ABSTRACT Integrating self‐perception theory with the dual perspectives of work meaningfulness, this study positions managers as a distinct stakeholder category in sustainable HRM and investigates the impact of empowering leadership on managers' own sense of work meaningfulness. We argue that due to the ambiguities surrounding and challenges in sustaining work meaningfulness, managers are likely to reflect on their leadership behaviors to make sense of the meanings of their work. In particular, as empowering leadership—characterized by the distribution of power, autonomy, and support to followers—focuses on promoting intrinsic values and growth for employees, we hypothesize that it can enhance managers' work meaningfulness via managers' increased self‐concordance and perceived social impact. We further propose that managers' self‐reflection amplifies the positive effects of empowering leadership on their self‐concordance, perceived social impact, and, consequently, work meaningfulness. A multi‐wave field survey study with 79 managers (and their 415 followers) in China provides evidence for the effect of empowering leadership on managers' work meaningfulness via self‐concordance and perceived social impact and the moderating role of managers' self‐reflection. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings for managers' well‐being, development, and retention.
ABSTRACT While commitment‐eliciting HR practices (CEHR) are known to enhance employee well‐being, control‐oriented HR practices (COHR) remain underexplored. This study investigates the joint effects of CEHR and COHR on employee well‐being through the lens of self‐determination theory. We propose that basic psychological need satisfaction mediates the positive effects of both HR systems. Additionally, we examine COHR as a moderator of the CEHR–need satisfaction relationship and individual power distance orientation as a moderator of the COHR–need satisfaction link. Using a three‐wave survey of 424 academic staff and PLS path modelling. We test a mediated moderation model in which basic psychological need satisfaction mediates the effects of both HR systems on well‐being, while COHR and individual power distance orientation serve as moderators. We recommend that practitioners in China adopt a hybrid HRM approach—blending commitment with clear, fair control—to foster a need‐supportive environment. This study advances HRM literature by identifying the cultural boundary conditions under which structured guidance enhances well‐being in transitional economies.
In the face of climate change, the hospitality industry urgently needs to stimulate green innovative behaviors among Generation Z employees. Based on trait activation theory, this study develops a cross-level model to explore the impact mechanism of green human resource management (GHRM) on employees' green innovative behavior. Data were collected from Generation Z employees in 3-5 star 14,001 EMS certified hotels in China and South Korea. Specifically, we obtained multi-wave, multi-source data from 83 managers and 364 employees in China, and 105 managers and 401 employees in South Korea. The study finds that harmonious environmental passion (HEP) mediates the relationship between GHRM practices and innovative behavior, while green culture significantly moderates this path. This research provides strong insights into the literature on GHRM and innovation behaviors. It also provides empirical support for enterprises to motivate employees' green innovative behaviors. These findings have important implications for both theory and practice.
This article introduces the special issue on technologies and work in the Asia Pacific by developing an institutional perspective on technological change. Drawing on the national business systems framework and an abductive review of 127 studies published between 2015 and 2025, we argue that the consequences of AI, automation, digital platforms, algorithmic management, remote work, and digital HRM are mediated by political, financial, educational and training, labor, and cultural systems. The review shows that Asia-Pacific research is concentrated on digital platforms and algorithmic management, reflecting the strong contextual and institutional focus of this literature, while also covering automation, AI, robotics, remote work, ICTs, and FinTech. The region's technological dynamism and institutional diversity make it a generative setting for explaining why similar technologies produce different outcomes across contexts. The special issue articles extend this framework by showing how state strategy, resource constraints, skill formation, worker voice, leadership, and cultural norms shape technological adoption, implementation, contestation, and work outcomes.
This research applies institutional theory to examine how systemic institutional factors influence recruitment practices, particularly concerning senior intrapreneurs and responsible employment. Utilizing three-dimensional framework-regulatory, normative, and cognitive institutions-we analyze how formal regulations, societal norms, and shared beliefs facilitate the demand for skills and perceived value of senior intrapreneurs. It addresses the limitations of intrapreneurial senior recruitment from a managerial perspective. The study investigated 409 Australian firms of various sizes and industries by examining the three-dimensional influence of a country's institutional profile and the perceptions of managers on the responsible employability of seniors. The data were analyzed using AMOS SEM. The findings reveal that among the three dimensions, only the normative orientation significantly impacts senior employability responsibility, with perceived skills also playing a significant meditating role. Given the implications for senior intrapreneurial talents, push and pull strategies are suggested, besides theoretical, practical implications, and suggestions for future research.
