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The purpose of this paper is to analyze simultaneously two moderator effects on a model of relationships between external human resource (HR) flexibility and innovation in a large sample of manufacturing firms.

The study sample consisted of 1,864 Spanish industrial firms in 2012 compiled from a large set of statements from the Survey of Business Strategies questionnaire. Logit and linear regressions tested the moderator effects of inter-organizational technology cooperation and environmental (market) dynamism in the relationship between external HR flexibility and innovation performance. To control for multicollinearity the Lance’s residual centering technique was used.

Process innovations seemed to be dependent on industry while innovative firms have developed a greater flexibility than non-innovative firms. Some moderator effects were found regarding inter-organizational cooperation while the market dynamism was negatively related to the measures of innovation with absence of moderator effects.

Future studies should integrate more moderator effects that may influence the relationship between external HR flexibility and the firm’s innovation performance. The results regarding the influences of external flexibility on innovation have to be differentiated as inter-organizational technological cooperation compensated the influence of external workplace flexibility on innovation.

Managers should use a right mix of external flexibility measures according to the inter-organizational cooperation but regardless the level of environmental dynamism.

This paper is original in the sense that it studies the relationship between external HR flexibility and innovation with the simultaneous moderator effect of inter-organizational technology cooperation and market dynamism. The value of the paper lies in the discussion of interrelated moderator effects in order to propose adequate strategies to develop external HR flexibility.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of a bundle of work–family policies on employee’s job satisfaction and (affective) organizational commitment, by using work–family enrichment and conflict as explanatory.

Empirical study is conducted with a sample of 322 employees from 30 Spanish firms that have been granted with the “Flexible Firm Award” or have been certified as “Family Responsible Firms.” Structural equation modeling is used to test hypotheses.

The results show that the higher the use of work–family policies the more positive effects on work–family enrichment and conflict, and that job satisfaction is positively related to (effective) organizational commitment.

This is a cross-sectional study which may limit the establishment of causal relationships.

Work–family policies may constitute a relevant management tool to balance work and family life by making employees more interested in their jobs, enhancing their well-being and reducing the conflicts between work and family domains. The positive role of work–family enrichment contributes to enhance employees’ job satisfaction and, at the same time, to increase their organizational commitment. Managers should pay attention at how work–family policies are justified because they may influence differently on their outcomes on satisfaction and commitment.

There are two main original contributions of the paper. First, the authors study the joint effect of work–family policies on different dimensions of enrichment and conflict. Second, the authors analyze the relationship between different dimensions of enrichment and conflict on job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

This paper aims to analyze the relationship between labour flexibility and innovation performance.

This paper is a review of theoretical perspectives to analyze this relationship. A postal survey of a sample of Spanish manufacturing and service firms was conducted and this was subject to nonparametric analysis.

High‐innovative Spanish firms are more flexible than low‐innovative firms although the comparison across industries and type of innovation indicates that not all flexibility dimensions are statistically significant in their relationship to innovation performance.

The study's single country setting could limit the generalizability of the findings. Longitudinal as opposed to cross‐sectional data are needed for studying the causal assumptions suggested by this research.

Given the differences of flexibility dimensions found across industries and type of innovation firms should use flexibility capabilities to complement innovation capabilities. On the other hand, some flexible managerial practices should be adopted as early as possible because they appear to be global in knowledge‐intensive firms and do not have differences across sectors and type of innovation.

This paper combines in the same analysis the relationship of internal and external flexibility with innovation performance, and their managerial implications.

This paper shows the results of a survey to Spanish employees about labour mobility and its determinants. Job non‐related factors are more significant than job related factors to explain the employees’ labour mobility. The employee's perceptions about job satisfaction, pay fairness, and work‐family conflict are more explanatory of labour mobility than traditional job‐related factors like pay or social benefits.

This paper analyses the environmental impacts of teleworking. Some empirical studies indicate a positive relationship between the use of teleworking and the reduction of commuting and pollution. The article discusses the variables that impact on the use of teleworking in urban environments, and shows a case estimation for a Spanish city.

Shows the results of a survey about the antecedents of work‐family conflict in a sample of Spanish employees. Analyses and discusses the influence of job‐related and non‐related factors. The results indicate that both groups of factors are antecedents of work‐family conflict. Even though gender is not a significant variable to explain work‐family conflict, the empirical study found differences at the time to explain the antecedents of men and women's work‐family conflict. A few family‐domain and work‐domain perceptions had a strong influence on work‐family conflict such as the gender roles, importance of family, job flexibility and job mental and physical requirements. Some of these perceptions suggest the influence of a culture where traditional gender roles still prevail and family as an institution is very strong. Functional mobility and educational level are also antecedents of work‐family conflict. However, job category level, marital status, and social benefits do not have any influence on work‐family conflict in the multivariate analysis, but the bivariate analysis showed that they have indeed an influence on the work‐family conflict according to the hypotheses developed in the research framework.

