The impact of human resource management practices on performance

Applying linear programming in evaluating employees in higher education: A case study

In the past few decades, any type of organization, from factories to government organizations, the banking sector, or educational institutions concentrates on increasing profit margins. To achieve this, one of the key factors is to achieve maximum output with minimum resources (input). Therefore, having an optimal plan to apply the resources has become extremely important for organizations. One of the relevant resources is Human resources. This paper presents a mathematical model as an aid for optimizing human resources in the higher education sector. The model includes seven stages: 1) determining the availability of research and teaching staff, 2) evaluating the research and teaching staff from the perspective of different stakeholders, 3) determining the cost of the availability of research and teaching staff, 4) examining the motivated employees, 5) developing a staff ranking, 6) developing the mathematical model, and 7) implementing the mathematical model.

The effect of human resource development practice on employee performance with the mediating role of job satisfaction among Mizan Tepi University's academic staff in Southwestern Ethiopia

Purpose

This study examined the effect of human resource development practices on employee performance, with job satisfaction as a mediating variable among academic staff at Mizan Tepi University.

Methods

A standardized Likert-scale questionnaire was administered to academic staff members selected through stratified random sampling from eight colleges at Mizan Tepi University. Descriptive and inferential statistics, including a structural equation model and t-tests, were used for data analysis.

Results

The study found a significant positive correlation between human resource development practices and employee performance. Job satisfaction was identified as a mediator between HRM practices and employee performance. Specific dimensions of human resource development practices, such as training and development, academic career development, teamwork spirit, and counseling, had significant effects on employee performance, with both positive and negative impacts observed. Additionally, academic career development, succession planning, and counseling were found to have a statistically significant positive effect on the academic staff at Mizan Tepi University.

Conclusions

This study found that training and development, academic career development, teamwork, counseling, and job satisfaction significantly impact employee performance. The results of the regression analysis using the SEM model revealed that job satisfaction, training and development, and teamwork positively affect academic staff performance while negatively affecting academic career development and counseling. Academic career development, teamwork, counseling, and succession planning were found to have a positive effect on job satisfaction. The mediation analysis indicated that academic career development and counseling partially mediate employee performance, while succession planning fully mediates it. Therefore, focusing on training and development, performance appraisal, rewards, teamwork, academic career development, succession planning, and counseling is essential to enhancing job satisfaction among academic staff at Mizan Tepi University.

How The TQM Journal has addressed “quality”: a literature review using bibliometric analysis

Purpose

This study investigates the overall publications of The TQM Journal since its inception with an aim to identify the trending topics and emerging trends.

Design/methodology/approach

The quantitative bibliometric and social network analysis techniques composed of keywords, co-occurrence network and keyword cluster detection are employed to conduct the investigation. A total of 968 papers published in The TQM Journal till August 2022 were sourced from the SCOPUS database to conduct the analysis.

Findings

The research identifies five themes from the published articles namely, customer service experience and satisfaction; quality management and organizational performance; quality measurement tools and models; quality and sustainable development; and quality and competitive advantage. The study also identifies the most significant articles, authors and countries published in the journal and shows that Industry 4.0 is the trending topic and quality 4.0 the new emerging trend in the journal.

Research limitations/implications

The analysis is carried out only for papers published in The TQM Journal till August 2022; those after this month are not included in the analysis. The outcome of this study is dynamic in nature and subject to change over time as more papers, citations and collaborations are added to the list.

Originality/value

This is the first article of its kind to explore The TQM Journal publications with an aim to identify trending and emerging topics and also the most valuable authors based on the number of publications and citations through the bibliometric analysis.

Talent management practices on employee performance: a mediating role of employee engagement in institution of higher learning: quantitative analysis

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of talent management (TM) practices on employee performance (EP) and to explore the mediating role of employee engagement (EE) on the relationship between TM practices and EP in Malaysian private universities (MPUs).

Design/methodology/approach

The paper used both descriptive and quantitative approaches, and the unit of analysis of this research consists of MPUs academic staff. The research sample consists of 314 MPUs academic staff, and a questionnaire was used to collect data from the target respondents, while partial least squares-structural equation modelling was used to evaluate the study hypotheses through bootstrapping approach.

