Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T07:07:28.511Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

High Commitment Work Systems in Chinese Organizations: A Preliminary Measure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2015

Zhixing Xiao  and
Ingmar Björkman
Translated by
肖知兴
Zhixing Xiao
Affiliation:
China Europe International Business School, China
Ingmar Björkman
Affiliation:
Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration, Finland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The concept of a high commitment work system (HCWS) has mostly been used in the West to study the relationship between a firm's work systems and organizational performance. In this paper, we introduce a preliminary measure of HCWS in China based on the definition of Baron and Kreps (1999). In study 1, we tested the measure by surveying 442 employees in China's information technology (IT) industry. In study 2, we re-tested the same measure from the perspective of human resource (HR) executives in 126 foreign-invested companies. The analyses not only provided some evidence for the construct validity of this preliminary measure of a high commitment work system, but also produced some interesting results that can only be understood with regards to the history and institutional backgrounds of Chinese organizations.

Keywords

high commitment work systemChinascale development高投入工作系统中国量表开发
Type
Articles
Information
Management and Organization Review , Volume 2 , Issue 3 , November 2006 , pp. 403 - 422
Copyright
Copyright © International Association for Chinese Management Research 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, N. J., and Meyer, J. P. (1990). ‘The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance and normative commitment’. Journal of occupational Psychology, 63, 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Appelbaum, E., Bailey, T., Berg, P., and Kalleberg, A. L. (2000). Manufactuing Advantage: Why High Performance Work Systems Pay Off. New York: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Arnold, H. J., and Feldman, D. C. (1981). ‘Social desirability response bias in self-report choice situations’. Academy of Management Journal, 24, 377–85.Google Scholar
Arthur, J. B. (1994). ‘Effects of human resources systems on manufacturing performance and turnover’. Academy of Management Journal, 37, 670–87.Google Scholar
Baker, G., Gibbons, R., and Murphy, K. J. (2001). ‘Relational contract and the theory of the firm’. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 117, 1, 39–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barney, J., and Wright, P. (1998). ‘On becoming a strategic partner: The role of human resources in gaining competitive advantage’. Human Resource Management, 37, 31–46.3.0.CO;2-W>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barney, J. B. (1991). ‘Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage’. Journal of Management, 17, 99–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baron, J. N., and Kreps, E. D. (1999). Strategic Human Resources. New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Becker, B., and Huselid, M. (1998). ‘High performance work systems and firm performance: A synthesis of research and managerial implications’. In Ferris, G. R. (Ed.), Research in Personnel and Human Resource Management, vol. 16. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, (pp. 53–101).Google Scholar
Becker, B. E., and Gerhart, B. (1996). ‘The impact of human resource management on organizational performance: Progress and prospects’. Academy of Management Journal, 39, 779–801.Google Scholar
Blau, P. M. (1964). Exchange and Power in Social Life. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Bosalie, P., Paauwe, J., and Richardson, R. (2003). ‘Human resource management, institutionalization and organizational performance: A comparison of hospitals, hotels and local government’. International Journal of Human Resources Management, 14, 8, 1407–29.Google Scholar
Burt, R. S. (1992). Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Central Committee of Communist Party of China (1993). Central Committee of Communist Party of China's Decision on Several Issues in Establishing the Socialist Economic Institutions, Nov. 1993, the 3rd Plenary Session of the 14th CPC Central Committee. Beijing: CCCPC.Google Scholar
Central Committee of Communist Party of China (1995). The Tentative Regulation on the Cadres Selection and Appointment of the Party and the Government. Beijing: CCCPC.Google Scholar
Chen, C. C., Chen, Y. R., and Xin, K. (2004). ‘Guanxi practices and trust in management: A procedural justice perspective’. Organization Science, 15, 200–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delery, J. E., and Doty, H. D. (1996). ‘Modes of theorizing in strategic human resources management: Tests of universalistic, contingency, and configurational performance predictions’. Academy of Management Journal, 39, 802–35.Google Scholar
