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Entrepreneurs are critical human resources that have a significant impact on the performance of entrepreneurial firms. Yet, the nature of many entrepreneurial resources means that they are in demand by both their work (firms) and their families. Little is known about the impact that such dual demands might have on an entrepreneur's ability to manage their own resources for their firm's performance. Drawing upon conservation of resources (COR) theory and family-work literature, this paper develops a model to examine how family-to-work conflict (FWC) and family-to-work enrichment (FWE) shape the performance of entrepreneurial firms, directly and indirectly, through the mediation of entrepreneurial commitments. The model also explores the potential role of entrepreneurs' key personal resources as a unique type of human resource that utilizes entrepreneurs' internal dispositions to moderate the relationship between FWC/FWE and entrepreneurial commitments (and, hence, business performance). Empirical results from a study of 261 entrepreneurial firms in China provide support for our conceptual model. The paper has important implications for both HRM and entrepreneurship research and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between motivational cultural intelligence and cultural adjustment of expatriate talent through the lens of cultural distance. The rapid development of MNCs from emerging markets and the corresponding increase in the need for expatriates makes it imperative that scholars examine this subject from numerous critical angles. Drawing on data from 242 Chinese expatriates based in 25 different countries/regions, we employ multilevel analyses to test the research hypotheses related to expatriate talent management. The results of this exploratory study confirm that motivational cultural intelligence has a positive and significant effect on cultural adjustment: work adjustment, general adjustment and interaction adjustment respectively, and cultural distance has a negatively moderating role between motivational cultural intelligence and work adjustment of expatriate talent. This paper helps to expand our understanding of the field of global talent management and the importance of motivational cultural intelligence and cultural distance on expatriate talent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to managerial consultation, employees are likely to be pressured yes-persons. In this paper, we propose the concept of voice pressure and explore its antecedent of managerial consultation and differential voice consequences (i.e. challenging vs. supportive voice). Using a time-lagged survey of 346 employees and their direct leaders in mainland China, we found that managerial consultation could lead to employee voice pressure. We also found that after controlling for the social exchange mechanism (i.e. leader-member exchange) and enabling mechanism (i.e. voice efficacy), the 'managerial consultation-voice pressure-challenging voice' relationship is negative, while the 'managerial consultation-voice pressure-supportive voice' relationship is positive. Furthermore, these indirect relationships are pronounced when employee power distance orientation is higher (vs. lower). We provide a new perspective for the interpretation of managerial consultation; it puts voice pressure on employees and makes them more likely to be managers' yes-persons. Therefore, managers who expect constructive challenging ideas should conduct consultation selectively and discreetly according to employees' attitudes towards power inequalities (i.e. power distance orientation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The antecedents and outcomes of teacher burnout have received increasing research attention in China over the last three decades, as burnout becomes a serious issue for a large workgroup of 1.6 million teachers in Chinese education system. However, there has been no comprehensive review to synthesize the literature in this area, limiting our understanding on how burnout is experienced in this specific culture context. In this paper, using job demands-resources (JD-R) model as a theoretical framework, we conduct an integrative literature review on teacher burnout in China, which includes 67 studies published from 1995 to the present. We review on the job demands, job resources, personal resources as the antecedents of burnout, and also on the outcomes of burnout. Our review indicates that teachers in China experience unique job demands because of specific cultural context. Moreover, we summarize how proactive and avoidant coping contribute differently to the mechanism of burnout development among Chinese teachers. Third, drawing from the recent extension of the JD-R model, we build a conceptualized framework to suggest future avenues for teacher burnout research in China, including examining job demands, job resources, and personal resources under specific cultural context, further investigating the role of coping strategies in the JD-R model, and conducting more research on intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on labour disputes in China has primarily adopted a political economy perspective to focus on state-owned enterprises inland and foreign-invested plants in economically developed zones. Research has neglected community-based protests in small private firms in urbanising areas and their implications for human resource management and employment relations. This paper addresses this gap through an in-depth case study of a community-based, village cadres and clan leaders-led protest (including strike actions) against a privately-owned metal work factory located in a local community. Deploying the notion of community politics and 'acquaintance society', the study enriches our knowledge of industrial actions in China by extending the analytical scope of the context to understand the motive and choice of actions of individuals in participating in the disputes, and modes of dispute resolution. The study reveals the important role of social institutions and cultural norms, as well as the significance of discrete interventions of bureaucrats in the outcome of the dispute. We find that the settlement of community-based (labour) disputes may not officially involve key formal institutional actors, such as the trade union and legal/government authority. Rather, these institutional actors may be involved in an unofficial capacity, though drawing on power derived from their bureaucratic position in the intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines cross-national differences in workplace flexibility between the U.S. and China. Data from 2,688 employees of three multinational corporations with worksites located in both the U.S. and China demonstrated that Chinese viewed workplace flexibility as less important, perceived fewer benefits and more costs associated with its use, and reported less access to and use of flexibility than Americans. Access to flexibility was linked to higher job satisfaction for Americans, but not for Chinese. Both access to and use of flexibility were linked to higher satisfaction with work-family balance for Americans, but not for Chinese, with the exception of access to flexplace that was linked to higher