HPWS, technology and flexibility in the Spanish manufacturing industry. The moderating role of social capital
| Date | 07 December 2015 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/EBHRM-10-2014-0027 |
| Pages | 279-299 |
| Published date | 07 December 2015 |
| Author | Elio Shijaku,Martin Larraza-Kintana,Ainhoa Urtasun-Alonso |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM |
HPWS, technology and
flexibility in the Spanish
manufacturing industry
The moderating role of social capital
Elio Shijaku
Departamento de Empresa, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona,
Cerdanyola del Vallés, Spain, and
Martin Larraza-Kintana and Ainhoa Urtasun-Alonso
Departamento de Gestión de Empresas, Universidad Pública de Navarra,
Pamplona, Spain
Abstract
Purpose –High-Performance Work Systems (HPWS) are viewed as strategic levers to a firm’s core
competencies’sustainability and continuous competitive advantage. The purpose of this paper is to
explore what factors facilitate HPWS utilization, with a particular focus on the extent to which social
capital (SC) derived from buyer-supplier relationships functions as a communication channel to spread
effective HPWS implementation.
Design/methodology/approach –The authors propose a model of HPWS in which external SC not
only favors the use of HPWS but also moderates the incidence of other common facilitators such as
technology and flexibility. The study uses data from Spanish manufacturing industry.
Findings –Firms yielding external SC use HPWS more intensely, and the effect of technology
constituents on HPWS utilization is contingent on SC accumulation. The findings are consistent with
the existing HR literature on the subject but broaden its perspective by analyzing a specific pattern of
SC and its pivotal role in the HPWS utilization process.
Research limitations/implications –The cross-sectional nature of the database leaves open the
possibility of causality relationship exploration between the variables of interest, which means that
any causal interpretation should be cautious and properly motivated. The study is conducted in the
Spanish manufacturing industry context, hence aims to generalize its results by explaining the logic
behind the coexistence of HPWS and SC on a same conceptual level. This should be carefully treated
and could be further strengthened by other country-level research. The approach does not consider the
internal synergic mechanisms and the integration of HR practices.
Practical implications –The paper reveals the importance of inter-organizational SC in the Spanish
manufacturing industry by showing how its embodiment in buyer-supplier relationships may allow
firms to better understand the context in which HPWS are more likely to be useful.
Social implications –The impact of social relationships on effective human resource management
practices is highlighted.
Originality/value –The authors explore the factors that facilitate HPWS utilization, with a particular
focus on the extent to which SC derived from buyer-supplier relationships functions as a
communication channel to spread effective HPWS implementation.
Keywords Social capital, Spain, Computerized production technology,
High-performance work systems, Manufacturing flexibility, Technological intensity
Paper type Research paper
Evidence-based HRM: a Global
Forum for Empirical Scholarship
Vol. 3 No. 3, 2015
pp. 279-299
©Emerald Group Publis hing Limited
2049-3983
DOI 10.1108/EBHRM-10-2014-0027
Received 9 October 2014
Revised15February2015
Accepted 27 February 2015
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/2049-3983.htm
Authors wish to acknowledge the financial support provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science
and Education under projects SEJ2007-67895-C04-01 and ECO2010-21393-C04-03.
279
Spanish
manufacturing
industry
1. Introduction
Human resource management (HRM) theory has evolved steadily during the last 20 years
with substantial research supporting a significant impact of High-Performance Work
Systems (henceforth, HPWS) and its constituents on organizational performance
(e.g. Becker and Huselid, 1998; Way, 2002; Datta et al., 2005; Chi and Lin, 2011; Jiang et al.,
2012). In spite of their recognized importance, little is still known about the factors that
influence HPWS utilization and how they interact with each other to promote the use of
HPWS. Hence, we analyze the interrelatedness of these factors to HPWS in the search of a
unifying concept that provides the missing link to these simultaneous relationships.
Specifically, we argue that social capital (SC) plays a pivotal role by moderating the
relationship that HPWS has with technology and flexibility in themanufacturing process.
Most of the research that has focussed on HPWS utilization has looked at the
different facilitators separately, with few studies considering simultaneous multiple
factors effects (Larraza-Kintana et al., 2006; Urtasun-Alonso et al., 2014). In this vein,
technology and flexibility have been long linked to HR practices usage due to their
meaningfulness in the manufacturing process (Gale et al., 2002; Urtasun-Alonso et al.,
2014) while SC has been linked to HPWS utilization by tapping the available resources
created as a result of inter and intra-firm relationships (Leana and Van Buren, 1999;
Baughn et al., 2011; Cabello-Medina et al., 2011; Chuang et al., 2013). We echo the current
literature on factors that explain HPWS utilization by embodying their relationships in
the specific context of the Spanish manufacturing industry and by highlighting the
important role that SC plays in the relationships between HPWS, technology and
flexibility. More specifically, we focus on external (i.e. inter-organizational) SC and its
moderation effect on the expected impact of technology and manufacturing flexibility
on HPWS utilization. We argue not only that flexible firms competing in technological
intense environments and using computerized production technologies will use HPWS
more intensely but also that the degree of HPWS utilization by these firms will be even
greater if they tap external SC as a result of successful buyer-supplier relationships.
Thus, external SC functions as a channel of organizational learning via which firms
can acquire vital information about successful and well-established HR practices
(i.e. HPWS) that are deemed critical for these firms.
Our study sheds new light on the role that SC plays as an important driver of HPWS
utilization, particularly by emphasizing the effect that buyer-supplier relationships
play as organizational resource emulators. In particular, we provide specific
empirical evidence of the moderator role of external SC in the relationship between
HPWS utilization, technology and flexibility in the Spanish manufacturing industry.
We believe our contribution will be helpful to both researchers and practitioners
seeking to uncover the hidden knowledge behind the value of SC.
2. Theoretical background and hypotheses development
2.1 Factors that promote HPWS utilization in the manufacturing context
HPWS utilization has achieved a high degree of formality in large workplace s in which
manufacturing processes are the backbone (Arthur, 1994; Larraza-Kintana et al., 2006;
Chi and Lin, 2011; Urtasun-Alonso et al., 2014), which is why we focus on this
well-developed medium. Our study serves a dual purpose: first, to include the impact of
hybrid factors on HPWS utilization in the manufacturing industry and second, to
analyze the simultaneous relationship between internal, external and hybrid factors
and HPWS, something which is currently missing in this subject’s literature.
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