Findings

The research outcome revealed that TM practices that comprise of talent recruitment practice (TRP), training and development practice (T&DP), compensation practice (CP) have a significant effect on EP. Furthermore, EE partially mediates the relationship between T&DP, CP and EP, while EE does not mediate the relationship between TRP and EP in MPUs.

Practical implications

The research suggests that universities management should focus on TM practices as a tool to achieve and maintain EE and positive attitudes (EP) in relation to work.

Originality/value

The research makes substantial contributions to the literature by investigating the effect of TM practices on EP through the role of EE as mediation in MPUs. The research is one of the very few studies undertaken in MPUs. Therefore, the results of this research serve as a guide for the universities management to develop their institutional strategies and policies in a manner in which their employees’ success can be achieved and encouraged.International Journal of Business and Society.

People-related TQM practices: the role of metaperceptions

Purpose

The authors investigate the role of people-related Total Quality Management (TQM) practices, specifically metaperceptions, in hearing care students' vocational decision-making. In Italy, audiologists are health professionals and must hold a degree in hearing care. They operate according to clinical principles but must also develop marketing and commercial skills. While employers take these aspects for granted, the expectations of hearing care students often differ from reality. Thus, the authors aim to investigate the vocational expectations of hearing care students.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was distributed to 600 hearing care students. Multiple regression analysis with bootstrapped confidence intervals was employed to test the hypotheses.

Findings

Students who perceived audiology as their calling were more interested in the clinical aspects than the marketing and commercial aspects of audiology. Moreover, those desiring a meaningful career path in audiology were more interested in becoming a store owner or franchisee.

Social implications

Universities and recruiters should consider the influence of relevant others' metaperceptions on students' self-perceptions of their aptitudes for different careers. Universities should assist students to identify aptitudes that are relevant to career-related decision-making. In this context, people-related TQM can help students avoid incorrect aspirations and expectations.

Originality/value

This study is the first to investigate the role of metaperceptions from a people-related TQM perspective. Metaperceptions play a crucial role in determining the correct course of study as well as job satisfaction and expectations.

The role of empowering leadership and psychological empowerment on nurses’ work engagement and affective commitment

Purpose

This study aims to investigate to role of empowering leadership and psychological empowerment on nurses' work engagement and affective commitment.

Design/methodology/approach

Self-administered questionnaire data from 231 nurses working in a university hospital in Saudi Arabia were analysed using a cross-sectional research design using structural equation modelling (SEM) to assess the relationship between empowering leadership (EL), affective commitment (AC) and work engagement (WE) while testing for the mediating role of psychological empowerment (PE).

Findings

SEM analysis demonstrated that EL significantly relates to AC. AC similarly significantly relates to WE. Further, the results showed that PE substantially mediates the relationship between EL and WE. There is no significant direct relationship found between EL and WE.

Practical implications

The study findings are essential for nursing managers. They illustrate that nurses become more committed to their organisation and, in return, more engaged with their work when they receive EL. Therefore, nursing managers could train their leaders to practice EL as increased WE has been found to result in other positive work attitudes such as reduced turnover intention.

Originality/value

This study corroborates the relationships between EL, AC and WE, as well as the mediating role of PE. However, this research is unique as the long-established relationship between EL and WE was not supported. It shows that the propositions of leader-member exchange theory may not hold for unique non-Western contexts, in this case, Saudi Arabia.

High-performance work systems in an Arab Middle Eastern context: analysis from multisource data

Purpose

The absence of robust information on the application of Human resources managemnet (HRM) practices in the Arab Middle Eastern region has generated an urgent need to understand what and how HRM practices can be used to manage employees in the region. Therefore, building on the social exchange theory and job demands-resources (JD-R) model, this paper proposes a model to examine the effects of high-performance work systems (HPWS) on employees' work-related outcomes, namely, job performance, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and innovative work behavior (IWB) in a non-industry setting in an Arab Middle Eastern context. In this model, work engagement was theorized to serve as an intervening mechanism among the aforementioned relationships.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from 210 academic staff working in the Palestinian higher education sector, together with evaluations from 30 supervisors. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to analyze the data.

