Going Beyond the SHRM Paradigm: Examining Four Approaches to Governing Employees

Abstract

Drawing from strategic human resource management and organizational theory, this article develops an integrated typology of employee governance. This typology is based on the dimensions of eliciting employees’ commitment to the organization (commitment-eliciting) and achieving employees’ compliance to rules (compliance-achieving), which yields four approaches to governing employees: disciplined governance, bonded governance, hybrid governance, and unstructured governance. Results from 337 firms show that the hybrid governance approach is linked with significantly higher organizational performance than alternative approaches in the Chinese context. In addition, both commitment-based practices and compliance-based practices are positively related to organizational performance, and their interaction produces additional positive effects.