Talent management (TM) is essential for stimulating talent vitality and enhancing organizational performance. Prior studies have largely been conducted in Western contexts and focused on same-level analyses of TM effects, limiting our understanding of how TM functions in transitional economies such as China. Drawing on optimal distinctiveness theory, this study investigates the multi-level impact of TM on talent job performance and the underlying mechanism. Using a four-wave time-lagged design, we collected data from 367 talented employees, 55 human resource managers, and 55 immediate supervisors across 55 companies in China. Hierarchical linear modeling was employed to test the hypotheses. The results reveal that TM is positively related to both task performance and relationship performance; uniqueness need satisfaction and belongingness need satisfaction play mediating roles in the above relationships, respectively. Organizational justice climate positively moderates the relationship between TM and uniqueness need satisfaction. Furthermore, individuals' talent status awareness and the organizational justice climate jointly and negatively moderate the effects of TM on both uniqueness need satisfaction and belongingness need satisfaction. This study contributes to the literature on TM and job performance and provides practical insights for Chinese firms to optimize TM and activate talent value.
To remain competitive, organisations increasingly rely on human resources (HR) to operate as a strategic business partner responsible for developing employee capability. Although prior research highlights the centrality of supervisor-employee relationships for effective coaching, little is known about whether employees' perceptions of the quality of the coaching relationship (PQECR) change over time and how such change shapes work outcomes. This gap is consequential for HR because organisations depend on HR systems, training and ongoing support to build and sustain coaching capability. Guided by social exchange theory, this study investigates whether within-person changes in PQECR correspond with changes in job satisfaction and turnover intentions, two outcomes of concern for HR. Using residual-change-modelling on two waves of data from 187 formally coached employees in New Zealand, results show that fluctuations in PQECR meaningfully predict changes in both work outcomes. The findings extend social exchange theory by positioning the coaching relation as a valuable yet dynamic relational resource. Practically, the study highlights a strategic opportunity for HR to strengthen employee wellbeing and retention by designing systems that enable supervisors to develop coaching expertise and sustain high-quality coaching relationships over time.
The new work characteristics of platform organizations attract a large number of gig workers with independent preferences to work in platform organizations as a career choice, but also bring challenges to the protection of labor rights and interests of gig workers, and threaten the sustainability of their careers. The objective of this research is to develop and validate a measurement tool for gig workers' job characteristics (GWJC) and to investigate the impact of GWJC on career sustainability in China. In Study 1 (scale development, total N = 424), we developed a five-dimensional, 20-item GWJC scale, which comprises two subscales: autonomous job characteristics (AJC) and controlled job characteristics (CJC). Specifically, AJC encompasses two dimensions: work flexibility and task incentives; CJC encompasses three dimensions: algorithmic control, time rigidity, and feedback compulsion. In Study 2 (field study, N = 376), data from 376 food delivery riders and online ride-hailing drivers (e.g., DiDi) in China were analyzed using hierarchical regression. Results showed that AJC positively affects career sustainability, while CJC negatively affects it. Need satisfaction partly mediates the relationship between AJC/CJC and career sustainability. Online coworker support enhances the positive effect of AJC on career sustainability through need satisfaction, but it does not mitigate the negative effect of CJC. These conclusions are of great significance to advancing the research on the theory and practice of gig workers.
In the digital economy era, the intelligent transformation of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is inevitable. Drawing on innovation diffusion theory (IDT) and self-determination theory (SDT), this paper proposes a dual-level framework-organizational reform and individual-level mechanisms-to explain how digital technology application drives human resource management (HRM) innovation in SMEs. Using 3-year data from the 2020-2022 China Human Resource Practitioner Survey (CHRPS) across multiple industries (N = 14,016), the results show that: (1) digital technology application significantly enhances HRM innovation in SMEs, and this effect is stronger than in large-sized enterprises (LSEs); (2) individual-level mechanisms (interdepartmental rotation, career commitment, and job satisfaction) serve as key micro-foundations; and (3) the innovation effect varies by organizational context, with state-owned and manufacturing SMEs benefiting more. This study repositions digital technology from an operational tool to a dual-level enabler within the IDT-SDT framework, revealing both organizational and individual pathways for HRM innovation. It also offers practical guidance for SMEs, including tailored strategies, intelligent structures, supportive environments, and innovation-oriented incentives, to fully harness digital technologies during transformation.
There have been growing calls by scholars for the re-contextualisation of human resource management (HRM) research to promote greater theoretical understanding and practical relevance. Within this approach, we argue that there is an important role for historical context, macro-economic policy and industrial relations as an influence on contemporary HRM practices. We use findings from three data sets on the management of the Australian workplace: Australian Human Resource Institute, Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey and Australian Workplace Representation Survey of the Australian workplace. Our findings demonstrate the persistence of an embedded pluralist employment relations/HRM approach that has become part of the 'DNA' of Australian workplaces. This appears at odds with other Anglo-American countries. Employers appear comfortable adapting to a hybrid employment relations/HRM method to enhance a mutual gains approach to the employment relationship. This is the first paper to explore HRM through this lens. The key message of this paper is that HRM can be better understood within an economic, social and institutional context of continuity and change.
