A Contingent Configurational Perspective of HRM Systems, Contexts, and Organizational Effectiveness

Strategic human resource management (HRM) literature suggests that multiple unique configurations of HRM practices can exist to achieve a horizontal fit and vertical fit and lead to optimal desired outcomes. However, prior studies have not adequately identified different HRM systems, nor examined how configurations of HRM systems with organizational contexts affect organizational outcomes. Using a sample of 481 organizations representing a range of industries, the present study found four distinct types of HRM systems, namely cost-minimizers, investment-maximizers, motivation-enhancers, and skill & opportunity-strengtheners. Moreover, by taking a contingent configurational perspective and utilizing fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), we found various configurations of HRM systems and multi-dimensional organizational contexts (i.e., firm ownership, firm size, innovation strategy, environmental uncertainty, local talent supply, and local government interference) when predicting firm performance and collective affective commitment. Our research findings contribute to an understanding of how different configurations of HRM systems and multi-dimensional organizational contexts affect organizational effectiveness. The theoretical contributions and practical implications of these findings are discussed.