Findings

The results indicate that HPWS positively affect employees' job performance, OCB and IWB. Moreover, work engagement partially mediates these relationships.

Practical implications

The results can be useful for managers in the Middle East pertaining to the role HPWS can play in boosting employees' job performance, OCB and IWB.

Originality/value

HRM research in Middle East, although limited, is mainly focused on examining the impact of HPWS on organizational rather than individual outcomes. In response to the scholarly call made on the strong need to conduct more HRM research in the Middle East (Budhwar et al., 2019), this research represents the first study that examines the impact of HPWS on in-role and extra-role performance in an Arab Middle Eastern context. Furthermore, the study contributes to the HRM research by relying on a sample from a non-industry sector rather than a sample from a manufacturing setting. Finally, this research is one of the few studies that explore the outcomes of HPWS in an academic setting through the intervening mechanism of work engagement.

The Effect of Sustainable Supply Chain Management on Company Performance Mediated by Competitive Advantage

This study aims to examine the effect of sustainable supply chain management on company performance mediated by competitive advantage, the subjects of this study were the actors of the pottery Joint Business Group (JBG) in Banten Province, Indonesia. This type of research is quantitative research with descriptive research and causal research using questionnaires distributed directly to the JBG Pottery actors as many as 100 respondents. Moreover, Structural Equation Model (SEM) in the SmartPLS Software version 3.0.m3 (SmartPLS GmbH: Bönningstedt, Germany) was used for data analysis. The results of the study found that sustainable supply chain management affects competitive advantage, company performance was also observed to be influenced by sustainable supply chain management and competitive advantage while company performance was also found to be affected by sustainable supply chain management through the mediating effect of competitive advantage. The significant implication of this study is for managers to ensure competitiveness in the process of implementing sustainability supply chain to improve company performance, while providing recommendations to the government through Disperindagkop and SMEs in conducting the assistance process to MSMEs.

Impact of human resource management practices on TQM: an ISM-DEMATEL approach

Purpose

The theory-building around the quality of human resources has received extensive attention in recent years. Numerous quantitative studies discuss and test theories related to total quality management and human resource linkages. The study aims to understand interlinkages of quality and human resources using Interpretative Structural Modeling (ISM) methodology and DEMATEL.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses ISM methodology to examine the interrelationship between the identified variables and the DEMATEL approach to find cause–effect relationships. An integrated approach helps managers for better total quality management (TQM) implementation. This study further extended using Total Interpretative Structural Modeling (TISM).

Findings

The integrated approach of ISM and DEMATEL shows that leadership development, hiring process and training development become most important for TQM implementation. The outcome of ISM shows customer satisfaction and corporate image are depending on other practices, where DEMATEL analysis revealed that eight practices cause and remaining are effective practices.

Originality/value

This research's integrated approach helps the firm identify essential practices, and further interdependency can be developed from cause and effect analysis. The study also provided a novel approach to implementing TQM practices.

A Future Forecasting for FMCG Firm Performance in Covid-19: An Investigation of Consumer and Business Survival

The Covid-19 outbreak has spread over the world, limiting population and trade, causing job losses, and forcing businesses to close. The study's goal is to look at Covid-19's pandemic and consumer survival as a mediator for the future of running a business when FMCG companies are doing well. The researchers employed a basic random sampling strategy to do a layered transverse evaluation of samples. EFA, CFA, and SEM are used to choose data collection techniques for participants at Covid-19. According to the data, Malaysia has resulted in job losses, business growth, and customer satisfaction retention, as well as an increase in unemployment, company closures, and a drop in overall GDP. The impact of the Covid-19 epidemic on survival, production, and GDP has been demonstrated. Incorporating technology into all aspects of a company's working practices reveals the necessity and capacity of the organization to adapt to new scenarios.