satisfaction with work-family balance for both. We conclude that workplace flexibility policies may produce different results in countries with different levels of industrialization (developed vs. emerging) and cultural orientation (individualism-collectivism) and suggest that such policies should be customized to improve their congruence with national contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the influence of direct and representative employee voice as well as their interactive effect on job satisfaction in China. Using the unique cross-sectional survey data from 350 firms over 3,000 workers across different industries and regions in China, the key findings of this paper suggest that the direct employee voice has a positive impact on employees' job satisfaction while the relationship between representative voice and job satisfaction is insignificant. In addition, the interaction effect between direct and representative voice on job satisfaction is negative implying the inhibiting effect between these two forms of employee voice which in turn lowers job satisfaction. This study provides some practical implications supporting the importance of employee voice, particularly the direct voice. In particular, management should support the channels allowing employees to meaningfully involve and exercise their voice as effective strategies for contributing to enhance organizational performance through a more satisfied workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial upgrading in China is rapidly increasing the competence requirements for employees on the shop floor. The institutional environment in China, however, does not seem very supportive: the quality of vocational education is often low and Chinese labor law provides strong incentives for companies to use temporary labor. This paper examines the competence development practices for blue-collar workers in automobile companies in China. Against expectations, automobile companies in China do not pursue ‘low road’ strategies but have designed intensive internal training programs and long-term career paths for blue-collar workers. Different theoretical explanations for the competence development approaches are discussed: human capital theory, high-commitment work systems theory, production systems theories, industrial relations and institutionalist theories. The paper is based on qualitative case studies of German, Japanese and domestic automobile manufacturers in China. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Chinese organizational culture is usually described as being influenced by Confucian social norms and unique to the country. The paper argues in contrast to this view that there are important cultural similarities between values and norms in organizations in China and other developing countries. It is suggested that China, like other developing countries, is in a process of industrialization but retains preindustrial social norms which shape social relations and organizational structures. The paper shows first that the morals of social distance and reciprocity which anthropologists have found to be constitutive of a large number of preindustrial communities also govern relationships within and between organizations in present-day China. The paper then turns to organizations in Africa and Latin America and it is shown that the same social morals structure behaviours in these two developing regions, suggesting that the cultural characteristics of Chinese organizations are not simply unique to this country but a set of preindustrial norms that industrializing countries have in common as a legacy of the past. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines continuity and change in employment relations in two key industries – auto assembly and retail banking – across five countries: the USA, Australia, Germany, South Korea and China. The subsequent papers that constitute this symposium are discussed drawing on the varieties of capitalism (VoC) approach. Particular emphasis is laid on the interplay between continuity and change in employment relations in different types of capitalism, the conceptualization of Asian VoC and the industry-specific effects of globalization on employment relations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is considerable scholarly and practitioner debate about the extent to which North American-styled human resource management (HRM) practices are transferable across international boundaries. The current trend is for scholars to use largely managerialist theoretical frameworks to explain the transference of putative 'best practices' from one context to another, or use culturalist/institutionalist explanations as to why practices cannot be transferred. While useful, these explanations are largely apolitical and uncritical, ignoring the theoretical and conceptual assumptions and origins of the respective practices. Drawing on a case-study approach to examine the adoption of and resistance towards North American HRM practices in a Chinese computer manufacturing firm, this paper suggests that whereas some HRM practices were accepted, others were resisted, largely because of their impact on end-users' working lives. The paper investigates the case through the lenses of the system, society and dominance effects framework and shows the continuing relevance of the concept of control in interpreting how ideas about HRM are negotiated into practice, rather simply transferred or rejected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper uses research into industrial dormitories in Southern China to examine the role performed by employer-controlled accommodation in the management of human resources. The current rapid industrialization in China has been fuelled by the over 100 million internal migrants who move around the country on an annual basis and are housed in industrial dormitories within or close to production facilities. The paper argues that having labour supply on tap facilitates management extending the working day, responding rapidly to fluctuations in product demand and functions as a form of coercive control, whereby employers have power not only over employment but also the housing needs of employees. The paper examines the history and contemporary use of employer-controlled accommodation, and argues that in both scale and systematic application, the current Chinese case is unique in the history of human resource management. Drawing on a case study of a large factory and dormitory, China Wonder Electronics, based in the Southern city of Shenzhen, the paper outlines the ways in which by working and living together, workers are able to develop collective resources that can be mobilized against managerial prerogatives, and challenge what is structurally a weak employment relationship for labour faced with the combined forces of big business and the state. The paper concludes by discussing the strengths and limitations for workers in what we are calling a dormitory labour regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Substantial effort has been devoted to exploring the transfer of human resource management practices within multinational companies. Particular attention has been paid to countries with 'strong' HRM traditions, to transfers between economically developed