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Many HRM practices are never thoroughly implemented, or are implemented ineffectively. To better understand what line managers need to implement HRM practices effectively, the authors have developed and validated a psychometrically sound measurement instrument dealing with line managers' attributions for effective HRM implementation. Based on the theory of causal attributions, the authors distinguish between internal and external attributions that determine how line managers implement HRM practices on the work floor.

A multidimensional approach has been used, and, after collecting data from 471 line managers, thorough scale development guidelines and validation procedures have been applied for instrument development.

The instrument's psychometric qualities have been assessed by calculating the reliability and validity of line managers' internal attributions – including its composing dimensions of desire and competences – and their external attributions – including the dimensions of support, capacity and policy and procedures. In particular, both convergent and discriminant validity as well as intra-class correlations have been established. The newly developed measures are found to be of good quality. The scales appear to discriminate well between the distinguished groups and show a good variation within groups.

The developed measurement instrument helps HRM professionals to better understand line managers' attributions to effectively implement HRM practices and to provide them with support and training for effective HRM implementation.

Previous research has already identified weaknesses in HRM implementation, but lacked addressing the causes of this. The study presents antecedents for HRM implementation effectiveness, based on the causal attribution theory, and a psychometrically validated instrument to measure these antecedents.

The internationalisation of enterprises is expected to undermine national systems of employee representation. This paper assesses the extent to which this expectation can be confirmed. Using a survey of Dutch works councils, we compare national, Dutch multinational and foreign multinational firms. Using another survey, we then assess the role of European works councils within Dutch MNEs. The results of the first survey show that the influence of works councils in multinational firms, especially with respect to strategic policy, but also, to a lesser extent, regarding organisational and personnel issues is decreasing. From the second survey, we learn that European works councils have so far not compensated for this decrease in influence. We conclude that the undermining of employee representation at the national level can only be counteracted by a combination of further regulations at the European level, a change in (top) management attitudes in European MNEs and the close co‐operation of employee representatives within the respective countries and at the different levels.

The key issue of continuous improvement (CI) seems to be the problem of combining extensive employee involvement with market orientation and continuation of CI. In this article we review some existing organisational designs for CI on these three essential characteristics of CI. As an alternative to the shortcomings of current organisational designs for CI we present the mini‐company concept, related to the sociotechnical concept of the self‐managing team. The mini‐company concept incorporates the three key issues: it has a self‐propelling capacity for CI, involving everyone on the shop floor. A constant and market‐oriented source for improvement is found in the clients and suppliers of the mini‐company. Results of an in‐depth case‐study are presented, showing some strong effects of the mini‐company concept.

Sociotechnical systems theory (STS) does not address in full the implications of the team‐context relations, despite its open systems character. There is a need to open STS into a sociotechnical business systems (STBS) theory and practice. We observe three interrelated aspects that are important for STBS. First, the design of the production structure is a traditional STS aspect. Second, the design of the control structure on the team level needs an elaboration compared with STS. The third aspect is the social‐dynamic alignment. We describe the mini‐company concept and argue that this concept is a specification of STBS covering the three aspects. The case of the implementation of mini‐companies in a Dutch manufacturing plant illustrates the strengths of the concept.

The relationship between participation quality and commitment has received relatively limited attention in the industrial relations (IR) and human resource management (HRM) literature. This paper seeks to fill some of the gaps in prior research. It aims to answer three questions: How do participation justice and satisfaction influence affective and normative organisational commitment? Does leader‐member exchange (LMX) influence satisfaction and perceived justice with participation? Do the three assumed indicators of participation quality mediate the relationship between LMX and affective and normative organisational commitment?

The research was conducted at three faculties of a Dutch university, and involved faculty staff. E‐mails and online questionnaires were distributed in Dutch. Hypotheses were tested. Three indicators of direct participation quality: satisfaction with participation, perceived distributive justice concerning participation, and procedural justice were included.

It was found that two indicators of participation quality mediate the LMX and affective organisational commitment relationship: satisfaction with direct participation and perceived distributive justice concerning direct participation. As a consequence, it can be concluded that supervisors' skills in fostering direct participation quality contribute to employees' positive attitudes towards the overall employment relationship and thereby perhaps also to organisational performance.

The paper explores the relationships between LMX, direct participation quality, and affective and normative organisational commitment.

The purpose of this paper is to present the concept of human resource management (HRM) frames, to identify frame domains, and to explore their role in implementing HRM innovation. HRM innovation implementation is considered through the theoretical lens of social cognitive theory, and defined as a process for achieving the appropriate and committed use of HRM innovation by targeted employees.

An explorative case study in a construction company is conducted to illustrate the role of HRM frames in the implementation of HRM innovations. Interviews are held with 21 line managers and human resource (HR) specialists, and intensive document analysis added further data. Respondents described their understanding, assumptions and expectations of a new HRM programme, which enabled analysis of the contents of interview transcripts.

