Bydemonstratingtheimportanceoftheabove-mentionedrelationshipsforunder-standingtwoimportantemployeeattitudinaloutcomes,ourfindingshighlighttheadvantagesofarelationalperspective,includingitspotentialfortheorybuildingintheAsiaPacificcontext(Budhwar&Debrah,2009).OurresearchwasundertakeninAustralia,anadvanced,liberalmarkettypeofcapitalismcharacterizedbyopen,competitivemarkets,arelativelyhighdegreeoforganizationalformalizationandroleprofessionalization,lowpowerdistance,socialegalitarianism,andanemphasisonuniversalismandindividualachievement(Hall&Gingerich2004;Hofstede1991).Asnotedinthediscussionsection,ouranalysisinvitescomparison,applyingtherelationalframeworktofirmsinsocietieswithcontrastingcharacteristicswhereverydifferenttypesofrelationshipsarelikelytoprevail.Furthermore,itshouldbepossibletorefinetheframeworkandidentifytheroleofparticularfactorsinaccountingforcross-nationalandinter-industrydifferencesinrelationshipsandoutcomes.
Relevantresearch
SHRMtheorymotivatesmostempiricalHPWSresearchwhichemphasizestheroleofincentives,rules,andnormsastheprimarybehavioralinfluencesunderlyingtheimpactofHRpracticesonemployeeperformance.However,asnotedabove,somestudieswithintheSHRMparadigmhighlighttheimportanceofsocialrelationships.Inonesetofstudiesthefocusisonlateralorcollegialrelations,whileinasecondset,employer–employeerelationshipsarehighlighted.Gant,Ichnioski,andShaw(2002)showedthatparticularHRpracticesusedinseveralsteelmakingunitsfacilitatednetworkingamongco-workerswhichwasassociatedwithhigherperformance.CollinsandClark(2003)concentratedonthesocialnetworkcharacteristicsamongtopmanagersshowinghowthesenetworksmediatetherelationshipbetweenHRpracticesandorganizationalperformance.Theseauthorsarguedthatlargeanddiverseinternalsocialnetworksincreasedavailableknowledgeaboutavailableinformationandenabledimprovedinformationsharingamongcolleagues.Inasubsequentstudyofknowledgeworkers,CollinsandSmith(2006)providedevidencethatparticularHRpracticesinfluencedco-workerrelationshipsasindicatedbytrust,cooperation,andsharedunderstandings,whichinturnincreasedknowledgesharinganduse,andfirmperformance.InseveralstudiesGittelletal.(Gittell,2002;Gittell,Seidner,&
10S.Frenkeletal.
Wimbush,2010)demonstratedthatco-workertaskcoordinationcharacterizedbyclosecollaborationandunderstanding(termedrelationalcoordination),mediatestherelationshipbetweenparticularHRpracticesandorganizationalperformance.ThesestudiessupportLengnick-HallandLengnick-Hall’s(2003)argumentthatHRpoliciesshouldbedesignedtoimprovesocialcapitalbecausesocialcapitalcontributestoorganizationalperformance.
Regardingstudiesofverticalrelations(i.e.,betweenmanagementandemployees),Tsuietal.(Tsui,Pearce,Porter,&Tripoli,1997;Tsui&Wang,2002;Tsui,Wang,Xin,Zhang,&Fu,2004)showedthatvariationsinHRpracticesreflectmanagementintentionstocreatedifferentkindsofrelationshipswithemployeeswhichinturnhaveavariableimpactonperformance.Theserelationshipswereshowntovaryfrommanagementbeneficence(“overinvestment”and“mutualinvestment”)toexploitation(“underinvestment”and“quasispot”relations).SomerecentstudiesfoundthatHRpracticesareassociatedwithcooperativesocialrelationshipsthatinturncontributetoperformance.Forexample,Zhang,Tsui,Song,Li,andJia(2008)reportedthata“mutualinvestment”employee–organizationrelationshipisassociatedwithsu-periorperformance,suggestingthatemployeesacknowledgedandreciprocatedmanagement’sactionsbasedonasocialexchangerelationship.Similarly,Sun,Aryee,andLaw(2007)demonstratedthatservice-orientedperformance,arisingfromanopen-ended,supportivemanagement–employeerelationship,partiallymedi-atedtherelationshipbetweenhigh-performanceHRpracticesandorganizationalperformance.
Otherstudieshaveemphasizedtheimportanceofleader–followerrelations.ResearchbyGuestandConway(2004)andPurcellandHutchinson(2007)showedastrongrelationshipbetweenlowerlevellinemanagementleadershipandemployees’orga-nizationalcommitment,whileUhl-Bienetal.(Uhl-Bien,2006;Uhl-Bien,Graen,&Scandura,2000)usedinsightsandresultsfromleader–memberexchangeresearchtoadvanceaseriesofpropositionsregardingtherelationshipbetweenHRM,highqualityrelationsbetweendifferentstakeholdersandperformance.
OurreviewindicatesthatparticularHRpracticesarerelatedtolateralandverticalsocialrelationsthatcontributetoperformancemainlythroughimprovedinformationsharingandsocialexchangeprocesses.ItisassumedthatthedirectionisfromHRpracticestosocialrelations,yetthereverseisalsoplausible(i.e.,thatsocialrelationsenableparticularHRpracticestobeimplemented).Insum,studiesintheSHRMtraditionpaytoolittleattentiontosocialrelationsasakeyindependentvariable.Furthermore,employees’interestsaresecondary:organizationalperformanceiscon-sideredthemostimportantexplanatoryproblem.
Theoreticalframeworkandhypotheses
Arelationalframeworkoffersanapproachthathighlightstheimpactofrelationshipsonoutcomesofimportanceprimarilybutnotexclusivelytoemployees.WhileHRpracticesmayinfluenceandbeinfluencedbytheserelationshipsitistherelationshipsandnotthepracticesthatareassumedtobecritical.Inseekingtoidentifykeyrelationshipswedistinguishbetweendifferentcategoriesofmanagementthatexistatmultiplelevelsandarechargedwithleading,motivating,andregulatingemployee