countries and to firms in the manufacturing sector. This paper addresses the transfer of a British-owned retail firm's HRM practices from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China. From a variety of perspectives the expectation might be that the transfer of parent-country practices in this instance would be limited; HRM has not been considered a particular strength of UK firms; retail firms operate in a multi-domestic context directly serving local customers rather than as part of an integrated international production network; and there is a high cultural distance between the UK and China. When this multinational retailer entered the China market the express intention was to replicate as nearly as possible the management style of its UK stores. This paper examines the extent to which the firm's parent-country HRM practices, which the company increasingly considers as a key source of competitive advantage, have in fact been transferred to the Chinese stores. The paper seeks to provide fresh insights on the phenomenon of transfer by adopting a qualitative case study approach. This study also focuses on shopfloor employees' perspectives rather than purely the view of managerial staff, as has tended to be the case. Several aspects of HRM transfer are explored briefly: communication with the workforce, work pattern, age composition of the workforce, reward system, training, and employee representation. Attention then focuses on the transfer of the firm's relatively flat organizational structure to a country which is perceived to place a high value on hierarchy, and where hierarchies tend to be quite rigid and clearly demarcated. This provides useful insights into the nature of the transfer process. It is ... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is very limited knowledge about women's management careers in China. This paper examines the opportunities for and barriers to women's careers in China, using governmental organizations as an example in which the State is not only the advocate of equal opportunity policies but also, in practice, the gatekeeper. One of the greatest disparities between male and female occupational patterns in China is in the sphere of government employment where only one in five employees is female. The aim of this paper is to understand the Chinese characteristics of gender inequality in management careers. In looking at the factors that influence women's upward mobility, the intention is to identify the barriers to the appointment of women to top jobs. Some barriers will be unique to governmental organizations and so will require special attention if they are to be eradicated. However, women also face more general barriers to success which transcend differences of occupational sector or society. It is hoped that this paper will lead to a greater understanding of how career barriers for women in China may resemble and differ from those faced by their counterparts in the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the international management control (IMC) system that Japanese multinational companies (MNCs) employ to co-ordinate the activities of their subsidiaries in China. It focuses on the role of Japanese expatriates in this IMC system and assesses their performance. In the process, it offers a comprehensive evaluation of the organizational fit of the Japanese IMC model within the current Chinese business environment. Taking Japanese firms as the subject, the analysis identifies areas of incongruity and explains the underlying reasons for problems with expatriate-focused IMC models. In doing so, this paper argues that the Japanese expatriate-based control system in China (as in many other parts of the world) continues to be characterized by an insider-outsider mentality that prevents a real internationalization of overseas operations in the 'transnational' sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While there is now considerable scholarship concerning Japanese management practices in their overseas production operations in Europe and North America, little is known about Japanese investment in other parts of the world, especially in Asia. This paper draws on on-going research into the nature and operations of Japanese manufacturing investments in China. The paper focuses on interviews primarily with Chinese managers in twenty plants in three locations within China, to examine their personnel polices and practices, and draw from this their overall industrial relations strategies. The main findings were, first, that, despite claims of cultural similarity between China and Japan, personnel management practices were generally not transferred from Japan to the plants in China. Second, practices that may appear as Japanese inspired were often informed by local practices. Third, there was diversity in the forms of practices used, indicating neither sophistication nor a singular recipe of management methods. Thus, the paper seeks to challenge proponents of Japanization who claim, essentially, that Japanese management techniques are predicated on the construction of particular forms of social relations around work that allow sophisticated, and integrated, production-management systems to function. Instead, depending on a complex interrelation between location industry and the history of each plant, managers sought to use various local and 'universal' (generic to capitalism) strategies and practices to control and utilize labour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The challenge for the future is likely to be the extent to which Chinese operations can utilize modern management techniques to improve product and service quality. This paper explores some of the problems that were affecting the management of quality within two foreign-invested enterprises (FIEs) based in the Shenzhen region of China. The paper argues that the provision of new factories and machinery was not sufficient in itself to ensure the maintenance of quality standards. Quality management in the West has become synonymous with increased employee involvement and developing customer-orientated cultures (Rees, 1998). The success or otherwise of quality management initiatives therefore depends upon the co-operation and enthusiasm of employees (Wilkinson et al., 1998; Oliver and Wilkinson, 1992). Quality management within the case companies was hampered by the prevailing work ethic and was hindered by inadequate human resource and management systems. The study highlighted poor standards of training, dissatisfaction over levels of remuneration, and poor communication within the case companies. The paper argues that the problems experienced by the companies were inextricably linked to aspects of China's historical development. This history has helped to engender employee attitudes and behaviours that are poorly understood. Models of quality management are needed which are sensitive to the Chinese operating context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building upon the ambidexterity perspective, this study conceptualizes boundary-spanning activities as both transactional and learning to illuminate their different effects on IT employees' job satisfaction. Specifically, we offer an overarching theoretical framework rooted in ambidexterity by connecting the role theory