This paper analyzes the results of a survey about labor mobility of a sample of 1,182 Spanish employees. The results indicate that women have lower mobility than men, and that the mobility of men and women is explained by different factors. The employee’s perceptions about job satisfaction, pay fairness, and employment stability are also more explicative of job mobility than traditional job‐related factors, such as wages or training. These results have managerial implications for the segmentation of men and women in the labor market.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the moderator effect of inter‐organizational cooperation in the relationship between workplace flexibility and innovation performance.

Postal survey to a sample of manufacturing and service firms. Hierarchical regression.

It was found that innovation performance is positively associated to internal functional flexibility, and negatively to external numerical flexibility and outsourcing. Inter‐organizational cooperation moderates the relationships between functional flexibility, external numerical flexibility and outsourcing with innovation performance.

The study's single country setting could limit the generalizability of the findings. Longitudinal as opposed to cross‐sectional data are needed for studying the causal assumptions reported here.

The results of this study suggest that high‐cooperation firms may compensate the negative impact of external flexibility and perform better than low‐cooperation firms. External knowledge and cooperation can be complementary. Managers should take into account that the benefits from external workplace (e.g. access to new knowledge) may be enhanced in the context of inter‐organizational cooperation.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study that tests whether inter‐organizational cooperation moderates the relationship between external numerical flexibility and innovation performance. The paper also investigates and applies internal and external flexibility in a single study which allows to compare how each of them impacts innovation performance.

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to explore the relationship between teleworking adoption, workplace flexibility, and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach – Empirical survey of a representative sample of 479 small‐ and medium‐sized firms. Data gathered through interviews with company managers using a structured questionnaire. A t‐test used to analyse the mean differences of flexibility dimensions between companies, and a regression analysis used to study the impact of teleworking and other flexible workplace practices on firm performance. Findings – Firm performance is positively related to the use of teleworking, flexitime, contingent work and spatial decentralisation. Teleworking firms use more flexitime, have more employees involved in job design and planning, are more intensively managed by results, and use more variable compensation. The relationship of teleworking and external workplace flexibility is not so conclusive. Measures of external flexibility like subcontracting or contingent work are not associated with teleworking but spatial decentralisation is positively associated. Research limitations/implications – A limitation of this research is the measurement of flexibility at the firm level and the use of cross‐sectional data. To the extent that organisations may obtain functional and numerical flexibility by means of their relations to other organisations in networks, the most appropriate unit of analysis may be the network which it has implications for future longitudinal studies. Practical implications – Flexibility is a source of competitive advantage. Enhancing flexibility may be costly in the short run, but it gets easier over time. Firms become more flexible because their managers emphasise the importance of flexibility and because they practice being flexible. A self‐reinforcing process then begins. The relationships between the different forms of flexibility are important to understand the interaction between the dynamic control capacity of management and the responsiveness of the organisation. Originality/value – The article analyses the relationship between teleworking adoption and other flexibility dimensions.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the contribution of human resource (HR) commitment practices to firm performance through the adoption of workplace practices that require the organisational climate created by HR commitment practices.

The approach is a survey of 156 Spanish firms and statistical test of research hypotheses through structural equation modelling.

The results indicate that the extent that employees have access to HR commitment practices and HR social benefits is positively related to the intensity of telework adoption. Firm performance is positively associated to the intensity of telework adoption, functional flexibility and internal numerical flexibility, and negatively related to external numerical flexibility. HR commitment practices impact directly and indirectly on different measures of firm performance.

Cross‐sectional, survey‐based data that cannot infer causality. Longitudinal and qualitative designs are needed to get a better understanding of the relationships. A follow‐up study of employees perception of several variables analysed in this study (e.g. access to HR commitment practices and employee benefits) could reveal possible contradictions between what policies managers claim there exist, and what policies employees perceive to exist.

The adoption of HR commitment practices can facilitate the organisational change required by the adoption of telework.

The findings provide evidence that HR commitment practices are indirectly related to firm performance through their effects on the use of flexibility practices like telework that require organisational climates containing high levels of trust.