In today's dynamic and competitive environment, organizations tend to implement performance-based HRM practices. Performance-focused HR attributions can profoundly affect employees' behavior at work (particularly unethical behavior). However, the ethical consequences of performance-focused HR attributions remain unknown. This research examines the impact of performance-focused HR attributions on employees' unethical pro-performance behavior (UPPB). To test our hypotheses, we designed two multi-method studies: A scenario experiment study and a multi-wave field study in the new retailing service industry. We find a positive correlation between performance-focused HR attributions and UPPB, mediated by performance-oriented moral disengagement (PMD). We further find that algorithmic management strengthened the relationship between performance-focused HR attributions and PMD, as well as its mediating effect. This study highlights the nuanced role that performance-focused HR attributions play in shaping employees' behavior, and how algorithmic management influences ethical considerations in performance-driven environments.
Australia and New Zealand offer fertile environments for innovative, world-leading scholarship on human resource management (HRM) theory and practice. Research on HRM that focuses on these two countries, particularly studies employing qualitative methodologies, has the potential to generate fresh insights into contemporary workplace challenges and corresponding HRM solutions. The Australian and New Zealand contexts are distinctive, shaped by unique geographical, cultural, economic, and institutional characteristics. Traditional HRM research has emphasised the importance of integrating contextual factors such as social and cultural norms, technological developments, economic conditions, industry dynamics, and national institutions as key influences on HRM strategies, policies, and practices. More recently, however, the field has shifted away from studying HRM within its contextual environment toward more positivist, individually oriented analytical approaches. In this special issue, we contend that national contextual forces remain crucial for advancing HRM theory and practice.
This paper reports an international survey of how Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies are affecting job quality and employee well-being in manufacturing. Consistent with the theory that greater capital intensity and technological/operational uncertainty predict greater worker participation in management, the results more strongly support the optimistic rather than the pessimistic view of how I4.0 technologies will affect job quality. Greater use of the most prevalent I4.0 technologies is associated with greater involvement in decision-making, which leads to higher job satisfaction and better psychological health. Greater use of I4.0 technologies is not associated with work intensification. This suggests that I4.0 technologies can help humanize work, although our data suggest that the transformation to a smart factory may imply that employee involvement is associated with more highly qualified workers. The study does not rule out the emergence of digital Taylorism through increased managerial control and work intensification as I4.0 technologies are progressively debugged.
Given the reshaping of employee work by generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), whether employees interacting with GenAI can achieve higher creative performance has become a focal point of interest for academia and industry. Drawing on the job demands-resources (JD-R) theory and dualistic model of passion, we explore when and how interactions with GenAI impact employee creative performance. We conducted a three-wave survey, analyzing data from 365 employees. The results indicate that interactions with GenAI can be both job resources, enhancing employee creative performance by increasing harmonious work passion, and job demands, impairing employee creative performance by increasing obsessive work passion. Moreover, AI knowledge serves as a critical boundary condition, enhancing the positive effects and weakening the negative impact of interactions with GenAI. This study contributes to clarifying the relationship between interactions with GenAI and creative performance, enriches the emerging AI-related management research, and provides evidence-based insights for organizational management practices.
As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly embedded in organizational operations, how employees perceive and respond to AI has become a critical issue in human resource management. Drawing on the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model, this study conceptualizes employees' challenge and hindrance appraisals of AI (AI awareness) as cognitive job demands and develops a "dual appraisal-dual pathway-dual outcome" framework. Specifically, challenge appraisals (CA) and hindrance appraisals (HA) are proposed to influence innovative behavior and knowledge hiding through psychological empowerment and emotional exhaustion, respectively, with leadership developmental feedback (LDF) serving as a boundary condition. Using three-wave matched data from full-time employees across multiple industries (N = 346), the results show that: (1) CA significantly increases innovation and decreases knowledge hiding through psychological empowerment; (2) HA increases knowledge hiding and decreases innovation through emotional exhaustion; and (3) LDF strengthens the positive effect of CA on empowerment. The study translates AI from an exogenous technological attribute into a cognitive job demand within the JD-R framework, integrates proactive and defensive outcomes within a unified mechanism, and identifies the orientation-sensitive boundaries of job resources. It further offers organizations a practical pathway-appraisal identification, empowerment enhancement, and differentiated feedback-to foster innovation and reduce knowledge hiding during digital transformation.
