Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of China's official household residential status (hukou) on perceived human resource management (HRM) practices, perceived organizational justice (POJ) and its moderation of the relationship between them. Design/methodology/approach – The data for the study were collected from 775 employees in 36 companies in China. Missing data analysis was conducted in order to identify the pattern associated with personal demographic variables. A one-way between-groups MANOVA was performed to investigate hukou differences in the perceptions of HRM practices and POJ. Confirmative factor analysis was conducted on POJ's three-factor measurement model to examine the distinctiveness of the study variables. Findings – Employees registered as agricultural, i.e. rural, hukou, who have migrated to and found employment in urban areas, perceive HRM practices and distributive and procedural justice less favourably than do non-agricultural, i.e. urban, hukou. It also finds that hukou status moderates the effect of HRM on POJ. The findings therefore are that HRM that differentiates rural hukou and urban hukou results in different impressions of their employing organizations, and that hukou status changes the strengths of the relationship between HRM and employees' perceived fairness in their organizations. Research limitations/implications – The use of the single data source is more likely to result in common method variance which may bias the strength of the relationships that this study proposed. Moreover, this study contributes to the literature with regard to the moderating effects of personal demographic variables on the relationship between organizational policies and POJ, but hukou is the only personal variable examined and therefore the generalisation of the study's findings may be limited. Future research should examine the moderating effects of other personal factors. Originality/value – The moderating effect of personal demographic variables has been constantly examined in management and psychology research, but with a focus on employees' work attitudes and behaviour. For example, gender was found to moderate the relationship between organizational commitment and turnover intention. The extent to which personal demographic variables might moderate the relationship between organizational policies and POJ has not hitherto been examined. This study fills this void.

This paper compares the employment relations of Australia; Indonesia; Japan; New Zealand; the Peoples' Republic of China (PRC); South Korea; and Taiwan (Republic of China, ROC). The inclusion of the older industrialised economies of Australia, New Zealand and Japan with the industrialising and newly industrialised countries of Asia enables comparisons of labour market restructuring for increased flexibility. In South Korea the process of democratisation has included a reduction in state regulation of trade unions. In Taiwan the same process has led government to become more active in employment relations, and the PRC's transition from a highly regulated to a 'socialist market' economy has had a noticeable effect on employment relations too. In Indonesia, the end of the Soharto regime might have offered opportunities for greater recognition of workers' interests, but political instability and the effect of the 1997 Asian economic crisis seem to have inhibited this development.

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AbstractWith manufacturers seeking investment opportunities in Africa, it is timely to explore the interaction of advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) and human resource management approaches there. Because research elsewhere suggests that the effects of the interaction differ across national boundaries, we investigated empowerment approaches and AMT utilisation in Nigeria and New Zealand. Using operational-level survey data from 153 manufacturing managers/CEOs in both countries, we explored the role of national culture on managerial attitudes towards employee empowerment during AMT adoption. Drawing on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, our results suggest that the observed differences in AMT–empowerment interface are attributable to different national values. The results specifically indicated that during AMT adoption, New Zealand’s liberal culture encourages managers to empower employees more than does Nigeria’s authoritarian one. The results would particularly assist practitioners to recognise the traditional/conservative nature of African values when practicing HR in a country like Nigeria.