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The construct of human resource (HR) attributions is introduced. We argue that the attributions that employees make about the reasons why management adopts the HR practices that it does have consequences for their attitudes and behaviors, and ultimately, unit performance. Drawing on the strategic HR literature, we propose a typology of 5 HR-attribution dimensions. Utilizing data collected from a service firm, we show that employees make varying attributions for the same HR practices, and that these attributions are differentially associated with commitment and satisfaction. In turn, we show that these attitudes become shared within units and that they are related to unit-level organizational citizenship behaviors and customer satisfaction. Findings and implications are discussed.
Introduction
Strategic human resources management (SHRM) researchers have sought to understand the ways in which a firm's human resource (HR) practices are associated with its performance, and they have amassed impressive research on the topic over the last 2 decades. Research has generally supported the notion that when appropriately designed, HR practices can help organizations enhance their performance. However, as Wright and Nishii (2008) note, this research has contributed little to our theoretical understanding of how HR practices and performance relate; much more research that examines variables that might be involved in the proverbial "black box" between HR systems and organizational performance is needed (Bowen & Ostroff, 2004; Nishii & Wright, 2008; Ostroff & Bowen, 2000). Although scholars have converged in their be lief that HR practices are associated with organizational outcomes through their influence on employee attitudes and behaviors (e.g., Huselid, 1995; Wright, McCormick, Sherman, & McMahan, 1999; Wright, McMahan, & McWilliams, 1994), Bowen and Ostroff (2004), and Nishii and Wright (2008; Wright & Nishii, in press) have recently suggested that the causal chain may be more complex than previously thought. They suggest that employees' perceptions of HR practices are likely to precede the employee attitudes and behavior links in the causal chain. That is, in order for HR practices to exert their desired effect on employee attitudes and behaviors, they first have to be perceived and interpreted subjectively by employees in ways that will engender such attitudinal and behavioral reactions. But if, as we know from psychological research, people perceive reality differently (Fiske & Taylor, 1991; Ichheiser, 1949), then...