Strategic Human Resource Management And Organizational Change:the Mediating Role Of Commitment To Change

The primary objective of this study is to examine the relation between strategic human resource management(SHRM)and organizational change.Additionally,this study aims to test if commitment to change plays a mediating role between strategic human resource management and organizational change.Six specific HR practices are included in the SHRM:staffing,training,performance appraisal,pay for performance,job design and communication&participation.According to the universalistic perspectic of strategic human resource management,there are "best HR practices" that are effective in any situations.Therefore,this study also wants to find out the "best HR practices" in Chinese insurance companies.This study adopts Herscovitch and Meyer model which developed three components for commitment to change which are affective commitment to change,continuance commitment to change and normative commitment to change.These three dimensions are tested individually in relation to the mediating role.A survey was conducted in the bank industry and the sample consists of 132 respondents.Based on the results of regression analysis,we find that SHRM is positively related to success of organizational change.Furthermore,affective commitment to change partially mediates the relation between SHRM and organizational change.In particular,we find that all six HR practices,staffing,training,performance appraisal,pay for performance,job design and communication&participation,are positively associated with success of organizational change,especially communication&participation influences the success of organizational change most.Above findings provide important implications for practitioners.In order to achieve success of organizational change,practitioners should emphasis on strategic human resource management,especially those HR practices that can enhance affective commitment to change.It is suggested that staffing,training,performance appraisal,pay for performance,job design and communication&participation can be taken into consideration.Regarding the contributions to theories,this study provides a better understanding of the relation between SHRM and organizational change by revealing the mediating role of affective commitment to change and supports the generalizability of Herscovitch and Meyer's model of commitment to change by applying it in the Chinese context.