The effects ofhukou(official household residential status) on perceived human resource management practices and organizational justice in China

Abstract

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.

Diversity-focused HR practices and perceived firm performance: mediating role of procedural justice

“…This fairness and equality in the diversity management practices give assurance to employees that organizational decisions are based on non-prejudicial factors and therefore, are more likely to increase perceptions of procedural justice. Shen and Leggett (2014) established that an organization that implements equitable HRM practices based on formal rules and procedures with minimal influence of organizational politics on decision making reinforces the employees' perceptions of justice. Thus, diversity-focused HR practices should serve as an informational source of employee perceptions of procedural justice.…”

“…At this juncture, while analysing the pattern of relationships, it is worth determining the relationship whether procedural justice mediates the relationship between diversity-focused HR practices and perceived firm performance. Shen and Leggett (2014) pointed that employees' perceptions of the justice embedded in HRM practices functions as the mediator linking HRM and employees' attitudes and their behaviour at work, and thereby organizational performance (Chang, 2005;Folger and Konovsky, 1989;Hung et al, 2004). Brooke and Tyler (2010) opined that in context of procedural justice theory, diversity management maximizes the benefits of diversity and minimizes the potential harms arising from a diverse workforce, by creating conditions which enable employees of all backgrounds to contribute their unique perspectives and reduce potential conflicts by encouraging non-prejudiced, respectful behaviour, and bolstering organizational identity.…”

“…Taking into account the significance of HRM–diversity management nexus, the study integrates diversity management principles (in this case achieving equality) with four key human resources functions, namely, recruitment and selection, training and development, performance appraisal and compensation. These human resource functions are widely recognized as the key practices of HRM in Indian settings (Pio, 2007) and are also identified as pertinent in similar (D’Netto and Sohal, 1999; Richard and Johnson, 2001; Shen et al , 2010) and other allied contexts (D’Netto et al , 2014; Shen and Leggett, 2014).…”

Perceptions of discrimination and distributive injustice among people with physical disabilities

“…Chung (2001) defined work discrimination as "unfair and negative treatment of workers or job applicants based on personal attributes that are irrelevant to job performance (Chung, 2001, p. 34). For this study we have adopted an organisational justice framework, as it best suits our questions and has been applied to compensation, performance valuations, staff recruitment and career development, among other human resource practices (Cropanzano et al, 2007;Dencker, 2008;Gilliland, 1994;Greenberg, 1986;Janssen, 2001;Kandal and Abdul, 2012;Kaplan and Ferris, 2001;Shah, 2010;Shen and Leggett, 2014;Wyld, 2008). There are three related forms of organisational justice: distributive justice, procedural justice and interactional justice (Cohen-Charash and Spector, 2001;Colquitt 2001).…”

Guanxi and high performance work systems in China: evidence from a state-owned enterprise

“…HPWS have been the subject of relatively limited attention in China (for early work see Mao, Song, & Han, 2013;Qiao, Khilji, & Wang, 2009), although Zhang and Llewelyn Morris (2014) and Mao et al (2013) have provided broadly positive insights. Both, however, neglect cultural context and more nuanced exploration in Chinese research extends only to the role of demographic variables (Qiao et al, 2009), cultural distance (Kim, Wright, & Su, 2010) and Hukou (official household residential status) (Shen & Leggett, 2014). Existing research tends to be in context rather than of context (Kim et al, 2010, 78).…”