses unionized salespeople in an emerging market (India).


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 971-989 ◽  
Author(s):  
Swati Dhir ◽  
Archana Shukla

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of organizational image in engaging employees and improving their performance. The study has explored the role of employee’s perception about the organizational image, and its linkage with the investment of employee’s energies into their work roles resulting in employee engagement (EE) and hence performance. Design/methodology/approach Adopting a model that was built on the basis of research conducted in the form of surveys. By using cross-sectional data and following a quantitative research method, the study collected data from 701 managers in India holding various positions, in different industries. The study has used “Component-Based Structural Equation Modeling” by Smart PLS. Findings The key findings of the study help employees as well as employers to have a thorough, comprehensive understanding to improve EE and their performance by creating a positive and consistent organizational image. Research limitations/implications This study will be very useful for employers and policymakers to understand the value of organizational image in engaging the workforce effectively. Aligning with the organizational behaviors theoretical support, this study yields some important and useful suggestions for managers to engage and retain their workforce in the present dynamic work environment. Originality/value The paper tries to focus on one’s perceptions of the organization and its linkage between EE and performance. The positive perception of employees reflects that they identify themselves and feel connected with the overall vision of the organization.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amjad Iqbal ◽  
Fawad Latif ◽  
Frederic Marimon ◽  
Umar Farooq Sahibzada ◽  
Saddam Hussain

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the effects of knowledge management (KM) enablers on KM processes in research universities and testing the direct relation between KM processes and OP. This study also proposes to examine the mediating role of intellectual capital (IC) and innovation in the relationship between KM processes and performance of universities. Design/methodology/approach Using a sample of 217 academic and administrative personnel from research universities of Pakistan, the hypothesized relationships were tested through partial least squares structural equation modeling technique. Findings The results reveal that KM enablers have a significant impact on KM processes. The results also indicate that KM processes influence organizational performance (OP) directly and indirectly through innovation and IC. Practical implications Findings of this study reinforce the corporate experience of KM and suggest how administrators of research universities and higher educational institutions can promote innovation and IC, which in turn enhance OP. Originality/value Despite the augmented importance of KM in higher education institutions or research universities, there is a dearth of studies that investigate the interplay of KM, innovation, IC and OP. This is one of the earliest studies that not only empirically investigate the interaction of KM enablers, KM processes and performance of research universities but also shed insights into the existing literature by simultaneously investigating mediating role of IC and innovation in the underlying relationship.


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