Dutta, D. K., Guthrie, J. P., and Wright, P. M. (2005). ‘Human resource management and labor productivity: Does industry matter?’ Academy of Management Journal, 48, 1, 135–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenberger, R., Fasolo, P., and David-LaMastro, V. (1990). ‘Perceived organizational support and employee diligence, commitment, and innovation’. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75, 51–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). ‘Agency theory: An assessment and review’. Academy of Management Review, 14, 57–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farh, J. L., Earley, P. C., and Lin, S. C. (1997). ‘Impetus for action: A cultural analysis of justice and organizational citizenship behavior in Chinese society’. Administrative Science Quarterly, 42, 421–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gouldner, A. (1960). ‘The norm of reciprocity: A preliminary statement’. American Sociology Review, 25, 161–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guest, D. E. (1997). ‘Human resource management and performance: A review and research agenda’. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 8, 263–76.Google Scholar
Guest, D. E., Conway, N., and Dewe, P. (2004). ‘Using sequential tree analysis to search for bundles of HR practices’. Human Resource Management Journal, 414, 1, 79–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guthrie, D. (1998). ‘The declining significance of Guanxi in China's economic transition’. The China Quarterly, 254–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guthrie, D. (1999). Dragon in a Three-piece Suit: The Emergence of Capitalism in China. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guthrie, J. P. (2001). ‘High-involvement work practices; turnover, and productivity: Evidence from New Zealand’. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 180–90.Google Scholar
Hinkin, T. R. (1998). ‘A brief tutorial on the development of measures for use in survey questionnaires’. Organizational Research Methods, 1, 104–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huselid, M. A. (1995). ‘The impact of human resource management practices on turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance’. Academy of Management Journal, 38, 635–72.Google Scholar
Ichniowski, C., and Shaw, K. (1999). ‘The effects of human resource management system on economic performance: An international comparison of U. S. and Japanese plants’. Management Science, 45, 5, 704–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iverson, R., and Buttigieg, D. M. (1999). ‘Affective, normative and continuance commitment: Can the “right kind” of commitment be managed?’ Journal of Management Studies, 36, 3, 307–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, L. R. (1982). ‘Aggregation bias in estimates of perceptual agreement’ . Journal of Applied Psychology, 67, 219–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
James, L. R., Demaree, R. G., and Wolf, G. (1983). ‘Estimating within-group inter-rater reliability with and without response bias’. Journal of Applied Psychology, 69, 89–98.Google Scholar
Kerlinger, F. N. (1986). Foundations of Behavioral Research, 3rd edn. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.Google Scholar
Kim, W. C., and Mauborgne, R. A. (1993). ‘Procedural justice, attitudes, and subsidiary top management compliance with multinationals' corporate strategic decisions’. Academy of Management Journal, 36, 502–26.Google Scholar
Klein, B. (1996). ‘Why hold-ups occur: The self-reinforcing range of contractual relationships’. Economic Inquiry, 34, 444–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klein, K. K., and Kozlowski, S. W. (2000). Multilevel Theory, Research, and Methods in Organizations: Foundations, Extensions, and New Directions. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Kreps, D. M. (1990). ‘Corporate culture and economic theory’. In Alt, J., and Shepsle, K. (Eds), Perspectives on Positive Economy. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lawler, E. E. (1986). High-involvement Management. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Lawler, E. E., Mohrman, S. A., and Ledford, G. E. Jr (1992). Employee Involvement and Total Quality Management. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Lawler, E. J. (1992). ‘Affective attachments to nested groups: A choice-process theory’. American Sociological Review, 57, 327–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lepak, D. P., and Snell, S. A. (1999). ‘The human resource architecture: Toward a theory of human capital allocation and development’. Academy of Management Review, 24, 31–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacDuffie, J. P. (1995). ‘Human resources bundles and manufacturing performance: Organizational logic and flexible production systems in the world auto industry’. Industrial and Labour Relations Review, 48, 197–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ministry of Information Industry (MII) (2003). Annual Report of Information Industry. Beijing: Mil.Google Scholar
