Employees’ perception, understanding and attribution of HRM: The influence of national culture

Speaker: Prof. Karin Sanders

Coordinators: Kai Zhang, Jianhua Ge

Time: 14:00-16:00, May 24, 2017

Location: Room 404, Mingde Building, School of Business, Renmin University of China

Lecture Abstract：

In the presentation firstly Karin will explain more about the HR Process approach, and present some results from experimental and field studies, she conducted with colleagues. Secondly Karin will present a study she conducted with co-authors on the influence of national culture in the HR process (the paper was nominated for the Carolyn Dexter Award, Academy of Management, 2015). More specific, this study investigates the effects of two internal factors, performance-based rewards and employee perceptions of HR strength, and one external factor, country-level uncertainty avoidance, on employee innovative behaviours. Drawing on a structuring framework, they first hypothesize that performance-based rewards will influence innovative behaviours in a positive direction, and secondly, that this relationship is stronger when employees understand the Human Resource Management as intended by management (also known as HR strength). Finally, they assess the effect of uncertainty avoidance on the relationship between performance-based rewards and innovative behaviours. While three-level data from 1598 employees and 186 managers in 29 organizations across ten countries did not show a relationship between performance-based rewards and innovative behaviours, they did show that employee perceptions of HR strength positively influences and uncertainty avoidance negatively influences this relationship. The study offers novel insights into how organizations can use internal factors in a systematic manner to promote innovative behaviours in their workplace, and highlights the limitations of sustaining innovative behaviours in countries characterized by high levels of uncertainty avoidance.

Speaker Introduction：

Professor Karin Sanders (School of Management, UNSW Business School, Sydney, Australia) is professor of Human Resources Management (HRM) and Organizational Behaviour, and Head of School of Management. Her research focuses on the HR process approach -in particular, the impact of employees’ perceptions, understanding and attributions of HRM on employees’ attitudes and behaviours and firms’ performance. Her research has been published in such scholarly outlets as the Journal of Vocational Behavior, Organizational Studies, Organizational Science, HRM, Academy of Management Learning and Education, International Journal of HRM, and HRM Journal. Karin is an elected board member of the Executive Board of the HR Division (Academy of Management) and is one of the leaders of HR Division’s International Ambassadors program. Co-sponsored by the HR Division (AOM), AGSM (UNSW), Centre for Workplace Excellence, University of South Australia and Monash Business School, Monash University in Melbourne, Karin has successfully organized the Second International Conference of the HR Division in February 20-22 2016 in Sydney. Karin is associate editor of International Journal of HRM, and is on the editorial board of HRM, HRMJ, HRMR, Evidence-based HRM and Frontiers of Business Research in China.