The influence of the fit between strategic human resource management and CEO strategic leadership behaviours on organizational effectiveness in China

ABSTRACT Strategic human resource management and strategic leadership are both important factors affecting organizational effectiveness. However, few studies have organically integrated their influences on organizational outcomes. Drawing on social information process theory, this study proposed a variety of relationships between high performance work system (HPWS) and CEO relationship-focused leadership behaviours on organizational outcomes including firm performance, organizational-level affective commitment and employee overall turnover rate (e.g. strengthening effect, weakening effect, and substitution effect). Based on a matched data from vice presidents, human resource managers and employees in 182 Chinese firms, this study found the above three relationships between HPWS and CEO relationship-focused leadership behaviours on organizational outcomes. Specifically, when HPWS and CEO relationship-focused leadership behaviours were both high, firm performance and organizational-level affective commitment were higher, and employee overall turnover rate was lower; the effects of HPWS on organizational outcomes would not be significant when CEO relationship-focused leadership behaviours was low; when HPWS was low but CEO relationship-focused leadership behaviours was high, employee overall turnover rate was highest. This study contributed to the understanding of the relationship between ‘system’ and ‘renqing’ in the context of Chinese enterprises, integrated the research on strategic leadership and strategic human resource management, and had important inferences for management practice.