سیستم کار عملکرد بالا و کارایی HCN

This study argues that multinational corporations (MNCs) which implement high performance work system in their host country nationals may help their workers form relational psychological contracts with the MNC. Such practices can increase host country national work involvement and enhance their job performance. With survey data from 1084 host country nationals in 49 Taiwanese MNCs operating in China, this study uses structural equation modeling to examine the interdependent and simultaneous relationships between MNC implementation of high performance work system with host-country nationals, the formation of a relational psychological contract, work involvement, and host-country national job performance. Findings demonstrate that the relational psychological contract and work involvement are partial mediators in the relationship between high performance work system and job performance. The results show that MNCs can expect better job performance from host country nationals when implementing high performance work systems with these workers.

To implement global strategies, multinational corporations (MNCs) need to operate in many countries (Gomez and Ranftb, 2003 and Pereza and Pla-Barberb, 2005). Effective management of host country personnel to help MNCs attain strategic goals has become an important issue for MNC managers as well as for scholars (Gomez and Wernerb, 2004 and Lavie and Fiegenbaum, 2003). However, extant research on the management of host-country nationals (HCNs) tends to focus on HCN's relationship with expatriate adjustment (e.g., Shaffer et al., 2006 and Toh and Denisi, 2007). These studies cannot tell MNC managers how they can effectively manage their host country nationals to enhance HCN job performance. Another strain of research about HCN management discusses whether the MNC should adopt HR practices that are convergent with or divergent from those exercised in the MNC's headquarters (Jain, Lawler, & Morishima, 1998). Few extant studies have specifically examined the effect of MNC HR practices on HCNs. Responding to previous authors who have argued that MNCs should develop HCN abilities through various HR activities to replace the use of expensive expatriate personnel (Bartlett, Lawler, Bae, Chen, & Wan, 2002), this study explores the effect of MNC implementation of high performance work system (HPWS) with HCNs in China. This study follows the assertions of strategic human resource management (HRM) scholars (Huselid, 1995) and argues that the MNC can expect better work performance from HCNs if the MNC implements an HPWS with its HCNs. While the behavioral scholars of strategic HRM argue that employees respond to company policy based on their perceived, rather than managers' alleged, HR practices (Wright & Boswell, 2002), this study proposes that, if the HCN employee perceives that the employer practices an HPWS, such a perception can lead the HCN to form a relational psychological contract with the MNC. This relational psychological contract, in turn, can elevate HCN work involvement and enhance HCN job performance. This study thus argues that the relational psychological contract HCNs form with the MNC, and HCN work involvement, are mediators in the relationship between the HCN's perceived HPWS and better HCN job performance (See Fig. 1 for the research model of this study).To examine the proposed relationships, this study collects data from multiple respondents in 49 Taiwanese MNCs operating in China. Effective responses were collected from 1084 HCNs and their corresponding supervisors. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the interdependent and simultaneous relationships between perceived HPWS, relational psychological contract, work involvement, and job performance. Most studies on HR practices and psychological contracts are based on theoretical discussions developed in western countries. Only limited research has explored topics related to the psychological contract in developing countries (Hui, Lee, & Rousseau, 2004). Since this study provides data from China, it offers a good opportunity to empirically examine whether theoretical arguments developed in western countries can be generalized to areas with different cultural backgrounds. This study thus explores an area of importance to scholars of HR and international business. While authors report positive relationships between HPWS and performance (Huselid, 1995), recent scholars attempt to explain such mechanisms by finding mediating variables between HPWS and performance (Collins & Smith, 2006). This study complements the relevant literature by identifying other mediators: the employee psychological contract and work involvement. Hence it is important for both HR scholars and for MNCs in their management of HCNs. The following sections discuss the relevant theoretical background and develop hypotheses concerning HPWS, relational psychological contract, work involvement, and HCN job performance. Research methods and findings then follow, while the significance of the results is discussed in the final section.