and knowledge acquisition perspective to reconcile the inconsistency of extant findings. Role overload has a mediating effect on the relationship between boundary-spanning activities (both transactional and learning) and job satisfaction, whereas knowledge acquisition mediates the relationship between learning boundary-spanning activities and job satisfaction. Furthermore, high achievement motivation and learning goal orientation moderate the positive effect of learning boundary-spanning activities on job satisfaction. The quantitative analysis of IT employees in Chinese state-owned enterprises largely supports our hypotheses. We conclude this paper by discussing theoretical and managerial implications for ambidexterity, boundary spanning, and job satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the psychological responses to lay-off in contemporary China during its economic reform period. The paper adopts both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. A total of 287 laid-off workers from state-owned enterprises were surveyed and 26 of them were interviewed in China. The survey data were analysed using statistical methods to detect relationships between variables, and the interview data were processed by means of constructing categories of description and illustrated through the voices of the laid-off workers. This research overturns the conventional wisdom of the three-stage theory, ‘shock, distress and fatalism’, developed by Western scholars. It demonstrates that the psychological responses of the laid-off workers are highly variable, and culturally and institutionally specific. The implications are both profound and able to underpin a far more constructive and fruitful programme for retraining unemployed workers in China and other developing countries and integrating them into the workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This research investigates the relationship between high-performance work systems (HPWS) and organizational performance, and the mediating effect of employee outcomes. The paper is based on a sample of 168 firms of six ownership types and in various business sectors operating in China. The results of data analysis support the hypotheses. Organizational performance is positively predicted by HPWS and employee outcomes, and employee outcomes positively mediate the relationship between HPWS and organizational performance. This paper supports the theory that HPWS positively impacts organizational performance and explains the mechanisms through which HPWS enhances organizational performance. It also responds to the long-standing call for stressing the importance of employee-related factors in the HRM–performance linkage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Factors influencing the adoption of human resource management (HRM) policies and practices are nested within the multilevel contexts of firms and industries. Institutional theory focuses on environmental pressure and suggests that an organization’s choice of an HR system is partly attributable to mimetic isomorphism. This paper contributes to the strategic HRM literature by estimating the relative effects of industry-level isomorphism and firm-level contingencies on employers’ choice of labor contracts. Drawing on different theoretical perspectives, this study examines multilevel environmental and organizational factors as determinants of HR systems and tests their impacts on the use of short-term labor contracts and weighted average labor contract duration, using a survey of 313 manufacturing plants in China. Utilizing a hierarchical linear model, our analysis shows that while most of the variance in HR systems occurred at the firm level, approximately 7% of the total variance in the four HR programs we studied are explained by industry-level factors. Findings suggest that international competitive pressure, capital intensity, firm size, unionization and ownership type have significant effects on use of labor contracts in a manufacturing context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on institutionalism and path dependency theory, this paper provides a conceptual framework to identify and explain the nature and transformation of Chinese human resource management (HRM). The framework is applied to case studies of three enterprises that are either state-owned or state-controlled. The paper groups HRM in contemporary China into three categories: Paternalistic; Transactional; and Differentiated with the last one involving a mix of paternalistic and transactional HRM policies and practices. The paper argues that, as China's economy has evolved from paternalistic socialism to market socialism in recent decades, Chinese HRM has responded, moving along the continuum from paternalistic to transactional HRM. The case studies reveal the impact on HRM practice of both the legacy of paternalistic socialism and three decades of marketization. The case study evidence clearly indicates that paternalistic HRM, common in state-owned enterprises in the pre-reform era, has evolved towards either transactional or diffe\rentiated HRM. Among the changes in HRM practice is a decline in the welfare benefits and employment security of workers, the former ‘masters of society’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While existing leadership research has tended to focus on the importance of transformational leadership in normal times, minimal attention has been paid to date to transformational leadership in crisis situations. Leadership effectiveness has been considered the most pivotal mechanism for various organizations, both during normal times and in times of crisis. In this paper, we attempt to unpack the black box underlying the relationship between transformational leadership and leadership effectiveness. From a perspective of sensemaking theory, we suggest it is just the value congruence between leaders and group members that plays as a mediating mechanism. Furthermore, combined with the features in crisis situation, we suggest that leaders' emotional control and the quality of leader–member exchange are two important factors that play the moderating role in the relationship between transformational leadership and value congruence between leaders and members. The current paper examines the effect of transformational leadership on leadership effectiveness in the context of the 5.12 earthquake that struck China on 12 May 2008. Through the collection of data from 146 groups with 146 leaders and 526 members from hospitals in the disaster area, the results confirm our arguments. Implications and suggestions for future work are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of high-performance work system (HPWS) techniques on workers' job attitudes and work behaviors in a Chinese context. The paper further tests the model using pooled samples from state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private enterprises (PEs). Although Chinese companies face considerable challenges gaining a competitive edge other than low labor cost, state enterprises are in especially dire straits. Examination of the dynamics of how HPWS can help these Chinese firms become more competitive is a rather timely and important inquiry. We collected data from over 630 employees in four organizations representing