Whither Chinese HRM? Paradigms, Models and Theories

This symposium explores Chinese people-management as an academic subject, looking at where it is currently going and the likely direction of its progress. After the economic reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping in 1978, China saw the introduction of Human Resource Management (HRM). This book discusses the specific issues which are relevant to its evolution in China, in particular whether there is a dominant ‘paradigm’ in the field and whether there might be a new one in the making. It looks at the possibility of a ‘theory of Chinese management’ or ‘Chinese theory of management’. This comprehensive volume covers a wide range of topics, including charismatic leadership, employee commitment, creativity, ‘guanxi’, job security, knowledge-generation, mentorship, national identity and organizational innovation, all in the context of Chinese HRM. The contributors are experts in their respective fields of management, organizational behaviour, psychology, sociology and related disciplines, and cover a wide range of themes, models and specialisms. This book was originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of Human Resource Management.

1. Introduction: Whither Chinese HRM? Paradigms, models and theories M. Warner 2. Paternalistic and transactional HRM: the nature and transformation of HRM in contemporary China C.J. Zhu, M. Zhang and J. Shen 3. When Western HRM constructs meet Chinese contexts: validating the pluralistic structures of human resource management systems in China Y. Zhou, X.-Y. Liu and Y. Hong 4. CEO background and the adoption of Western-style human resource practices in China K.A. Frear, Y. Cao and W. Zhao 5. Does HRM facilitate employee creativity and organizational innovation? A study of Chinese firms J. Jiang, S. Wang and S. Zhao 6. Examining the mechanisms linking guanxi, norms and knowledge sharing: the mediating roles of trust in Taiwan’s high-tech firms H.-K. Wang, J.-F. Tseng and Y.-F. Yen 7. Developing a charismatic leadership model for Chinese organizations: the mediating role of loyalty to supervisors M. Wu and J. Wang 8. Transformational leadership in crisis situations: evidence from the People’s Republic of China Z. Zhang, M. Jia and L. Gu 9. Mentorship quality and protégés’ work-to-family positive spillover, career satisfaction and voice behavior in China J. Liu, H.K. Kwan and Y. Mao 10. Job security and justice: predicting employees’ trust in Chinese international joint ventures Y.-T. Wong 11. Organizational citizenship behavior in Chinese society: a reexamination H. Zhao, J. Wu, J.-M. Sun and C.W. Chen 12. ‘National’ identity, perceived fairness and organizational commitment in a Hong Kong context: a test of mediation effects K. Ehrhardt, M. Shaffer, W.C.K. Chiu and D.M. Luk

Malcolm Warner is Professor and Fellow Emeritus at Wolfson College and at the Judge Business School, both part of the University of Cambridge, UK. He is Joint Editor of the Asia Pacific Business Review, and was previously Editor-in-Chief of The International Encyclopedia of Business and Management. His research interests include organisational behaviour, industrial organisation, industrial and labour relations, human resource management, international management and general management. Previous publications include Confucian HRM in Greater China: theory and practice (2011) and Management training and development in China: educating managers in a globalized economy (2009).