The definition and measurement of human capital resources: A content and meta-analytic review.

Abstract

Although human capital resources (HCR) can be important for organizational performance, researchers have defined and measured HCR in various ways. Consequently, it is unclear whether existing measures provide valid inferences about HCR or their relations with other constructs. We conducted this three-study research to address these issues. In Study 1, we reviewed HCR definitions (k = 84) and found that most definitions focus on collective knowledge, skills, and abilities. Recent definitions also tend to include other characteristics (e.g., personality). In Study 2, a content analysis of HCR measures (k = 127) revealed that only 23.6% of the measures focused solely on HCR and they tended to assess only one or two dimensions of the construct (i.e., were deficient). Many measures (46.5%) assessed both HCR and other constructs (i.e., were partially contaminated), and other measures (29.9%) assessed only non-HCR constructs (i.e., were fully contaminated). In Study 3 (k = 94), we found that HCR measures that were less deficient demonstrated stronger criterion-related validity for predicting unit and firm performance. Interestingly, partially contaminated measures were somewhat more predictive than uncontaminated measures (ρ = .35 vs. .25, respectively), mainly because they assessed both HCR and other constructs that are related to performance. Both types of measures demonstrated stronger validity than fully contaminated measures. Overall, findings suggest that extant HCR measures often are deficient and/or contaminated. We discuss implications, as well as offer guidance for measuring HCR in future research.

Managing unit human capital resources: Integrating insights from human resource management and unit leadership literatures.

“…As shown in Table 1, these observations highlight three elements of unit HCR requiring management: (a) individual/unit capacities, (b) relational capacities, and (c) emergence enablers (Gallagher et al, 2022; Ployhart et al, 2014; Ployhart & Moliterno, 2011). Individual and unit capacities represent the building blocks of unit HCR and reflect the array of individual KSAOs (e.g., cognitive ability, coding skill, emotional intelligence, personality) and various combinations (e.g., sum total of physical strength, average intelligence and team learning patterns, diverse skill sets and cross-functional teams) relevant and accessible to the unit (Ployhart et al, 2014; L. Zhang et al, 2023).…”

“…Although we describe the above elements in static terms, unit HCR elements are dynamic and emergent (Ployhart et al, 2009; Ployhart & Moliterno, 2011; L. Zhang et al, 2023).…”

“…During the past decade, scholars have made great strides in defining the unit human capital resources (HCR) construct, conceptualizing unit HCR emergence processes, and demonstrating the benefits of unit HCR (Eckardt & Jiang, 2019; Moliterno & Nyberg, 2019; Ployhart et al, 2014; Ray, Essman, et al, 2023; L. Zhang et al, 2023).…”

The influences of psychosocial work environment on the turnovers of civil service cadre officers in rural Bangladesh: an empirical study

“…In rural public offices, intimidation, harassment and bullying are regularly reported in Bangladesh's media (BTI, 2016). Turnover defined as the departure of an employee from an organisation (Sun and Wang, 2017; Zhang et al. , 2023) becomes a major problem in human resource management within public sector.…”

“…Turnover intention is related to an employee's degree of connection to the organisation, its environment and community (Hussain and Deery, 2018; Zhang et al. , 2023).…”