Development of human resource management in Vietnam: A semantic analysis

Leadership styles and organisational innovation in Vietnam: does employee creativity matter?

Purpose

This paper aims to look into the role of transformational leadership and transactional leadership as predictors of employee creativity and organisational innovation. Employee creativity is examined as a potential mediator in the leadership styles–organisational innovation relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional, quantitative design was adopted and structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques were used to analyse data collected from 369 employees working in 39 public coffee enterprises in Vietnam.

Findings

Transformational leadership and transactional leadership were significant predictors of employee creativity and organisational innovation. Specifically, transformational leadership was instrumental to employee creativity and organisational innovation while transactional leadership was detrimental to these two variables. Additionally, employee creativity partially mediated the relationships between the two leadership styles and organisational innovation.

Practical implications

Results of this study benefit the management of organisations and policy makers by providing an insight of which leadership style will effectively suit public enterprises to promote employee creativity and foster organisational innovation.

Originality/value

While there is a lack of studies investigating organisational innovation in organisational methods and that the interrelationships between leadership styles, employee creativity and organisational innovation are not fully understood, this study pioneers in examining relationships between leadership styles and organisational innovation that is being mediated by employee creativity. Figuring out that organisational innovation is more likely to be fostered by the positive influence of leadership behaviours and the improvement of employee creativity, in particular, the significant role of employee creativity represents important contributions of the current study.

How host-country nationals manage the demands of hosting expatriates

Purpose

Using job demands-resources (JD-R) theory as a conceptual apparatus, the purpose of this paper is to report an empirical exploration of the experiences of host-country national (HCN) employees when their organization hosts an expatriate assignment.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 Vietnamese HCNs who had vast experience hosting multiple self-initiated expatriates with organizational development objectives.

Findings

The study reveals previously hidden costs associated with locals’ support for expatriates, including a range of extra-role demands and more complex and stressful interpersonal interactions. These demands exceeded the current intercultural capabilities of many respondents, and while offset to some extent by their positive pre-arrival attitudes and culture-specific knowledge, led to sometimes counterproductive coping responses such as withdrawal behaviors.

Research limitations/implications

The study extends the JD-R framework by explicating which demands and resources are pertinent to HCNs, and how these activate particular coping strategies. The cultural context of Vietnam, as both a setting for the workplace interactions and imbued in the values and assumptions of respondents, limits the study’s transferability.

Practical implications

The findings provide guideposts for organizations in ways to offset HCNs’ hindrance demands (e.g. matching demands to current capabilities) and to encourage the use of productive coping strategies via, for instance, anticipating and mitigating potential challenges.

Originality/value

The study’s insights go some way toward articulating more fully the richness and complexity of HCNs’ experiences, and a more rounded perspective of the costs and benefits inherent in international work assignments.