Exploring the relationships between HPWS, organizational ambidexterity and firm performance in Chinese professional service firms
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to better understand the indirect link between high-performance work systems (HPWSs) and firm performance in Chinese professional service firms (PSFs) by investigating the mediating role of organizational ambidexterity, i.e. a firm’s capability to simultaneously explore new ideas and exploit existing resources.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 120 Chinese accounting firms. The authors used hierarchical and polynomial regression analyses to test their hypotheses.
Findings
The proposed positive link between the HPWS and organizational ambidexterity was found. Further, the results showed a non-linear relationship between organizational ambidexterity and organizational performance.
Research limitations/implications
The present study is limited in terms of small sample size, single industry and self-report data.
Practical implications
Firms which reported a higher level of HPWS demonstrated better performance due to their organizational capability to explore new ideas and exploit existing resources. In the Chinese context, firms that had high levels of exploration (exploring new resources) and exploitation (exploiting existing resources) or that had a high level of exploration experienced higher performance. The authors can conclude from these findings that without exploration, organizational success is difficult to achieve for PSFs.
Originality/value
This is the first study examining the underlying mechanism of organizational ambidexterity in the indirect relationship between HPWS and firm performance in Chinese PSFs. It advances the authors understanding of HPWS and firm performance relationship in an Eastern country and an emerging context of PSFs. This is also the first study to use polynomial regression to operationalize organizational ambidexterity.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the Editor Professor Greg Wang and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments during the reviewing process. Sincere thanks are given to Mr Yanqi Yu at Liaoning Institute of Certified Public Accountants for his great support in conducting this research project. The authors also would like to thank the DCU Business School Research Committee at Dublin City University and Emerald/IACMR Chinese Management Research Fund for their financial support for this study. Many thanks are given to Yang Liu, Yang Zhang, Xiaoning Liang and Xuan Zhao who facilitated the data collection and input in China. The first author would like to thank Professor Anne Huff at Maynooth University for organizing the writing retreat which made the paper alive. The authors also thank the many HR Managers and Managing Partners who completed the surveys. The first author on this paper was funded by an Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowship between 2012 and 2014. This research project proposal was the winner of Highly Recommended Award of the 2011 Emerald/IACMR Chinese Management Research Fund.
Citation
Fu, N., Ma, Q., Bosak, J. and Flood, P. (2015), "Exploring the relationships between HPWS, organizational ambidexterity and firm performance in Chinese professional service firms", Journal of Chinese Human Resource Management, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 52-70. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCHRM-09-2014-0029
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited