Across-level Empirical Research On The Impact Of Strategic Human Resource Manaement On Job Performance

With the prosperous development of the theories of Strategic Human ResourceManagement (SHRM), an abundant progress has been made on the research of theeffect of SHRM. It has gained a great number of empirical tests that SHRM ispositively impact on organizational performance. However, as is pointed out by somescholars, too much concerns are given to the research on the organization output，withinadequate concerns given to the reflect of employee. Job performance is a set ofvisible individual behaviors which have a close relation to the organizationalperformance. Even though an investigation on the impact to job performance bySHRM is of great benefits for a comprehensive understanding to the transitionmechanism from SHRM to organizational performance, the relevant researches basedon the their relations are still far from enough. The present researches——some ofwhich only concentrate on single measures of SHRM such as the influence of awarddecision or staff training on job performance, some of which only concentrate on theinfluence to organizational citizenship behavior by SHRM, or some of which focus onthe effect to all dimensions of job performance by SHRM, but still have some defectin research levels. Despite that some scholars admit that the organizational support,organizational commitment, perceived competence and organization attractiveness dohave some mediating effects on the relationship between SHRM and job performance,very few of scholars systematically investigate the social transition path between themfrom the perspective of labor relations。Labor relations climate and labor relations satisfaction which as measurableindicators for labor relation quality are the mediating variables of this study.However labor relations exist in Marxism, Pluralism and Unitarism perspectives.Under the Unitarism perspective, some integrative research began to appear between the two fields of human resource management and labor relations. Unitarismperspective of labor relations can build the bridge between SHRM, labor relationsquality and job performance. A research on mediating roles of labor relations climateand labor relations satisfaction under Unitarism perspective, however, has suchprofound significance as follows:(1) From the practical background, our country is atthe turning point in which such factors as the structural change of the labor market,the variety of human resources and the conflicts between labor and management,definitely give rise to a series barriers to the daily administration and running of theenterprises. While the relevant investigation on the mediating effects based on theUnitarism perspective, will benefit the building of harmonious labor relations and theupgrading of organizational performance.(2) From the theoretical background, thegreat change in employment situation resulted from the economic globalizationoriginated from20th century, makes it blur to identify the boundary between thehuman resource management and labor relations, and the interrelation between thetwo field tend to be strengthened than before. While the investigation of the mediatingeffects based on the Unitarism perspective of labor relations, will not only meet therequirement of the present theories but also enrich the past integrative researches.Based on the realistic background and theoretical gap above, this study not onlyexplores the influence from SHRM to all dimensions of job performance, but alsoinvestigate the cross-level mediating role of labor relations climate (theorganizational variable) and labor relations satisfaction (the individual variable) basedon the practical and theoretical background above.With the exploration on the concept of labor relation satisfaction at the initialstage, this study constructs a theoretical model of labor relations satisfaction inChinese context according to the method of grounded theory. This study, more over,defies it as the employee’s comprehensive assessment to the acquisition of individualbenefits, the management of labor dispute, and the construction of harmonious culture,which can be influenced by the individual disparity, inside or outside environment,and which is considered as employee’s cognitive assessment covering the wholeprocess of labor relations and can be coordinated by enterprise management system. The result of the assessment, however, is positive or negative to the employeebehaviors witch are associated with organizational performance. This study examinesand tests the measuring tool for labor relations satisfaction through the empiricalmethods based on3levels code analysis of grounded theory, covering such sixdimensions as labor reward, labor load, employee development, labor conditions andsecurity, harmonious culture construction and labor dispute management.On the strength of the model of labor relations satisfaction, this study adoptssuch software as SPSS19.0, LISERL8.80, HLM6.08to verify theoretical model andresearch hypothesis of the relationship between SHRM, labor relations climate, laborrelations satisfaction and job performance based on63human resource managers and782employees in Chinese organizational context. After controlling both suchindividual characteristics variables as the gender, age, educational background andsuch organizational characteristics variables as the organizational scale, organizationalage, industry type, this study draws the following conclusions:(1) SHRM shows asignificant positive across-level influence on the two dimensions of job performanceincluding task performance and contextual performance;(2) The positive impact tojob performance by SHRM, is partially and indirectly realized through labor relationsclimate on organization level, however, a disparity of mediating effect between themdoes exist due to the different dimensions of labor relations climate. Specifically,SHRM has a significant positive impact on both employee participation climate andlabor win-win climate. But it has no significant effect on labor opposition climate,each dimension of labor relations climate have a significant cross-level effects oneach dimension of job performance. Both employee participation climate and laborwin-win climate partially play a cross-level mediating role in the relationship betweenSHRM and each dimension of job performance. But the mediating role of laboropposition climate has been failed the test.(3) SHRM has a significantly positivecross-level impact on labor relations satisfaction. Labor relations satisfaction alsoproduced a significant positive impact on each dimension of job performance. As forthe effect of SHRM to each dimension of job performance, labor relations satisfactionplays a partial cross-level mediating role. The theoretical contribution of this study:(1) Establishing the model of laborrelations satisfaction. The definition and index system of labor relations satisfactionare still not comprehensive and clear enough in previous researches. This study makesclear the specific connotation of labor relations satisfaction, distinguishes it from jobsatisfaction, both of which serve as an extremely similar concept, establishes thetheoretical model of labor relations satisfaction through the grounded theory as aqualitative research method in Chinese context.(2) Demonstrating the cross-levelimpact of SHRM on job performance. The previous researches on their relationshiphave some limitations about the selection of the management practices, thedimensional distinguish of job performance and the level of research. This studyestablishes the theoretical connection between the organizational-level SHRM and theindividual-level job performance. In addition, it demonstrates the positive cross-levelinfluence of SHRM on task performance and context performance respectively fromthe empirical analysis, thus making it possible to further enrich the past experimentalevidence.(3) Recognizing the cross-level mechanism of the relationship betweenSHRM and job performance. There are rare researches investigate the transitionmechanism of their relationship based on Unitarism perspective of labor relations.This study regards labor relations climate and labor relations satisfaction as majorindexes of labor relations quality. The discussion of their cross-level mediating effectsenriches the theoretical results of SHRM and job performance.The managerial implication of the study lies in:(1) Enterprises should promoteeffective practices of human resource management, such as employment security,internal career opportunities, employee participation, incentive remuneration, trainingand job descriptions.(2) With the focus on human resource management policies,enterprises should also pay more attention to the bridge function of labor relationsclimate. Enterprises need to not only make efforts to build labor win-win climate andemployee participation climate but also restrain labor opposition climates, so as toenhance the two parties’ goal congruence and sense of identity.(3) Enterprises need topay more attention to the mediating effect of labor relations satisfaction. Enterprisesshould satisfy the employees their rights and interests as far as possible, strengthen the management of labor dispute, build the harmonious culture and some other relevantconcerns. It will help to nurture a positive interaction between enterprise andemployee.