Motivational Factors, Job Satisfaction, and Economic Performance in Romanian Small Farms

The agricultural sector ensures food security and is a major source of employment, income, and economic activity in rural areas. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) considers that family farms are the key to a sustainable future in Europe and Central Asia. In Romania, small farms represent the pillar on which Romanian society has been developed. Although the trend has been a reduction in the number of small farms and an increase in the number of large farms, the Government of Romania understands the importance of small farms and therefore supports them through policies involving direct payments, rural development instruments, special initiatives, and loans and outstanding obligations, among others, which focus on increasing their economic performance. The aim of our research was to determine the relationship between farmers’ motivation, their job satisfaction, and the farm economic performance in the case of small Romanian farms. The research sample consisted of 900 small farms (utilized agricultural area (UAA): under 20 ha; standard output (SO): under EUR 15,000). The data obtained after applying the questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS 20.0 and Amos 24.0. For the exploratory factor analysis, values of Bartlett’s test of sphericity, the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin test, and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient were calculated for each dimension of the proposed model. The hypothesis that motivation, job satisfaction, and farm economic performance directly and positively influence each other was confirmed. An important finding was that the correlation coefficient between farmers’ motivation and farm economic performance was ρ = 0.78, while that for the relation between farmers’ job satisfaction and farm economic performance was ρ = 0.53, which was similar to the correlation coefficient calculated for the relationship between farmers’ motivation and farmers’ job satisfaction. This result allows us to conclude that the influence of farmers’ motivation factors on farm economic performance is stronger than the influence of job satisfaction in the case of Romanian farmers on small farms. This might explain why, although work in agriculture is considered to be worse than an office job and the people that work in agriculture are sometimes stigmatized and receive lower incomes, there are still very strong motivators for Romanian farmers to continue their work in agriculture. This is proven by the fact that Romania has the highest number of small farms in Europe, and this number is not decreasing.

Internal marketing strategies in United Arab Emirates higher education

Purpose

This paper seeks to analyze the impact of internal marketing orientations (IMOs) on the competitiveness of higher education institutions (HEIs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Design/methodology/approach

A stratified random sampling was employed to collect data from a pool of 5,968 faculty members in 102 HIEs in the UAE. An online survey questionnaire was placed on Qualtrics online data collection platform and sent to selected participants. Out of a total of 638 surveys send through email, 349 surveys were returned, duly filled. The model was tested using SmartPLS structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

Findings

IMO dimensions of information generation (IG), information dissemination (ID) and information responsiveness (IR) are inexplicably linked to HEI's competitiveness and faculty performance. IR proved to be a more significant predictor of HEI's competitiveness compared to IG and ID.

Practical implications

The study proposes that HEI policymakers encourage the exchange of value among the internal stakeholders and formulate employee-focused policies as part of their corporate objectives. The findings also advocate in improving working conditions and enhancing work–life balance to strengthen the institutions' competitive position within the industry.

Originality/value

This study is the first to explore the interrelationship among the IMO dimensions of IG, ID and IR and their impact on HEI competitiveness, particularly in the UAE.

The impact of high-performance human resource practices on the research performance and career success of academics in Saudi Arabia

Purpose

This paper explores the impact of high-performance human resource practices (HPHRPs) on the research performance and career success of academics.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data was collected from 586 faculty members in the five largest public universities in Saudi Arabia.

Findings

The findings suggest that the HPHRPs of internal mobility and recognition had a strong impact on faculty members' career success and that these relationships were mediated by research performance. In addition, the study also found that the HPHRPs of training and recognition positively influenced research performance, while, surprisingly, the HPHRPs of participation in decision-making were found to have a negative effect on faculty members' research performance.

Originality/value

This study is original in combining research in human resource management (HRM) and career studies to develop a model that explains academic research performance and career success from the lens of HR practices. The results also provide leaders in Saudi Arabia's public higher education sector with empirical data on the impact of HPHRPs on academic research performance and career success.

