| There are a substantial number of empirical strategic human resource management (SHRM) studies which show that there is a positive association between high performance work systems (HPWS)1 and firm performance. However, numerous scholars have suggested that to advance the field, future empirical SHRM research must focus on illuminating the "black box" (i.e., explicating the mediating mechanisms) between HPWS and firm performance (e.g., Becker & Gerhart, 1996; Huselid & Becker, 2000; Way & Johnson, in press). Although several scholars have suggested that HR flexibility is an important construct that may allow management practitioners and scholars to gain a better understanding of the process through which SHRM creates value and enhances firm performance (Lepak, Takeuchi, & Snell, 2003; Snell, 2002; Wright & Snell, 1998), a valid measure of the HR flexibility construct has not been developed to date. In this dissertation two types of HR flexibility are identified: HRS flexibility (flexibility in regard to HR systems) and HRC flexibility (flexibility in regard to human resource competencies). I developed measures of HRS flexibility and HRC flexibility with two samples. In a study of 198 firms, I found that HPWS and flexibility-oriented competitive strategy were positively associated with HRS flexibility, and HRS flexibility was positively associated with HRC flexibility. Consistent with the contingency approach to SHRM, HRC flexibility was positively related to innovation performance and firm effectiveness in terms of market outcomes within the sample's dynamic group of firms, while HRC flexibility was not significantly related to innovation performance or firm effectiveness in terms of market outcomes within the sample's stable group of firms. Results suggest that for firms operating within dynamic competitive environments the impact of HR systems on the capacity of the firm as a whole to compete on the basis of innovation and market responsiveness is not direct but through the enhancement of HRC flexibility.; 1Referenced to by a variety of other names including human capital enhancing HR systems (Youndt, Snell, Dean, & Lepak, 1996), high commitment HR systems (Arthur, 1994), et cetera. |