Four HRM frame domains are identified: strategic motivation, essence of HRM innovation, HRM innovation‐in‐practice and ownership. Where the HRM frames are significantly different, difficulties and conflicts in HRM innovation implementation are observed. Empirical findings illustrated how the nature, value and reasons behind the HRM innovation are interpreted by HR specialists and line managers, and that incongruent frames resulted in outcomes that deviated from those expected.

This paper takes a process‐based approach and considers the implementation of HRM in organisations rather than focusing on factor‐based research into HRM practices. It shows how the implementation of HRM is constructed through social‐cognitive interpretations by organisational members.

The purpose of this paper is to derive a measure for the performance of human resource shared service providers (HR SSPs) and then to develop a theoretical framework that conceptualises their performance.

This conceptual paper starts from the HR shared services argument and integrates this with the knowledge‐based view of the firm and the concept of intellectual capital.

The authors recommend measuring HR SSP performance as HR value, referring to the ratio between use value and exchange value, that together reflect both transactional and transformational HR value. They argue that transactional HR value directly flows from the organisational capital in HR SSPs, whereas human and social capitals enable them to leverage their organisational capital for HR value creation. The authors argue that the human capital of HR SSPs has a direct effect on transformational HR value creation, while their social and organisational capitals positively moderate this relationship.

The suggested measure paves the way for operationalising and measuring the performance of HR shared services providers. This paper offers testable propositions for the relationships between intellectual capital and the performance of HR shared service providers. These contributions could assist future research to move beyond the descriptive nature that characterises the existing literature.

The purpose of this paper is to derive a measure for the performance of human resource shared service providers (HR SSPs) and then to develop a theoretical framework that conceptualises their performance.

This conceptual paper starts from the HR shared services argument and integrates this with the knowledge‐based view of the firm and the concept of intellectual capital.

The authors recommend measuring HR SSP performance as HR value, referring to the ratio between use value and exchange value, that together reflect both transactional and transformational HR value. They argue that transactional HR value directly flows from the organisational capital in HR SSPs, whereas human and social capitals enable them to leverage their organisational capital for HR value creation. They argue that the human capital of HR SSPs has a direct effect on transformational HR value creation, while their social and organisational capitals positively moderate this relationship.

The suggested measure paves the way for operationalising and measuring the performance of HR shared services providers. The paper offers testable propositions for the relationships between intellectual capital and the performance of HR shared service providers. These contributions could assist future research to move beyond the descriptive nature that characterises the existing literature.

Studies have highlighted concerns about the role of knowledge creation between human resource management practices and employee behaviour. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of green human resource management (green HRM) on employee green behaviour (EGB) through the mediation of environmental knowledge of lecturers in public research universities in Malaysia.

This cross-sectional study examines the mechanism in which green HRM affects the EGB of lecturers through environmental knowledge in Malaysian public research universities. Smart PLS was used to analyse the relationships from 425 valid responses.

The findings of the study show that green HRM affects EGB through the full mediation of environmental knowledge. This finding gives a theoretical implication in terms of ability, motivation and opportunity theory.

The scope of this study is limited to public research universities in Malaysia. Future studies may explore other variables that could expedite the relationship between green HRM and EGB. Implications include policy making that emphasises on enhancing environmental knowledge of lecturers.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study has been conducted using environmental knowledge as a mediator between green HRM and EGB.

Previous research has predominately focused on the servitization strategies of western manufacturers in advanced economies, neglecting the potential for servitization in those which are emerging, such as China. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of the external service partner network of a European manufacturer providing services in China, in order to develop a better understanding of the resulting and associated challenges.

An in-depth case study approach was used to examine the parent company, its subsidiary in China and the related service partner network. Data collection involved all three actors and took place in Denmark and China.

The findings suggest that motivation, opportunity and ability (MOA) need not only be mutually reinforcing for the organization attempting to move toward services but also aligned between organizational units, as well as with the service partner network. Furthermore, the findings suggest that while service partners are typically closer to the market, they may not be able to deliver the higher value-added services requiring customization.

This study is limited to a single manufacturer attempting servitization in China. Future studies may consider other case firms in other markets.

The MOA framework provides a basis for understanding the managerial challenges of aligning and coordinating the MOA elements amongst different actors.

This paper contributes by exploring servitization in an emerging market through the MOA framework in order to better understand the challenges and complexities. Servitization is found to be a dynamic phenomenon which should be understood as a movement that is also dependent on an external service partner possessing the necessary capabilities. In turn, this requires understanding the MOAs of all actors in a network and how they may be influenced in order for the MOA elements to be mutually reinforcing.