An Integrated Decision-Making Model for Analyzing Key Performance Indicators in University Performance Management

University performance has an important effect on the social influence of universities. With increasing emphasis placed on higher education, it is important to improve and optimize university performance management. However, the performance of university management is affected by numerous indicators in practice, and it is difficult for administrators to optimize all of them because of resource restriction. To address this concern, in this paper, we design a novel integrated model by combining linguistic hesitant fuzzy sets (LHFSs) with the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method to identify key performance indicators (KPIs) for improving the level of university performance management. Specifically, the LHFSs are utilized to express the hesitant and vague interrelationship assessment of performance indicators provided by experts. A modified DEMATEL is adopted to visualize the causal relationship between performance indicators and determine critical ones. Moreover, we introduce a gray relation analysis (GRA)-based method to derive experts’ weights when their weight information is unknown. Finally, a comprehensive university in Shanghai, China, is employed as an example to illustrate the practicability and availability of the proposed linguistic hesitant fuzzy DEMATEL model.

Performance measurement and management in the public sector: state of the art and research opportunities

Purpose

Since the 1980s, performance measurement and management (PMM) has been described as an essential element of new public management (NPM) reforms. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the current state of the art and future research opportunities for PMM in public sector management.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper carried out a bibliometric literature review using two main techniques named (1) performance analysis and (2) science mapping techniques. It investigated the academic research area describing the main publications' trend, the conceptual structure and its evolution from 1996 to 2019.

Findings

The results highlighted the growing relevance of PMM research in public organisations and confirmed a great interest of the business, management and accounting literature on PMM in public sector management. Furthermore, the results also described a conceptual structure of the public PMM literature analysed and its evolution being too generic to answer public organisations' needs. The results identified five main research gaps and research opportunities.

Originality/value

Although the adoption of rigorous bibliometric techniques was recognised as being useful for assessing the academic research study, the paper describes the business, management and accounting literature contributing to new theoretical and practical future opportunities.

Does emotional intelligence and empowering leadership affect psychological empowerment and work engagement?

Purpose

The objective of this study is to investigate the role of emotional intelligence and empowering leadership in enhancing psychological empowerment and work engagement in private hospitals.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed to staff nurses at five private hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, 100 questionnaires to each hospital, with an achieved response rate of 34.8%.

Findings

The results show statistically significant positive relationships between emotional intelligence, empowering leadership, psychological empowerment and work engagement. The relationship between emotional intelligence and work engagement and psychological empowerment and work engagement were not significant.

Research limitations/implications

The study found that employees who have a high level of emotional intelligence and the positive stimulus of empowering leadership demonstrate enhanced psychological empowerment and work engagement.

Practical implications

A better understanding of the role of EI and EL in enhancing psychological empowerment and work engagement could help hospitals reduce turnover among nurses and improve their relationships with patients, as well as maintaining competitive advantage.

Originality/value

The study provides evidence to support the effect of EI on empowering leadership, psychological empowerment and work engagement in private hospitals.

The nexus between HRM, employee engagement and organizational performance of federal public service organizations in Ethiopia

The study of HRM and Performance of public service is an extremely relevant theme. Although studies on the HRM-performance link have been well documented, the results were inconclusive. Besides, previous studies have paid little attention to the public service from developing country's context. Drawing on the AMO Model and SET, the present study examined the effect of HRM System on Employee Engagement and Organizational Performance. Likewise, this study tested the intervening effect of Employee Engagement in the HRM-performance link. Using a sample of federal employees (n=340) in government organizations, we tested the hypothesized three-factor model using SEM. The finding of the study shows that there is a positive and significant relationship between HRM, Employee Engagement and Organization Performance. Besides, employee engagement partially mediated the link between HRM and Performance. Concerning the effect of the individual HR practices, the present study revealed a positive and differing effect of HR practices on both engagement and performance although the magnitude effect is smaller than, the combined effect of the HR practices together. Moreover, Autonomy was identified as an important driver of both engagement and performance. This result contributes to the HRM-performance debate. As a final point, the present study incorporates conclusions, implication and future research direction.

Human resources management practices and organizational commitment in higher education

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of human resource management (HRM) practices on organizational commitment in Palestinian universities, and to examine the mediating effect of work engagement as a black-box mechanism that defines HRM practices–organizational commitment relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The source of the data is from 237 employees (academics and administrative staff) from Palestinian universities. The authors used structural equation modeling to verify the hypotheses.

