Effects of Perceptions of Situational Strength in HR Practices on Job Attitudes and Business Unit Performance

Abstract

<p>Building on the work of Ostroff and Bowen (2000; 2004) and using situational strength theory (Mischel, 1976) and the Attraction-Selection-Attrition model (Schneider, 1987), this study measures the degree to which employees perceive HR practices to contribute to situational strength around strategic organizational goals (HR Strength). The effect of these HR practice perceptions is examined on individual-level job satisfaction, affective commitment, organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), turnover intentions, and business-unit service climate and performance. Data were collected from 274 full-time managers at 82 work sites within an assisted-living organization. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was used to assess individual effects of HR Strength on attitudes and OCB as well as group level effects of HR Strength on individual attitudes. OLS regression was used to test the group level effects of HR Strength on group climate, financial performance, and lost hours due to injury. Results show that perceptions of HR Strength at the individual level associate positively with job satisfaction, affective commitment, OCB, and turnover intentions (negatively) and positively at the group level with global service climate and financial performance, and negatively (marginal, p<.1) with lost hours due to injury. These findings contribute to an emerging body of literature on the effects of group homogeneity in organizations. They demonstrate that organization structures contribute to the emergence of human capital at the group level. They also show that HR practices contribute to organizational performance and service climate when employees are in agreement in perceiving them as reinforcing situational strength around organizational goals.</p>