High‐involvement work practices and environmental capabilities: How HIWPS create environmentally based sustainable competitive advantages

Abstract

We study how high‐involvement work practices (HIWPs) may enhance a firm's economic performance through the development of a proactive environmental strategy (PES). HIWP systems facilitate the implementation of a PES by promoting employees' ability, motivation, and opportunities to behave in ways consistent with environmental management goals. In turn, PESs contribute to the development of strategic competitive advantages and drive superior performance. The results of our empirical analysis of 233 firms broadly confirm our hypotheses and suggest that although the direct effect of HIWPs on performance was not signifi cant in our sample, HIWPs do have a significant indirect effect through a PES as a mediator.

Is Strategic Proactivity a Driver of an Environmental Strategy? Effects of Innovation and Internationalization Leadership

“…Following this paper, the study of internal business factors that facilitate the implantation of environmental practices and objectives attracted the interest of business management literature. The academic studies involved highlight the impact of factors, such as firm size [3,4], managerial attitudes [5][6][7][8], employee motivation and qualification [4,9], high-involvement work practices [10], innovation [11] or internationalization [12].…”

How Does Executive Strategic Human Resource Management Link to Organizational Ambidexterity? An Empirical Examination of Manufacturing Firms in China

“…Studies of HRM suggest that firms should design HRM policies and practices based on their business strategies as a strategic approach to people management (e.g., Martinez‐del‐Río, Céspedes‐Lorente, & Carmona‐Moreno, ). SHRM represents a set of strategy‐aligned HRM practices in areas such as staffing (including recruiting and training), compensation systems (including performance appraisals and reward systems), and employee development programs (including empowerment and climate building).…”

“…In this study, we propose a teamwork‐oriented executive SHRM system as an important antecedent of TMT effectiveness on aspects such as consensus achievement on the goals and missions of their firms, effective decision making to enhance firm performance, and consistent work toward attaining the organizational goals (De Hoogh & Den Hartog, ). Generally speaking, an executive SHRM system (e.g., practices of selective recruiting and compensation packages) could mitigate conflicting interests and disagreement among TMT members, and thus a shared understanding of the goals and missions of their firms could possibly be achieved (Martinez‐del‐Río et al, ). Executive SHRM practices such as training and performance appraisal could also advance team capabilities, reduce team disputes, and enhance team cooperation (Lin & Shih, ), all of which could in turn enhance TMT members’ abilities to work coherently as a team toward attaining their goals.…”

“…First, extant studies suggest that the value of employees can be enhanced to benefit firm‐level outcomes through practices such as recruiting excellent applicants and providing employees with job‐relevant training (e.g., Martinez‐del‐Río et al, ). Similarly, we predict selective hiring of competent senior executives and further training and development may produce superior knowledge that ultimately improves TMT effectiveness (e.g., Martinez‐del‐Río et al, ).…”

“…First, extant studies suggest that the value of employees can be enhanced to benefit firm‐level outcomes through practices such as recruiting excellent applicants and providing employees with job‐relevant training (e.g., Martinez‐del‐Río et al, ). Similarly, we predict selective hiring of competent senior executives and further training and development may produce superior knowledge that ultimately improves TMT effectiveness (e.g., Martinez‐del‐Río et al, ). Specifically, selective staffing practices are constructed to lead to hiring executives who possess desired knowledge, abilities, and other characteristics, such as communication skills, teamwork ability, broad experiences, and global vision (Lin & Shih, ).…”