About Me
I am an assistant research professor in the School of Labor and Employment Relations at Penn State. My research focuses on the adoption and effect of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices on workers and organizations. My projects primarily cover practices relating to pay and turnover, though since joining Penn State’s School of Labor Relations I have developed a nascent interest in studying union busting. I also work on team effectiveness where I consider the allocation of scarce talent and the nature of strategically core team roles. Additionally, I am affiliated with the Center for International Human Resource Studies where I help manage the CRANET dataset along with organizing the biennial Global Conference on IHRM. The next one will be held in June 2024 in Gothenburg, Sweden, so please consider submitting your abstracts!
Prior to joining Penn State, I received my Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and my Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Before academia, I also worked in HR recruitment and organizational development in Bangkok, Thailand.
Below are my research projects and their abstracts.
1. Strategic and International HRM
Temporal Patterns of Collective Voluntary Turnover Surrounding Bonus Payments
Abstract
The relationship between bonuses and voluntary turnover is far from simple because not only do bonuses influence the likelihood of turnover occurring, but also the timing at which they occur. Conventional beliefs suggest that bonuses help reduce the level of voluntary turnover; however, there are theoretical bases suggesting that such behaviors may simply be delayed, only to reemerge en masse. The current study investigates voluntary turnover patterns surrounding multiple bonus pay periods in a call center context where some workers receive annual bonuses while others do not. This creates an opportunity for a quasi-experimental research design with enhanced degree of internal validity. Consistent the temporal discounting framework, results from interrupted time-series analyses show that voluntary turnover decreases as bonus payout approaches and that turnover increases significantly post-bonus. Thus, the timing of bonus pay and its relationship with outcomes of interests should be carefully considered when designing compensation schemes.Institutions, Economies, and Downsizing: Evidence across Time and Countries
with Elaine Farndale and Chris Brewster
Abstract
Downsizing is a legitimate yet disruptive human resource management (HRM) practice that organisations can activate when costs need to be cut. We adopt an institutionalist lens to explore how both legislative and economic forces combine to shape organisations’ adoption of employee downsizing practices. Using multilevel mixed-effects ordered probit regression, we analyse survey data on HRM practices from 29 countries and four rounds of research data spanning seventeen years. The findings indicate that variations in downsizing practices can be partly explained by differences in national legal institutions as well as by prevailing economic conditions. Importantly, we also find that constraints imposed by national regulatory institutions may be relaxed during periods of crises. We theorise the interaction of coercive, mimetic and normative isomorphic effects to understand how organisational operating contexts are not fixed and organisational constraints can vary over time.Discharges, Poor-Performer Quits, and Layoffs as Valued Exits: Is It Really Addition by Subtraction?
with Charlie Trevor
The Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 2020
Abstract
We contend that a variety of types of employee exits from the firm are presumed to be a net positive and are thus valued by management, resulting in a potentially important new way to think about these leavers. For each of three valued exit (VE) types (discharges, poor-performer quits, and layoffs) we examine incidence, construct similarities and differences, and antecedents. We also summarize and critique the literature on VE consequences for the organization. In doing so we discuss how an underlying tension must accompany the analysis of VEs. Specifically, the intuitive notion of addition by subtraction must be considered relative to important contextual considerations and to evidence that the operational disruption created by VE departures may at times mitigate or even outweigh the VE benefits. Underlying our analysis is the stipulation that the formal consideration of VEs is in its infancy and is thus laden with conceptual and methodological challenges that scholars must address if we are to benefit from this new approach to employee exits from the firm.Cultural Values as Predictors of Congruence between Employee and Supervisor HR Strength Perceptions
with Elaine Farndale, Gaye Özçelik, Dora Roumpi, and Dorra Yahiaoui
Abstract
Since employee perceptions of human resource management (HRM) can differ from their manager’s perception, it is important to study both sources of perceptions along with their degree of congruency. While countless studies exist on the role of congruency as predictors of employee attitudes and behaviors, few have been conducted on congruence as outcomes in general. Furthermore, none has examined the antecedents of congruency in perceptions of HRM. We overcame fundamental limitations of congruence research by using a novel methodological approach: the Directional and Nondirectional Differences (DNDD) framework. The current study contributes to the HRM process literature by exploring the antecedents of congruence between employee and supervisor perceptions of “strength” in the HRM system. Incorporating data from 786 employees and 244 supervisors across six countries, our results provide nuanced insight into the nature of congruency between employee and supervisor perceptions of HR strength. Specifically, we showed how the level of agreement between these two perceptions as well as their shared and unique variations can be predicted based on the cultural values of employees.Turnover and its Anti-Unionization Effect
with Charlie Trevor
Abstract
Previous research clearly documents the role of unions in reducing employee turnover through mechanisms such as higher pay, formalized grievance processes, and improved job security. The current study takes an alternative causal perspective on the two fundamental constructs by examining how employee turnover might subvert the formation of unions in the first place. This counterintuitive relationship has not yet been examined in the extant literature. Such omission is not surprising, given that the idea that a company would purposefully engage in an HRM strategy that drives up turnover rate ostensibly contradicts the position that companies can try to substitute for unions by cultivating amicable employee relations that would normally reduce turnover. Moreover, meta-analytic evidence has largely shown that collective turnover is negatively associated with firm performance due to the operational disruption caused by the depletion of both human and social capital. Given such well-established deleterious effects, it seems, at least on the surface, that choosing to pursue the strategy of inducing collective turnover in order to impede unionization would be cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. Yet, there is some sentiment that a high-turnover environment is problematic for union organizing. Support for the union must be developed, which takes time. Continual employee churn and an abundance of newcomers as replacements undermine this initiative through lost votes and wasted resources. As labor organizer Joshua Brewer puts it, “You’ll never deep-organize a workplace that has 100% turnover. You’ll just chase your tail.” Meanwhile, high-profile organizational leaders take a decidedly anti-union stance. For example, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has referred to unions as “a new outside force that’s trying desperately trying to disrupt our company” and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy views unions as an impediment to efficiency due to them being “much slower and much more bureaucratic.” Given this rhetoric, might facilitating Brewer’s “tail-chasing” be strategically appealing to firms? If encouraging employee turnover, or at least creating HRM systems that precipitate it, actually inhibits the creation of bargaining units, establishing that relationship would have important, and arguably novel, implications for union organizing, union avoidance, and broader HRM strategy. Our aim is to begin to explore this intriguing possibility.2. Team Effectiveness
Talent Dispersion within Teams
with Tiffany Trzebiatowski and Charlie Trevor
- Given limited resources, should you build a team with a star employee surrounded by less capable teammates or a team of moderately capable members?
3. Research Methods
Mediation Research: Drawing Valid and Complete Inferences
with Jasmine Feng, Mevan Jayasinghe, and Barry Gerhart