The purpose of this paper is to examine the shared services or outsourcing decision.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the shared services or outsourcing decision.
Design/methodology/approach
Data are drawn from interviews with over 70 executives in leading organizations in relation to their strategic objectives in advocating the adoption of their chosen service delivery model.
Findings
The paper notes that decision making by the numbers alone (satellite strategy) may ensure reaching the strategic destination eventually, but perhaps too belatedly. One has to consider the different stages of the “in”, “out” or “shake it all about” debate relating to sourcing strategy and the costs thereof.
Originality/value
The paper is of value in enabling organizations to recognize the distinction between strategic enablement and their competitive intangibles.
Details
Keywords
Steve Fleetwood and Anthony Hesketh
The purpose of this paper is to identify the conceptual underpinnings of the theoretical weaknesses of extant research investigating the HRM‐Organizational Performance Link…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the conceptual underpinnings of the theoretical weaknesses of extant research investigating the HRM‐Organizational Performance Link (hereafter HRM‐P Link).
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews a number of different empirical approaches to the HRM‐P Link and reflects upon, and defines, theory, focusing upon two important dimensions: prediction and explanation. The paper also discusses why the field in its current guise cannot sustain a commitment to explanation, so that under‐theorisation and lack of explanatory power go hand‐in‐hand. It then tackles the possibility that theoretical underpinnings for empirical research on the HRM‐P Link might come from other disciplines such as economics. The paper also begins to set out a meta‐theoretical alternative.
Findings
The paper finds that: theoretical underpinnings will not emerge and develop simply by doing more, and/or better, empirical work; meta‐theoretical problems besetting the paradigm are actually far worse than is usually recognised; and attempts to borrow theories from other disciplines have not been successful.
Research limitations/implications
The paper shows that this is a broad and complex field and it has been necessarily selective in its evaluation. It does, however, signpost additional writing in this area to complement the word limit it faces here.
Practical implications
The paper shows that both organizations and researchers need to think more robustly about the meta‐theoretical underpinnings of the relationship between HRM practices and their capacity to enable people to perform. It is hoped that renewed meta‐theoretical debate will be triggered in this direction.
Originality/value
This paper is the only critical review of the meta‐theoretical underpinnings of the HRM‐P field.
Details
Keywords
Robert Kaše, Jaap Paauwe and Saša Batistič
The purpose of this paper is to offer a perspective on the future of the human resource management (HRM)-performance debate and its prospects for interaction with practice by…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer a perspective on the future of the human resource management (HRM)-performance debate and its prospects for interaction with practice by evaluating the debate's intellectual structure.
Design/methodology/approach
With co-citation analysis the paper examines the intellectual structure that informed the HRM-performance debate. The findings were presented to a group of academics, who have been influential in the development of the debate. In several rounds of a quasi-Delphi interaction they discussed the state of the art, future development of the debate, upcoming theoretical sources of inspiration and topics on which they (dis)agreed.
Findings
The dominant knowledge domain is built upon resource-based view, social exchange theory, human capital theory, institutional theory and critical perspective. It became well established in the mid 1990s, when the strategic HRM domain merged with the high performance work systems domain, thus forming the conceptual backbone of the debate. More recently the debate has been informed by review studies, meta-analyses and critical reflections on the current methodological paradigms, which is aligned with the debate's life cycle stage.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the theoretical foundations of the HRM-performance debate and gives valuable suggestions on how to take the field forward along with important implications for researchers and their relationship with the business community.
Details
Keywords
Mai Thi Ngoc Dao and Anthony Thorpe
The purpose of this paper is to report the factors that influence Vietnamese students’ choice of university in a little researched context where the effects of globalization and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report the factors that influence Vietnamese students’ choice of university in a little researched context where the effects of globalization and education reform are changing higher education.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative survey was completed by 1,124 current or recently completed university students in Vietnam. Marketing approaches are drawn upon to inform the exploration and understanding of student choice and decision making.
Findings
The factor analysed data showed the nine key factors influencing student decisions, in order of significance, as facilities and services, programme, price, offline information, opinions, online information, ways of communication, programme additions, and advertising. There are significant correlations in the Vietnamese context between the factors of price and facilities, and services and programme, and differences between genders and types of students in choosing a university.
Research limitations/implications
Whilst this paper is a starting point, more research is needed in the Vietnamese context with deeper levels of analysis including the differences between types of universities and fields/disciplines, in addition to wider sampling.
Practical implications
A greater understanding of the Vietnamese context helps to inform marketing practices in a country experiencing increasing competition in higher education.
Social implications
Findings from studies in other contexts many not be directly transferrable to Vietnamese universities suggesting the need for a contextual understanding of these factors and a suitably nuanced marketing response.
Originality/value
This paper identifies the need for cultural understanding of little researched contexts and calls for further research which does not assume all cultures and contexts will have the same underlying Vietnamese model of university choice.
Details
Keywords
The primary objective of this chapter is to synthesize and organize prevailing theoretical perspectives on metacognition into a framework that can enhance understanding of…
Abstract
The primary objective of this chapter is to synthesize and organize prevailing theoretical perspectives on metacognition into a framework that can enhance understanding of metacognitive phenomena, with the aim of stimulating future research in the field of organizational behavior and human resources management (OBHRM). The author starts with a review of the history of metacognition research, distinguishing it from related theoretical constructs such as cognition, executive function, and self-regulation. Following this, the author outlines five constituent elements of metacognition – metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive experiences, metacognitive monitoring, a dynamic mental model, and metacognitive control – with discussions on their interrelationships and respective functions. Two approaches to metacognition, a process approach and an individual-difference approach, are then presented, summarizing key questions and findings from each. Finally, three broad directions for future research in OBHRM are proposed: examining metacognitive processes, considering mechanisms beyond learning to explain the effects of metacognition, and exploring both domain-specific and general metacognitive knowledge and skills. The implications of these research directions for personnel and human resources management practices are discussed.