Promoting the performance of host-country nationals (HCN) to help MNCs attain global success is a critical concern for managers in multinational corporations. Extant research on HPWS reveals that implementing HPWS with workers can promote firm performance (Bauer, 2004, Edwards and Wright, 2001, Guest, 1997 and Huselid, 1995). However, few studies have empirically investigated whether MNCs using HPWS can improve the performance of their host country nationals (Bae, Chen, & Lawler, 1998). Collecting survey data from 1084 HCNs in 49 Taiwanese MNCs in China, this study uses SEM to demonstrate the direct effect of MNC implementation of HPWS in promoting the job performance of HCNs in China. Moreover, this study shows the indirect effect of HPWS, in that HPWS can induce HCN formation of relational psychological contracts with the MNC, which promotes HCN work involvement and improves HCN job performance. While recent scholars have attempted to elucidate the mechanisms that enable the effects of HPWS in promoting performance (Collins & Smith, 2006), this study contributes to the relevant literature by demonstrating the partial mediating effect of relational psychological contracts, as well as increased employee work involvement, in the relationship between HPWS and job performance. Moreover, extant research on HR practices and psychological contracts is limited to theoretical discussions. This study provides data from Taiwanese MNCs with operations in China to empirically demonstrate the relationships between HPWS, relational psychological contracts, work involvement, and job performance. This study may thus offer a useful reference to scholars in the fields of HR and international business. For MNC managers, this study demonstrates that implementation of an HPWS for host country nationals may promote job performance by inducing HCNs to form relational psychological contracts with the MNC, which in turn fosters HCN's work involvement. This study shows that HPWS can be used as an effective means for MNCs to improve the performance of their HCNs. This research also has several limitations. First, the dependent variable, the supervisor ratings of HCN performance, does not measure MNC success in attaining its strategic goals. While the final objective for MNCs is to pursue global strategic success, this study demonstrates only that HPWS can promote the job performance of individuals, and does not explore whether MNCs can attain their global strategic goals with the implementation of HPWS. Future scholars should explore the relationship between HPWS and MNC strategic success, such as whether HPWS has different effects on firm success across different strategic objectives. The second limitation of this study concerns the lack of agreement on the exact constituents of HPWS. In fact, scholars have pointed out that the elements of HPWS examined in extant literature differ from study to study (Zacharatos, Barling, & Iverson, 2005). When researchers are not certain as to what elements should be included as components of HPWS, scholars cannot be sure of the exact mechanisms that drive the effects of HPWS on performance. For instance, the findings derive from the HPWS scale used in this survey may not be sustained if future scholars adopt a different scale for measuring HPWS. Lack of consistency in defining HPWS may prevent effective accumulation of knowledge from study to study. The third limitation concerns the cross-sectional nature of the data. Although this study uses SEM to demonstrate the effect of HPWS on relational psychological contracts, the data on the dependent and the independent variables were collected at the same time. Future study may use a time-lag in the data collection of the independent and the dependent variables to strengthen causality implications. The fourth limitation concerns the difference between the company's alleged HR practices and employee perceptions. This study surveys only HCN perceptions of their firms' HPWS. Future studies may collect data on HR practices from employees as well as from supervisors to attain a better understanding of this topic. The fifth limitation concerns the generalizabilty of the research findings. This study examines the effects of HPWS in Taiwanese MNCs operating in China. Although Taiwanese are not considered as natives in China, Taiwanese and Chinese possess similar cultures, which can be categorized into the Chinese culture in a broad sense. Moreover, all subjects involved in this study speak Chinese. As such, the cultural and communication barriers between Taiwanese MNC managers and Chinese HCNs are significantly smaller than if western MNCs should establish overseas operations in China. Further studies may explore if the cultural distance between MNC managers and HCN workers may be a boundary factor in the relationship between MNC's implementation of HPWS and HCN's worker performance. Although the above discussions show limitations, they also indicate directions for future research. After all, this study still offers empirical evidence to demonstrate that HCN's relational psychological contract formed with the MNC and increased HCN work involvement are mediating variables between HCN's perceived HPWS and workers' job performance. In this way, this study complements the extant literature on HPWS and international HR management.