two different industries in China. In general, the results indicated that the HPWSs enhanced their organizational commitment, and reduced work withdrawal behaviors and turnover intentions. Most interestingly, we find that the pooled sample from SOEs and PEs demonstrated different paths for these relationships, which points to very important theoretical and practical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to better understand the role of cultural values as a human resource contributor to a firm's strategic development. Comparative case studies of two Spanish subsidiaries in China were made using on-site, in-depth qualitative research in both Spain and China. We then examine how this difference in management affects the firm's overall strategic development and, hence, its performance. The results of the study suggest that cultural values, as a human resource contributor, do indeed affect a firm's overall strategic development and, hence, the firm's resulting success or failure. Throughout the paper, the management by values (MBV) framework is used as a lens to further examine and better understand this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of retention of professional employees has become a prime challenge for foreign-invested companies in China. The present paper aims to examine the predictors of intention to stay of local Chinese white-collar employees in foreign-invested companies with a multi-dimensional approach. Through the examination and comparison of models incorporating previous experiences, initial expectations and current satisfactions, the results of this study indicate that while current intrinsic and contextual satisfaction might contribute to improving the intended stay period, current extrinsic satisfaction might not be as critical as expected. Furthermore, for individuals with voluntary turnover experiences, cumulative extrinsic and contextual satisfaction gaps (gaps between satisfaction with previous and present workplaces) might explain a higher degree of intention to stay. Aligned with the result that the number of overall voluntary turnover times is negatively related with the intended stay period, this study implies that future studies should further explore the possible influences of previous experiences on how an individual would like to maintain their employment relationship with their present company. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study reviews the empirical studies on human resource management (HRM) practices in mainland China published in 26 leading international journals across the span of 30 years in the period 1978-2007. We intend to achieve three aims in this review: (1) to take an inventory of what have been done so far in the field of HRM studies in China; (2) to critically evaluate the development of Chinese HRM practices in the past 30 years; and (3) to identify research gaps for what needs to be done in the future. Along with this critical review, we also examine which research methods have been used in the empirical inquiries; where the research has been published; and who has made the most contribution in the field of Chinese HRM studies. We conclude that what is known is comparative rather than definitive, with HRM in China treated as a subset of international HRM, rather than as a mainstream issue. With a quarter of the world's population affected by an understanding of what constitutes better HRM in China, we call for a more inclusive, collaborative approach to further theorising and substantiating HRM studies by researchers inside and outside China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present an analysis of recruitment advertisements that suggests that Chinese employers frequently discriminate on gender grounds, both directly and indirectly. We illustrate how employers continue to use entrenched stereotypes and perpetuate highly segregated expectations of men and women's roles at work, predominantly to the detriment of women and hindering their progress in the labour market. The paper concludes that while employers' recruitment practices are not the only cause of women's continued labour-market disadvantage - and are in themselves a function of the wider of economic, socio-cultural and ideological factors that underlie it (Kitching 2001; Patrickson 2001; Leung 2003; Cooke 2005) - a change to employer behaviour in this area is a necessary and potentially achievable step forward towards greater equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The continued influx of foreign investment into China and the growing desire by indigenous Chinese companies to invest abroad have created an unprecedented demand for people who possess competencies to compete successfully in a global economy. Without this pool of human talent, China's economic growth will slow and its outward foreign direct investment aspirations will be thwarted. This paper presents two inter-related studies that can shed light on China's ability to meet this human resource challenge in the years ahead. The first study pertains to the intention of a sample of Chinese university students in Canada to return to work in China upon graduation. Most Chinese students were receptive to the idea of returning to China. The second study examines the willingness of non-Chinese university students to work for Chinese firms overseas or in China. In general, non-Chinese students were more willing to work in the North American operations of Chinese companies and less so in relocating to China. These two surveys are supplemented by in-depth interviews with Chinese who have returned to work in China and those who chose to remain overseas. The implications of these findings, both theoretical and practical, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the development requirements of an international firm in terms of the application of firm-specific assets and human resource management needed for the implementation of vertical integration decisions. The empirical investigation reported in this paper is based upon a sample of international joint venture (IJV) hotel firms in China. The evidence highlights how the vertical integration of corporate management acts as a catalyst for the emergence of a structural approach to strategic orientation, contractual control and formalization in hotel firms. The findings suggest that international HRM literature can be extended to take better account of the inner connection of a firm's structural properties in the vertical integration of its corporate management. Results from 136 IJV hotels offer valuable insights into both how the process of the vertical integration of corporate management positively influences the establishment of strategic orientation to achieve long-term development and how contractual control guides the development priorities of IJV hotel firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine the effects of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) on China's human resources, its labour-market and its level of employment and unemployment, looking specifically at what was one of its economically most vulnerable points, the hotel industry. The paper hypothesizes that the greatest impact would be on human resources in the service-industries and on particular sub-sectors, such as