Findings

The results reveal that HRM practices have a significant impact on employee organizational commitment in higher education. In addition, work engagement showed a significant mediating effect between performance appraisal and organizational commitment on the one hand, and between rewards and compensation and organizational commitment on the other hand.

Practical implications

The study suggests university managers to capitalize on HRM practices as vehicle to trigger positive work-related attitudes.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the literature by examining the impact of HRM practices on organizational commitment through the mediation role of work engagement in higher education of a non-western context. The study is one of the few studies that is conducted in the middle east.

Servant Leadership Style and High-Performance Work System Practices: Pathway to a Sustainable Jordanian Airline Industry

The purpose of this study is to examine how servant leadership (SL) and high-performance work systems (HPWS) practices enable organizational performance, as shown by employee retention and employee satisfaction. Data was obtained from 300 full time employees in a private airline company in Jordan. The data was collected in three rounds, each separated by one-week time-lag. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed relationships and revealed that both servant leadership and HPWS practices were positively linked with employee satisfaction and retention, which were used as indicators of organizational sustainability. In order to understand how servant leadership and HPWS influence employee satisfaction and retention, we investigated the mediating role of employee engagement and discovered that it serves as a critical mechanism. The study affirmed that, in line with studies carried out in the west, servant leadership is also an effective leadership characteristic in the context of Jordan. Furthermore, the study helps to clarify the reason that servant leadership and HPWS lead to positive outcomes, due to the fact that these improve the engagement of employees. Thus, we understand that the increases in employee retention and satisfaction are due to the enhanced engagement of employees, and we show that engagement can be improved both by servant leadership and the application of HPWS in organizations. Consequently, the effectiveness and sustainability of the airline companies in Jordan will need to focus on primarily improving employee engagement.

The effect of HRM practices on knowledge management capacity: a comparative study in Indian IT industry

Purpose

Successful businesses demand high-performing human resource management practices (HRMP) and effective knowledge management capacity (KMC) to enhance the overall organizational performance. Rapid growth of both local and multinational companies operating in knowledge-intensive industries has increased the global competition in the labor market, also for the developing economies. Therefore, attracting valuable human capital, retaining talents and managing effectively knowledge to deliver on the latest technologies and innovative solutions and services are the biggest challenges in the modern IT industry. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of HRMP on KMC through a cross-case analysis including four companies operating in Indian IT sector. Based on the existing studies in this field, five key HRMP have been identified (i.e. recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation and reward, employee retention and career development), as well as two key processes supporting the KMC (i.e. knowledge acquisition and knowledge sharing).

Design/methodology/approach

The paper adopts a qualitative research method based on a multiple case study, and it uses primary and secondary data collected through desk research and field interviews.

Findings

Results show the existence of HRMP aiming to enhance the individual learning, motivation and retention of employees for knowledge acquisition and knowledge sharing, in the strategic perspective to improve the organizational performance.

Research limitations/implications

The paper presents some limitations, which may provide scope for future research. First, being the study a qualitative multiple case analysis, a more extensive research is needed to generalize the results and investigate further relationships existing between HRMP and KMC. Moreover, a deep investigation on the organizational performance dimensions (e.g. sales growth, cash turnover, financial goal achievement) is required to verify the existence of possible links. Finally, a further limit consists in considering only knowledge acquisition and knowledge-sharing processes, excluding another crucial knowledge management (KM) process such as knowledge application. As for the research implications, the paper contributes to investigate the role of HRMP in supporting KMC in Indian IT companies, which represents a context of research not so much investigated.

Practical implications

From a practitioner point of view, the study can be helpful to HR and KM managers for motivating employees to undertake learning processes and enhance their performance, as well as to acquire and share knowledge resources that are useful for the organization to remain innovative and stay competitive.

Originality/value

As the influence of HRMP on KMC has not been widely studied in the Indian IT industry, the study may open the field for further studies on a deeper investigation of the relationships existing between human resources management (HRM), KM and organizational performance in knowledge-intensive industries in India and, more in general, in developing economies.