專業服務型企業人力資本對績效的影響及其機制研究 - 基於知識整合與合夥人領導行為的視角

Abstract

Professional service firms that supply customized knowledge-based services have become the focus of studies by many scholars. According to the resource-based view of the firm, the most important resource of professional service firms is their human capital (Hitt, Bierman, Shimuzu, & Kochhar, 2001). Such firms have low capital intensity, but have a professional workforce that provides knowledge intensity (Von Nordenflycht, 2010). As the economy develops, there is greater competition among professional service firms, which consequently require more competencies and better employee performance (Li & Xia, 2012).

Employing a knowledge-based view of the firm and using empirical data from a survey of 53 law firms in Zhejiang Province, China, this study explores the issue of how human capital influences employee performance in professional service firms, deduces a logical route from human capital via knowledge integration to employee performance, and probes the moderating effect of leadership on the relationship between human capital and knowledge integration.

This study first examines the effect of knowledge integration on the relationship between human capital and employee performance. An increasingly competitive market requires that professional service firms supply more specialized services; employees therefore need to integrate their knowledge so that human capital can improve employee performance (Morris & Snell, 2008).

Following on from this examination of the effect of knowledge integration on the relationship between human capital and employee performance, the study then investigates the moderating effect of leadership on the relationship between human capital and knowledge integration. Professional service firms supply customized, specialized services after employees integrate their knowledge. However, the motivation for employees to integrate their knowledge is partially determined by leadership (Goh, 2002). Specifically, transformational leadership has a positive effect on employees’ identification with their firm, and hence makes them more willing to integrate their knowledge, making the relationship between human capital and knowledge integration more significant; transactional leadership sets the roles of employees and the rewards they get if they complete their tasks, but it decreases the willingness of employees to integrate their knowledge, making the relationship between human capital and knowledge integration less significant (Podsakoff, 1996). This study tests the moderating effect of leadership on the relationship between human capital and knowledge integration.

The major conclusions are as follows:

1. Knowledge integration mediates the relationship between human capital and employee performance. This study uses the time an employee has been working in a firm, the number of firms an employee has worked for, and the number of industries an employee has worked in, to proxy for an employee’s human capital, and finds these results: Knowledge totally mediates the relationship between the time an employee has been working in a firm and the employee’s performance; knowledge partially mediates the relationship between the number of firms an employee has worked for, the number of industries an employee has worked in, and the employee’s performance.

2. Leadership moderates the relationship between human capital and knowledge integration. The results show that transformational leadership positively moderates the relationship between the time an employee has been working in a firm, the number of firms an employee has worked for, and knowledge integration. The greater the transformational leadership, the more positive is the effect on knowledge integration of the time an employee has been working in a firm and the number of firms an employee has worked for. Transactional leadership negatively moderates the relationship between the time an employee has been working in a firm, the number of firms an employee has worked for, and knowledge integration. The greater the transactional leadership, the less positive is the effect on knowledge integration of the time an employee has been working in a firm and the number of firms an employee has worked for. Transformational leadership and transactional leadership do not play a significant moderating role in the relationship between the number of industries an employee has worked in and knowledge integration.

The theoretical and practical implications are as follows:

a. This study theoretically explores the intrinsic relationship between human capital and employee performance. For professional service firms, the relationship of human capital to employee performance is very important. The study analyzed this relationship using the mediating variable of knowledge integration, and validated its mediating role.

b. At the same time, this study analyzes the relationship of human capital to knowledge integration using the moderating variable of leadership. The results show that leadership moderates the positive effect human capital has on knowledge integration. Specifically, when transformational leadership is pronounced or there is little transactional leadership, the employees’ incentive to integrate their knowledge is strong, which makes the positive relationship between human capital and knowledge integration more significant; when there is little transformational leadership or transactional leadership is pronounced, the employees’ incentive to integrate their knowledge is weaker, which makes the positive relationship between human capital and knowledge integration less significant.

c. This study has important practical implications for human capital development and the organizational design of Chinese professional service firms. Knowledge integration mediates the relationship between human capital and employee performance, and to maintain competitive advantage such firms need not only to develop their human capital but also to promote knowledge integration among their employees: they should use systematic mechanisms to encourage employees to integrate their separate knowledge.

d. Leadership moderates the relationship between human capital and knowledge integration. The professional service firm needs not only to integrate employees’ knowledge but also to attend to its leadership style. Favoring transformational leadership over transactional leadership will provide more incentives to employees to integrate their knowledge and make the relationship between human capital and knowledge integration more significant, thus improving the competency of the firm.