employment in hotels, located in three main cities in the PRC, in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai, catering to both overseas as well as domestic tourism. It tentatively concludes that the almost dramatic demand and supply "shocks" may have directly affected both the demand for and the supply of labour in the sub-sector, with discernible employment consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of the global labour market (GLM) provides a novel platform for young professional workers to design and develop their careers. This is particularly true for those from China, the former Soviet Union and other Eastern European countries, where economic liberation has made it easier for professionals to move both internally and internationally. Taking into account national variations in economic transition and political constraints, several questions are raised. How does the GLM, for example, influence its choice of employers and career development? What are the similarities and differences between Chinese and Eastern European seafarers? What factors contribute to these differences? Those questions are addressed here, through a study of the case of seafarers for whom a global labour market has been established since the 1980s. By collecting crew information worldwide, a global seafarer database has been built in the Seafarers' International Research Centre (SIRC) at Cardiff University. Accordingly, this paper develops a methodological framework for analysing and comparing seafarers' careers, and revealing the features of career development amongst four major seafarer supplier countries: China, Russia, the Ukraine and Poland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction attempts to provide an overview of the Special Issue of the IJHRM on 'Human Resource Management in China Revisited'. It deals first with the economic background of the recent changes in the PRC from 1978 to the present day, exploring the change from a command economy to a more market-led one, as well as the demise of 'iron rice bowl' policy dominated by a model to Soviet-inspired personnel management in favour of one gradually being characterized by possibly Japanese-/Western-influenced human resource management (HRM), albeit with 'Chinese characteristics'. It then introduces the main debates in the field before summing up, at some length, the empirical contributions based on 'state of the art' field research contained in the papers submitted. Last, it deals with the comparative setting of the contributions on China vis-à-vis the national HRM systems of Japan and South Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the West, there is growing awareness that connections can be pivotal to a firm's success in gaining competitive advantage in the global arena. This paper compares Western networking with guanxi (connections) prevalent in Confucian societies. Guanxi are built between and among people. Hence the effective deployment of human resources is critical to the success of building such relationships. Data from forty West European multinationals with operations in China were collected. Where relevant, these were compared with the findings of Hong Kong firms in China. Specifically, the paper examined (1) how large European multinationals perceive the characteristics of guanxi; (2) the importance of guanxi for market entry and long-term success in China; and (3) how guanxi is built and maintained by European companies in China. While the European companies have been able to establish a presence in China, their moderate level of satisfaction with performance there may be attributable to their inability to build very strong and appropriate guanxi with the relevant authorities. This may stem from their use of expatriates to staff senior management positions and insistence upon sole or majority-equity ownership to allow for maximum control. The implications for international human resource management are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The business case for the rapid localization of management has often been argued. This paper takes a critical look at the assumptions underlying such arguments. This exploration utilizes data gathered from a variety of Japanese, Korean, Hong Kong, and European ventures in China. Evidence from these case studies is incorporated within a broader exploration of Chinese cultural values and attitudes derived from ethnographic research and approaches to the strategic management of multinational enterprises. It is suggested that localization is likely to proceed at a much slower pace than its main advocates may wish or anticipate, and that there are practical, cultural, and strategic factors which may, and perhaps should, inhibit rapid localization. Such factors range from the lack of suitably qualified local managers, to control and surveillance functions and expatriates' roles as trainers, co-ordinators, and relatively neutral 'outsiders'. It is proposed that the development of a core of culturally literate expatriates can become a valuable resource for MNEs and that their selection, support, and compensation packages should be considered as an investment in firms' long-term strategic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employees in Hong Kong, like those in many other industrialized societies, face the competing demands of work and family. Long working hours and the associated problem of work–family conflict is a serious problem for the workforce. Although a number of family-friendly policies, such as the five-day working week, paternal leave and so on, have been introduced, they are not necessarily used to their fullest extent. This paper examines the utilization of family-friendly incentives using a telephone survey of 661 employees in Hong Kong with access to such measures. Its major strength is the use of a well-established model of health care utilization, the Andersen model, to conceptualize the factors associated with the uptake of family-friendly policies. The results indicate that the Andersen model works very well in this context, and further demonstrate that access to family-friendly policies in Hong Kong is not equitable. The study makes a number of significant contributions to the literature on work–life balance and the uptake of supportive measures, and shows that enabling (such as perceived effectiveness) rather than need factors explain most of the variance in such use. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper highlights the interaction between intended human resource (HR) practices as perceived by supervisors and status similarity between supervisors and employees as a key source of variation in employee work engagement among 298 employees reporting to 54 supervisors at a luxury Chinese hotel. Using a multi-level, process-oriented approach to examine the relationship between intended HR practices by supervisors and engagement as perceived by employees, we show (1) that the interaction of supervisor perceptions of HR practices and supervisor–subordinate hukou (place of origin) status similarity is positively related to employee reports of Leader–member exchange (LMX), HR practices and work engagement; (2) that the interaction of supervisor perceptions of HR practices and hukou status similarity influences employee perceptions of HR practices through LMX; and (3) that the interaction of supervisor perceptions of HR practices and hukou status similarity influences work engagement through employee perceptions of LMX and HR practices. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The country-of-origin effect (COE) on employment practices in multinational enterprises (MNEs) has become an important area of international human resource management research. However, research on the mechanisms of the COE, a fundamental and critical aspect of the country-of-origin phenomenon, is scant. This study seeks to empirically explore the mechanisms through which country-of-origin influences Chinese MNEs’ approach to host-country employer associations. Analysis of qualitative data from 13 Chinese MNEs revealed that country of origin affected the approach of Chinese MNEs to host-country employer associations in the form of transfer of managerial norms. It also revealed that it was the mindset of those home-country nationals who were key decision-makers at subsidiaries that enabled the COE in Chinese MNEs. This paper highlights the importance for future studies of international strategic human resources management to pay attention to micro-foundations of cross-border practice transfer and to incorporate analyses of managerial cognition in the investigation of MNEs’ management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

There is a growing consensus that humor could be one of the most important competencies of a leader. This impression seems to be especially so under the clan controls where relationship-building between a leader and employees become crucial in managing human resources (HR). However, we caution against making this a global assumption by exploring the association between humor and leadership in different cultural contexts, in particular comparing China with North America. We argue that there is weaker association between use of humor and perceived leadership in China than North America. While the main message is not about denying the effectiveness of humor per se, this conceptual paper is wary about the blind adaptation or convergence of leader behaviors (e.g. humor) and HR management oriented toward American practices. At the same time, we highlight the need to consider the informal context of an organization in explaining possible paradoxical attitudes toward humor in China. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper outlines the labour-market shifts and adjustments which Hong Kong experienced on the eve of its reversion to China in July 1997. It argues that these adjustments, varying from acute problems of labour shortage in the late 1980s to new perils of unemployment menacing the local work-force in the mid-1990s, can be traced to the core imperative of the ‘China’ factor. This paper notes, in addition, that the fluidity of the pre-1997 labour market was compounded by the trendy moves of corporate businesses to downsize and rationalize their human resource provisions so as to strengthen their competitiveness, as well as popular actions adopted by a politically emasculated administration to democratize the government and the legislature. As a result, hastily introduced electoral reforms have politicized the fragmented labour movement in Hong Kong, because of rival attempts by the pluralist and competitive trade union centres to appeal to the support of the grassroots voters among the labouring mass. The pre-1997 syndrome of polarized political tussle between organized labour and management poses a formidable and impelling agenda for the new Government. This may include, inter alia, the tasks of rebuilding a more proficient human infrastructure to support the restructuring economy and alleviating labour-capital tension with an enhanced tripartite Labour Advisory Board - backed, possibly, by organized labour's prudent search for a more accommodative approach characteristic of Asian trade unionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese business managers, in general, have been portrayed as valuing harmony and peace and having a tendency to avoid confrontation for fear of disturbing relationships involving mutual dependence. This is held to be a reflection of traditional Confucian cultural values. This paper is an exploratory study which attempts to establish the relationship between the traditional, Confucian cultural values and the modes of conflict resolution preferred by Chinese business managers. The Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument was employed in this study to describe the preferred conflict resolution modes of Chinese business managers. The results show that compromising tend to be the most preferred conflict resolution mode of Chinese business managers because of the latter's predominantly humanistic, Confucian self-concept. However, other modes, that is, collaborating, competing, avoiding and accommodating, are also being employed by Chinese business managers as a strategic and political variation of that Confucian self-concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on insights from social exchange and social identity theories, this paper examines the influence of three dimensions of socially responsible human resource management (SR-HRM), namely legal compliance HRM, employee-oriented HRM and general CSR facilitation HRM, on employees' organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). Structural equation modelling of dyadic data collected from Chinese employees and their direct supervisors in three phases revealed that whilst organizational identification fully mediated the relationship between employee-oriented HRM and employee OCB, general CSR facilitation HRM had a direct effect on employee OCB. In contrast, legal compliance HRM neither influenced employee OCB directly, nor indirectly through organizational identification. The findings highlight the important but complex role played by SR-HRM in eliciting positive employee work outcomes, and contribute to our knowledge of the mechanisms underlying this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While transforming the investment, trading and infrastructural landscape in Africa, Chinese firms are also generating much-publicised controversy about their real motives. Many of the large Chinese firms operating in Africa focus mostly but not exclusively on engineering, infrastructural projects and mining. This Africa–China engagement has only recently begun to receive critical attention in the area of management and organisation studies. With reference to Kenya, we found that this phenomenon is characterised by four key themes: the unique yet diverse motivations of investors, the challenge of reconciling cross-cultural differences, the impact of low-cost strategies and the boundary-spanning role of managers. This paper also considers the extent to which post-colonial theory might serve as an analytical lens for examining the perceptions and attitudes of Chinese managers as well as the experiences of the Africans who work for them. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the East, where gender is mediated by different family structures, societal institutions and economic development, the work–family conflict (WFC) metaphor remains appropriate. This paper investigates Chinese women's experiences of WFC in the fastest growing commercial airline sector in the world. It finds that, in contrast to the West, work-to-family, rather than family-to-work, conflict dominates. Liberalization, competition and commercialization have also had a significant gendered impact on jobs. The latter resulting in the commodification of women's aesthetic and emotional labour, job segregation, employment insecurity, poor career opportunities and increased WFC. We explore reasons why HR policies and practices in airlines fail to address women's workplace concerns and find that occupational status and lack of organizational power, together with the prevalence of traditional gendered norms and attitudes, play important roles [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the impact of employee perceptions of organizational corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices on their job performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Hierarchical regression analysis on two-wave data from 184 supervisor/subordinate dyads from three organizations located in Zhejiang Province, South-East China, revealed that employee perceptions of CSR toward social and non-social stakeholders strongly influenced their OCB. However, employee perceptions of CSR toward employees, customers and government influenced neither their job performance nor OCB. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

From the divergence perspective in human resource management (HRM), this paper develops an indigenous framework exploring the mechanisms between the prominent cultural characteristic of harmony originating from Confucian ideology, and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) as well as job satisfaction in the Chinese context. By employing structural equation modeling, our findings demonstrate that the degree of harmony is positively related to employees' OCB and job satisfaction, and that job satisfaction positively mediates the relationship between the degree of harmony and OCB. This research – that examines the relationships between Chinese harmony grounding in an art-based view and employees' display of OCB derived from Western theories – is a response to the recent calls for introducing valid context-specific measures and considering the cultural impact on individual behaviors in HRM. This study suggests that firms in China may encourage employee OCB and job satisfaction by boosting harmonious level at workplace. It provides a useful guideline for multinational enterprises eager to effectively manage Chinese employees, and enriches non-Chinese managers' understanding of the values of harmony in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a critique of the emergent theories of human resource management in China with a view to generating new theoretical insights with particular reference to Pierre Bourdieu's social theory. It reassesses the relevance of the orthodox critique of ethnocentricity and the coherence of approaches embedded in Chinese culture. With reference to six case studies of the largest retail firms, we identify two key challenges: the reliance on headquarter human resource practices that reflect an ethnocentric ethos, i.e. country-of-origin bias, and the failure to empower local managers and the problems this creates for managers expected to implement ethnocentric practices. We examine how Bourdieu's social theory sheds light on the processes by which these firms realise their strategic objectives through the complicity of local managers whose scope for resistance is constrained by the use of normative control and in part through attractive remuneration and career prospects that generate Bourdieusian capital for these managers. We conclude with some suggestions for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper qualitatively explores the nature of human resource management (HRM) values of local Chinese managers working in Western-based multinational enterprises in China and also considers how these values are associated with preferences for HR practices. The study involves the use of repertory grid interviews with 36 local Chinese managers. The study shows that interviewees reflected a high level of assimilation and internalization of many Western HRM values. Interviewees also retained many traditional Chinese values, thus highlighting the role of institutional and cultural forces on HRM. However, among these local managers, there was clear decline in some traditional Chinese values, such as ‘harmony’ and ‘virtue’. A further interesting finding was the co-existence of paradoxical values of collectivism and individualism among the managers. Analyses of repertory grid data and interview comments also highlight that preferences for HR practices is associated with these underlying HRM values. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The existing expatriation literature confirms that international assignments (IAs) are an essential tool for developing international talent and global managers. However, the majority of relevant studies are conducted in Western developed contexts and neglect the effects on individuals from emerging countries such as China. In the Chinese multinational companies context, this paper explores the concept of career capital comprising knowing-how, knowing-whom and knowing-why. Using Hofstede's cultural dimensions, it investigates the impact of IAs on an individual's career capital. Twenty-eight semi-structured interviews with Chinese expatriates were conducted. Results suggest that the Chinese expatriates develop limited career capital from IAs. The research shows that the Chinese culture plays an important role in shaping organisational practices and individual behaviours and, consequently, the development of expatriates' career capital. It goes beyond the current individual and organisational focuses on IAs to include a cultural perspective on the development of career capital. Implications are rehearsed, exposing areas for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In the context of dramatic changes in China, this paper investigates the role of organisational effectiveness as a mediator in the relationship between the strategic integration of human resource management (HRM) and firm financial performance. Our study is based on the survey responses of 618 managers in state-owned and private (domestic and foreign-invested) enterprises in China. While most studies of the linkage between HRM practices and firm performance in China have measured firm financial performance or used an ad hoc combination of financial and non-financial indicators, we argue for a distinction to be made between non-financial organisational effectiveness and financial performance. As hypothesised, controlling for sector (state-owned vs. private), we find positive relationships between perceived changing business environment and strategic integration of HRM, and between strategic integration of HRM and organisational effectiveness. Our research adds an important conceptual link by showing that organisational effectiveness plays an important role as a mediator in the HRM and firm financial performance relationship and reinforces the importance of the organisational and environmental context for HRM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]