Female Leadership as a Moderator on Human Resource Flexibility Affecting Firm Performance

Abstract

From the works of scholars in the field of Human Resource Management (HRM), conceptualization establishes that Human Resource (HR) Flexibility is important in a firm’s sustainability. Skill flexibility, behavior flexibility, and HR practice flexibility have been acknowledged in the literature as the dimensions of HR flexibility with a significant impact on performance for the sustainability of firms in today’s turbulent environments. This paper explores the moderation role of Female Leadership (FL) between HR Flexibility (HRF) and Firm Performance (FP). Furthermore, the authors also investigate the individual effect of skill, behavior, and HR practice flexibility moderated interaction of Female leadership on performance of firms. Data was collected using a questionnaire as an instrument from 202 HR managers in Ghana. Using correlation and regression analyses to test for the interaction modeling, the hypotheses of the study are tested. The results confirm a moderation of Female leadership on the relationship between HR Flexibility and firm performance. The findings revealed that there is a positive effect of HRF on firm performance (HR-related and Market-related outcomes) which is reinforced by the moderator. The results reached in this paper contribute to the literature of HR flexibility on firm performance. The paper brings insight to the strategic role of Female leadership, so far as flexibility is concerned for higher organizational capability.