A showcase for advancing Chinese HRM research

Citation

Wang, G.G. (2010), "A showcase for advancing Chinese HRM research", Journal of Chinese Human Resource Management, Vol. 1 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/jchrm.2010.46501baa.001

A showcase for advancing Chinese HRM research

Article Type: Editorial From: Journal of Chinese Human Resource Management, Volume 1, Issue 2

I am pleased to present the second issue of Journal of Chinese Human Resource Management (JCHRM) to its readership. It is also the first issue under my editorship. It is impossible for me to produce a quality issue without gracious support from the research community, particularly from editors of our sister journals, from authors and reviewers, and from related research associations. I appreciate the support by International Association of Chinese Management Research (IACMR) and the editors of the quarterly IACMR Newsletter. They were able to squeeze in a call by JCHRM in the last minute. I am also indebted to the worldwide authors, reviewers, and members of Editorial Advisory Board of JCHRM for their dedicated and timely revisions and reviews that make this issue possible.

I take that support offered to JCHRM from the worldwide research community as a strong message indicating the need for JCHRM in advancing Chinese HRM knowledge production and dissemination. So let me highlight the focus of JCHRM for the current and all future issues. JCHRM showcases the latest research in advancing Chinese HRM theories and practices, and developing theoretical, conceptual, and empirical understanding of Chinese HRM-related phenomena. To this end, it not only encourages studies validating existing theories developed in the West for the Chinese context, to demonstrate commonalities and differences, but also seeks to foster innovative research that may be derived from such applications. The article by Gu, Wang, Sun, and Xu in this issue provides an example. Adopting the constructs and instruments related to organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover intention, commonly seen in the Western literature, this study identified key differences in work attitudes between China’s post-1980 employees (aka, Generation Y) and their Western counterparts. To this end, it proposed important future directions for research on work attitudes of China’s post-1980 employee population.

Relevance and rigor are indispensable for any scholarly research and is also a focus of JCHRM. While all articles in this issue met this requirement, I would like to mention the article by Guangrong Dai, Kyunghee Han, Huiqin Hu, and Stephen M. Colarelli. Examining empirically the measurement invariance of the Chinese version of NEO PI-R conscientiousness scale as a case, the paper derived important implications for research on evaluating cross-culture equivalence of assessment tools and for organizations intended to establish global talent selection and management systems.

JCHRM welcomes articles employing all research methods: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods. In this issue, we included two articles with qualitative methods, specifically content analysis to explore important Chinese human resource phenomena. The paper by Juni Chan and John Burgess provided informative findings on “Public reporting of HRM practices in selected Hong Kong corporations”. This research echoed increasing research on corporate social responsibility issues in Hong Kong. Meanwhile, Xuefen Chen and Baiyin Yangbrought us to another hot topic, the MBA education in China. With an approach integrating content analysis, interviews, and literature review, the authors analyzed success factors and challenges facing China’s MBA education system. Given China’s unprecedented changes and its increasing global influence, JCHRM encourages studies using rigorous methodological tools to unveil the unknown territory of knowledge in HRM area. In particular, methods such as grounded theory and phenomenology and the like may be able to build indigenous understanding of phenomena that are specific to the Chinese context. Research in this area will certainly enrich the Chinese HRM knowledge base.

Research in Chinese human resource management is exciting and challenging, not only because of the transitioning Chinese context and emerging practices constantly reshape the field, but also because the theoretical and empirical understanding of the Chinese human resource phenomena is limited. JCHRM welcomes innovative and rigorous research papers from the international community of Chinese HRM research.

Given the practical-oriented nature of HRM, JCHRM also considers submissions on the latest Chinese HRM practices as non-peer-reviewed papers additional to peer-reviewed articles. On a rotating basis, these may include, but are not limited to, policy briefings, conference reports, interviews, research notes, instructor’s corner, and book reviews.

As some of the above are not commonly seen in other sister journals, let me elaborate on a few. Interviews with outstanding scholars about their research or career paths and their evolving research fronts may provide valuable insights for junior scholars in their career and research development. Similarly, interviews with influential practitioners may help understand the pulse of Chinese HRM practice for both scholars and practitioners. Research notes, which may or may not be peer-reviewed, are for scholarly dialogues or reflections on research fronts, topics, methods, or research collaborations. Moreover, a significant portion of JCHRM’s readership is engaged in teaching and learning in China-related HRM subjects, Instructor’s corner offers an opportunity for those interested in discourse on instruction and learning. Additionally, Chinese government policies can often shape and reshape the Chinese transitioning environment and the process under which HRM research and practice are situated. JCHRM will publish occasional policy briefings that may help scholars identify research areas or ideas. For authors interested in contributing to JCHRM, if you have an idea about any of the areas but not sure about the relevancy, please contact JCHRM for more information.

In short, JCHRM will be a showcase for the latest advances in Chinese HRM research and practice, by presenting relevant and rigorous studies as well as innovative and informative papers. I am certain that with the worldwide support from both scholarly and practitioner communities, JCHRM can move along and accomplish its mission of advancing research in the area of Chinese HRM.

Let me close by acknowledging the excellent work of our Inaugural Editor, Professor Zhongming Wang of Zhejiang University and former Executive Editor, Dr Connie Zheng. The work that they did to bring the journal into existence and to give us the base on which we can build the Chinese HRM showcase is a tribute to their commitment and is greatly appreciated by those of us who follow. I have no doubt that we, like Sir Isaac Newton, benefit from “standing on the shoulders of giants”.

Greg G. Wang