No abstract

The human capital of a firm as manifested by employee knowledge and experience represents a key resource of a firm's capabilities. Prior empirical studies have found that firms composed of high levels of human capital experience superior firm performance. Human capital theory proposes that an individual's general or firm‐specific human capital is positively related to compensation. However, empirical studies examining firm‐specific human capital's association with higher employee compensation have been inconclusive. The current study proposes that firm‐specific human capital be categorized as task‐specific and non‐task‐specific. Employees accumulate task‐specific human capital through duties conducted in their current position. Non‐task‐specific human capital represents experiences gained in prior positions to an employee's current job within the firm. Utilizing human capital data from 38,390 employees representing 76 firms in the IT sector, this study examines the association between forms of human capital and employee compensation at different levels of firm productivity. Results show that task‐specific human capital is associated with higher employee compensation. In addition, firm productivity moderates this association.

No abstract

This study examines human resource (HR) professionals' perceptions of the outcomes, process dynamics and affect toward team interviews. Results indicate HR professionals with experience conducting team interviews have significantly more positive views than HR professionals without experience. Additionally, African Americans, compared to Caucasians, expressed a significantly more positive view of the process dynamics of team interviews. Results indicate HR professionals were more positive about participating in team interviews as an interviewer than as an interviewee.

The use of merit pay is increasing in public institutions. The prevalence of merit pay has extended to public universities to evaluate faculty performance. A general perception is that faculty scholarship is disproportionably used relative to instructional and service activities in assessing whether merit pay is warranted. Yet, little actual empirical research has been conducted to predict what components of faculty performance lead to merit pay awards. A survey concerning perceptions of faculty performance and subsequent merit pay was distributed to the entire faculty of a large public eastern research university. Logistic regression analysis found faculty research activities were significantly more predictive of merit pay receipt compared to instructional and service performance. Female faculty members were less supportive of merit pay compared to their male colleagues and perceived less improvement in their overall performance post merit pay awards.M erit pay has been a hallmark of pay for performance programs in organizations for years. 1 Merit pay systems are based upon the idea of well-communicated, pre-determined standards providing a greater reward for those performing at a higher level. This link between pay and performance symbolically demonstrates to all employees the organization's commitment to reward top performers. 2 Organization success is enhanced when pay systems support their strategic objectives because pay practices are a visible and effective method to communicate strategic goals to employees. 3, 4 The underlying philosophy of merit pay is to reward outstanding performers with higher base pay rates. This tactic attempts to unite employee interests with that of the organization. Operant conditioning, expectancy, and equity theories represent psychological theories supporting merit pay. Agency, implicit contract, and efficiency wage theories represent economic theories supporting merit pay. A commonality among all theories is that that they purport that linking pay to performance enhances organizational outcomes.