High-commitment human resource practices in a Taiwanese service industry: differentiating effects of demographic and functional diversity
摘要：
While there is considerable research exploring the link between high-commitment human resource (HR) practices and firm performance, the contingencies (or boundary conditions) that might affect this relationship have received little attention. This paper proposes to explore this gap by analysing data drawn from a service industry (hair salons) in Taiwan. Building upon social exchange theory,the paper tests four hypotheses exploring the link between high-commitment HR practices and store performance, the mediating role of ‘helping’ or organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB),and the moderating effects of demographic and functional diversity. One finding is that age diversity, the most applicable indicator of demographic diversity, was found to undermine the linkages between high-commitment HR practices, helping behaviour and store performance. In contrast,educational diversity – a key indicator of functional diversity – reinforced those relationships. This study also compares the relative moderating strengths of two diversity dimensions upon the mediation relationship of the HRM bundle, OCB and store performance and shows that functional diversity is the more potent moderator. The paper supports the view that there is no direct and universal relationship between high-commitment HR practices and performance. Instead the relationship is heavily moderated by contingent factors such as the various dimensions of workforce diversity.