This study investigates how frequent use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) influences employees' adaptive performance in AI-intensive work contexts. Drawing on cognitive appraisal theory, we propose that challenging stressors arising from human-AI collaboration mediate the relationship between GenAI use and adaptive performance, and that employees' experienced tensions moderate this mediation. Utilizing a three-wave survey of Chinese employees, our findings reveal that frequent GenAI use enhances adaptive performance both directly and indirectly through challenging stressors. Notably, the indirect effect is stronger when employees experience higher levels of tensions, highlighting the role of emotional context in shaping responses to AI-enabled work. These results suggest a paradox: while GenAI supports employees in adapting to change, its benefits are contingent upon employees' emotional states. This study contributes to human resource management research by reconceptualizing challenging stressors in AI-intensive settings and emphasizing the importance of emotional context in human-AI collaboration.
Agile forms of organizing have become central to contemporary human resource management (HRM), particularly through their emphasis on employee voice, collaboration, and continuous innovation. However, these agile HRM systems often implicitly privilege extraverted modes of participation, creating tension for high-performing introverted employees whose innovative contributions may not align with dominant voice norms. Despite growing HRM interest in employee voice, silence, and inclusion, little is known about how introverted high performers navigate the interpersonal and evaluative demands of agile team environments, particularly in collectivist, high power-distance contexts such as India. Drawing on 60 in-depth, multi-stage interviews with high-performing introverted professionals working in agile teams across multiple sectors, this study develops a grounded, process-oriented theory of how introverted high performers manage innovation and voice within agile HRM systems. The findings reveal a dynamic process of strategic innovation management, whereby introverted employees generate ideas privately, calibrate voice based on contextual cues of psychological safety, and leverage trusted relational allies to legitimize and champion innovations. By theorizing silence as a purposeful and competence-preserving HR-relevant behavior rather than a deficit, this study extends HRM theories of employee voice, talent utilization, and inclusive people management. Practically, the study offers actionable implications for HR managers and leaders regarding the design of agile HR practices, performance management systems, and voice mechanisms that recognize diverse contribution styles and enable organizations to more fully leverage introverted talent.
Research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) has increasingly noted the danger of corporate hypocrisy, a misalignment between a firm's CSR claims and actions, yet little is known about its internal consequences. Drawing on social learning theory, this study explores how and when corporate hypocrisy cascades down through an organization to foster hypocrisy among employees. We employed a multi-level, three-tier data collection across 32 Chinese companies to test our model. The findings show that corporate hypocrisy at the organizational level does indeed trickle down. Specifically, it promotes team leader hypocrisy which, in turn, leads to team member hypocrisy. Moreover, this trickle-down effect is contingent on value alignment. It is strengthened when team leaders exhibit person-organization (PO) fit and team members exhibit person-supervisor (PS) fit. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings on the trickle-down effect of corporate hypocrisy.
Inclusive management practices foster workplace diversity and inclusion. However, despite increasing interest in neurodiversity, autistic employment remains underexplored in talent management (TM) research. Talent management involves three core tensions: inclusive-exclusive, innate-acquired, and universal-context-dependent. We explored the dyadic perceptions and daily experiences of autistic employees and their coworkers, and what these perspectives reveal about TM and inclusive practices. We conducted 32 semistructured interviews with 16 dyads of autistic employees and their coworkers in Australia and Israel. We analyzed data using interpretative phenomenological and dyadic approaches. Drawing on the cohesive management capability framework and double-empathy problem, four themes emerged: performance and contribution, identity and needs, sense of belonging, and communication and transparency. Supporting autistic employees requires inclusive, acquired, and con-sensitive TM practices. Implications include aligning talents with job requirements, providing communication training to bridge the double-empathy gap, extending accommodations organization-wide, and implementing transparent, inclusive policies.
Guided by Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT), this study examines how mindfulness among gig workers affects their work satisfaction. It also investigates the mediating role of work-family balance and the moderating influence of the platform work insecurity climate. Using survey data from gig workers in China, the results indicate that gig workers' mindfulness is positively associated with work satisfaction. Additionally, work-family balance mediates the relationship between mindfulness and work satisfaction. The platform work insecurity climate moderates the relationship between gig workers' mindfulness and work-family balance, weakening the positive effect of mindfulness on work-family balance under high platform work insecurity. This study highlights gig workers' mindfulness as a vital personal resource and offers practical suggestions for gig platforms. Specifically, platforms can support gig workers' satisfaction by integrating mindfulness-related features into their apps and by reducing work insecurity through clearer expectations and more predictable income arrangements.
