Role of Human Resource Practices in Enhancing Organizational Learning in Chinese Construction Organizations

Abstract

While previous studies have found that human resource management has positive effects on innovation and organizational performance, the processes through which human resource management leads to organizational performance are contested. Although human capabilities in learning, innovating and changing creative directions are vital to long term development of organizations, it has been suggested that intellectual capital, knowledge sharing, and group interaction mediate that process. In the context of the Chinese construction industry, this paper investigates the effect of human resource practices and organizational learning on construction firms’ performance. The data collection employs a questionnaire survey and structural equation modelling is used to analyse the data. The results support organizational learning as a mediating variable of the relationship between human resource practices (staffing, training, rewards, and employment relations) and organizational performance. Thus, Chinese construction firms should view organizational learning as an important component of competitive advantage in the process of organizational development, and enhance organizational learning by furthering their human resource practices.