Christopher J. Collins

Strategic Human Resource Practices, Top Management Team Social Networks, and Firm Performance: The Role of Human Resource Practices in Creating Organizational Competitive Advantage

In this article, we begin to explore the black box between human resources (HR) practices and firm performance. Specifically, we examine the relationships between a set of network-building HR practices, aspects of the external and internal social networks of top management teams, and firm performance. Results from a field study with 73 high-technology firms showed that the relationships between the HR practices and firm performance (sales growth and stock growth) were mediated through their top managers’ social networks.

The Relationship of Achievement Motivation to Entrepreneurial Behavior: A Meta-Analysis

Entrepreneurship is a major factor in the national economy; thus, it is important to understand the motivational characteristics spurring people to become entrepreneurs and why some are more successful than others. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis of the relationship between achievement motivation and variables associated with entrepreneurial behavior. We found that achievement motivation was significantly correlated with both choice of an entrepreneurial career and entrepreneurial performance. Further, we found that both projective and self-report measures of achievement motivation were valid. Finally, known group studies yielded a higher validity coefficient than did individual difference studies.

The Relationship Between Early Recruitment-Related Activities and the Application Decisions of New Labor-Market Entrants: A Brand Equity Approach to Recruitment

Theory and research from the marketing literature on customer-based brand equity were used to predict how positive exposure to 4 early recruitment-related activities-publicity, sponsorships, word-of-mouth endorsements, and advertising-may affect the application decisions of engineering students. Similar to prior marketing findings, the results suggested that early recruitment-related activities were indirectly related to intentions and decisions through 2 dimensions of employer brand image: general attitudes toward the company and perceived job attributes. The relationships between word-of-mouth endorsements and the 2 dimensions of brand image were particularly strong. In addition, it was found that early recruitment-related activities interacted with one another such that employer brand image was stronger when firms used publicity in conjunction with other early recruitment-related activities.

Multiple Verb Movement in Hoan

I argue that verbal compounds in Hoan are derived from underlying structures similar to serial verb constructions. I show that the derivation crucially involves multiple verb movement, which is subject to the same kinds of locality constraints as other types of multiple movement. I show how the multiple verb movement analysis applies to a range of verbal compounds in Hoan.

Exploration and exploitation business strategies and the contingent fit of alternative HR systems

This chapter develops a theoretical model using the equifinality perspective to connect multiple systems of HR practices to alternative organizational structure types. We argue that firms following an exploitation strategy maintain competitive advantage through high levels of efficiency and reliability in production and delivery of existing products or services. Firms following an exploration strategy maintain a competitive advantage through continuous innovation and knowledge exchange and combination. Hence, organizations are more likely to successfully execute either strategy by implementing an HR system that would create the organizational structural characteristics that support the workforce requirements of the chosen strategy.

Human resource management and unit performance in knowledge-intensive work.

To clarify the potential value of a targeted system of human resource (HR) practices, we explore the unique effects of a relationship-oriented HR system and the more commonly studied high commitment HR system on unit performance in the context of knowledge-intensive work. We develop theoretical arguments suggesting that the high commitment HR system contributes to unit performance through its positive effects on employees’ collective organizational commitment, general and firm-specific human capital, and access to knowledge. We argue that the relationship-oriented HR system contributes to unit performance through its positive effects on employees’ collective access to knowledge by fostering a social context and interpersonal exchange conditions which support employees’ ongoing access to knowledge flows within and outside their unit and broader organization. Based on unit-level data collected from a matched sample of employees and managers in 128 units in the science and engineering division of a large hydroelectric power organization, our results suggest that the targeted, relationship-oriented HR system is related to firm performance and may complement a broader, high commitment approach to managing knowledge workers. Specifically, the positive relationship between the high commitment HR system and unit performance is mediated by employees’ collective organizational commitment, firm-specific human capital, and access to knowledge in other organizational units; whereas the positive relationship between the relationship-oriented HR system and unit performance is mediated by units’ access to knowledge within the unit, in other units, and outside the organization.

Examining Strategic Fit and Misfit in the Management of Knowledge Workers

This study advances research on strategic human resource management by examining whether better firm performance depends on the alignment between an organization’s human resources (HR) system and its innovation strategy. The authors argue that the unique problems underlying exploration innovation strategies and exploitation innovation strategies require core workers to engage in different types of knowledge-search and -combination behaviors. Alternative HR systems theoretically produce different knowledge-search and -combination behaviors by way of their effect on employees’ ability, motivation, and opportunity structures at work. Drawing on a field study of 230 software firms, the authors demonstrate that alternative HR systems support either an exploration or exploitation strategy and that alignment between a firm’s HR system and innovation strategy results in firm performance gains and misalignment results in performance penalties.

Strategic Human Resource Management of Top Management Team Social Networks: Controlling Executive Relationships for Enhanced Organisational Advantage

The benefits of personal networks have long been known to managers, and recent work in the field of strategic management has touted the special role relational resources potentially play in competitive advantage. Although networks are generally regarded as important resources for both individuals and firms, little is known about the systematic and purposeful management of this important resource. Some firms attempt to purchase networks through employee recruitment policies, while others may focus more on developing the networks of existing employees. Referring to recent empirical studies of networks of key employees, including top managers and other key boundary-spanners, we shed considerable light on how firms make decisions about whether to make or buy networks and how to develop employee networks. Specifically, we study the strategic human resource practices firms can use to facilitate the purposeful development of executive networks. We also provide empirical support for the value of executive networks for enhancing organisational performance.