Nunnally, J. C. (1967). Psychometric Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Nunnally, J. C., and Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometric Theory, 3rd edn. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Pearce, J. L. (1993). ‘Towards an organizational behavior of contract laborers: Their psychological involvement and effects on employees' co-workers’. Academy of Management Journal, 36, 1083–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peng, M. W., Lu, Y., Shenkar, O., and Wang, D. Y. L. (2001). ‘Treasure in the China house: A review of management and organizational research on Greater China’. Journal of Business Research, 52, 95–110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pfeffer, J. (1994). Competitive Advantage through People: Unleashingthe Power of the WorkForce. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pfeffer, J. (1997). New Directions for Organization Theory. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pike, K. L. (1967). Language in Relation to a Unified Theory of the Structure of Human Behaviour. The Hague: Mouton.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Podolny, J. M., and Baron, J. N. (1997). ‘Relationships and resources: Social networks and mobility in the workplace’. American Sociology Review, 62, 673–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramsay, H., Scholarios, D., and Harley, B. (2000). ‘Employees and high performance work systems: Testing inside the black box’. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 38, 4, 501–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rousseau, D. M., Sitkin, S. B., Burt, R. S., and Camerer, C. (1998). ‘Not so different after all: A cross-discipline view of trust’. Academy of Management Review, 23, 393–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salancik, G. R. (1977). ‘Commitment and the control of organization and belief. In Staw, B. M., and Salancik, G. R. (Eds), New Directions in Organizational Behavior. Chicago: St. Clair Press, (pp. 1–54).Google Scholar
Schwab, D. P. (1980). ‘Construct validity in organizational behavior’. In Cummings, L. L., and Staw, B. (Eds), Research in Organizational Behavior, 12. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, (pp. 3–43).Google Scholar
Shadish, W. R., Cook, T. D., and Cambell, D. T. (2002). Experimental and Quasi-experimental Design for Generalized Causal Inference. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Siebert, S. E., Kraimer, M. L., and Liden, R. C. (2001). ‘A social capital theory of career success’. Academy of Management Journal, 44, 219–37.Google Scholar
State Statistics Bureau (SSB) (2003). China Statistics Yearbook, 2002. Beijing: SSB.Google Scholar
Tsui, A. S. (2004). ‘Contributing to global management knowledge: A case for high-quality indigenous research’. Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 21, 491–513.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsui, A. S., and Lau, C. M. (2002). The Management of the Enterprises in the People's Republic of China. Boston, MA: Kluwer.Google Scholar
Tsui, A. S., Pearce, J. L., Porter, L. W., and Tripoli, A. M. (1997). ‘Alternative approach to the employee-organization relationship: does investment in employee pay off?’. Academy of Management Journal, 40, 1089–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
US Department of Labor (1993). High Performance Work Practices and Firm Performance. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Van der Berg, R. J., Richardson, H. A., and Eastman, L. J. (1999). ‘The impact of high involvement work processes on organizational effectiveness’. Group and Organisation Management, 24, 3, 300–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, Wyatt. (1999). Work USA 2000: Employee Commitment and the Bottom Line. Bethesda, MD: Watson Wyatt.Google Scholar
Walder, A. G. (1986). Communist Neo-traditionalism. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Walton, R. E. (1985). ‘From control to commitment in die workplace’. Harvard Business Review, 63, 2, 77–84.Google Scholar
Wayne, S. J., Shore, M., and Liden, R. C. (1997). ‘Perceived organizational support and leader-member exchange: A social exchange perspective’. Academy of Management Journal, 40, 82–111.Google Scholar
Whetten, D. (2002). ‘Constructing cross-context scholarly conversations’. In Tsui, A. S., and Lau, C. (Eds), The Management of Enterprises in the Peoples Republic of China. Boston, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers, (pp. 29–47).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitener, E. M. (2001). ‘Do high commitment human resource practices affect employee commitment? A cross-level analysis using hierarchical linear modeling’. Journal of Management, 27, 515–35.Google Scholar
Wood, S. (1996). ‘High commitment management and payment systems’. Journal of Management Studies, 33, 53–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, P. M., and Gardner, T. M. (2003). ‘The human resource-firm performance relationship: Methodological and theoretical challenges’. In Holman, D., Wall, T. D., Clegg, C. W., Sparrow, P., and Howard, A. (Eds), The New Workplace: A Guide to the Human Impact of Modern Working Practices. Chichester: Wiley, (pp. 311–28).Google Scholar
Wright, P. M., Dunford, B. B., and Snell, S. A. (2001). ‘Human resources and the resource based view of the firm’. Journal of Management, 27, 701–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Youndt, M. A., Snell, S. A., Dean, J. W. Jr, and Lepak, D. V. (1996). ‘Human resource management, manufacturing strategy, and firm performance’. Academy of Management Journal, 39, 836–66.Google Scholar