An Exploration of the Role Duality Experienced by HR Professionals as Both Implementers and Recipients of HR Practices: Evidence from the Indian Railways

Abstract

This study provides an innovative perspective on empirically assessing HR by focusing on the duality of HR professionals’ experiences as both implementers and recipients or internal customers of HR practices given that they are also employees of the organization. We hypothesize that HR professionals experience HR practices more favorably from an implementer perspective as compared to an internal customer perspective. These differences in experiences are likely to be influenced by HR professionals’ hierarchical position in the HR department. Our analyses of 1,271 HR professionals employed by Indian Railways revealed a number of differences between the two types of experience. Some practices (recruitment and selection, training, and employee welfare) were viewed more negatively from the implementer perspective, whereas others (compensation, benefits, and employment relations) were rated more negatively from the internal customer perspective. Those holding more senior HR positions reported more positive experiences of training and employment relations from an internal customer perspective. Overall our contributions draw on the attribution theory and concepts of intraorganizational power and voice, and have implications concerning the effectiveness of HR practices. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Antecedents of Affective Commitment of Human Resource Management Practitioners Attending a Professional Body Convention

“…Unlike other employees, HRM practitioners are faced with the challenge of performing a dual role (Pereira & Fontinha, 2016). Given the dualistic nature of their role, HRM practitioners tend to focus on the commitment of other employees while neglecting their own.…”

Human Capital Factors Affecting Human Resource (HR) Managers' Commitment to HR and the Mediating Role of Perceived Organizational Value on HR

“…Traditionally, HR managers also play more central and crucial roles in formulating and enacting HR practices than do line managers in many Asian countries including this study's context, South Korea (Jacoby, Nason, & Saguchi, ; Kim & Ryu, ). Hence, HR managers’ commitment to HR that ensures the proper implementation of HR practices seems to be even more crucial for the success of HR practices (Pereira & Fontinha, ; Wright, McMahan, Snell, & Gerhart, ) in this study's context. As such, strategic HRM research should pay more attention to HR managers’ commitment to HR as a focal study variable and unveil various correlates of it.…”

“…Hence, we propose that the bundle or aggregate of HR‐specific human capital variables will serve as a key factor leading to commitment to HR (Ployhart, ). In particular, we consider three variables: (a) HR‐specific tenure (i.e., how long have they worked in the field of HR; Lee et al, ), (b) HR‐related education and expertise (i.e., whether they have intensively [as a major] studied HR related subjects at a post‐secondary institute; Ericsson & Lehmann, ), and (c) job level in HR (i.e., whether they have a stronger influence on the implementation or delivery of HR activities and services; Pereira & Fontinha, ). As discussed in Kline and Peters (), commitment represents “a psychological obligation to behave in a manner consistent with the implications of prior behavior” (p. 1991).…”

“…This suggests that employees’ understanding about the goals of current and newly implemented HR practices via aligned HR activities and services provided by HR actors (HR managers and line managers) should be an important consideration in strategic HRM research (Nishii, Lepak, & Schneider, ; see also Bowen & Ostroff, ). Thus, HR actors who implement HR practices first need to be constantly informed of and committed to the intended goals of the HR practices in order for those goals to be understood, accepted, and behaviorally pursued among employees (Pereira & Fontinha, ). That is, well‐designed HR practices may not always succeed unless HR actors first understand and accept the objectives, rationale, and consequences of the HR practices.…”

Happiness Index for Human Resource Management Practitioners Associated with the Professional Body

“…Scholars conducting research in the workplace found that happy employees are productive (Armenta, Fritz & Lyubomirsky, 2017;Bakhtiar, Bahrami, Keyvanara & Kalantari, 2009;De Neve, Diener, Tay & Xuereb, 2013;Lyubomirsky King & Diener, 2005;Wesarat, Yazam, & Halim, 2014;Zarei & Hughgooyan, 2011). The challenges for HRM practitioners are two-fold-they are both implementers and recipients of human resource practices (Pereira & Fontinha, 2016). As the first and largest HR professional body in Africa, the IPM is recognized by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA).…”