Line Managers' HR Competency : Scale Development and Validation

Abstract

This dissertation started from studying the importance of line managers' HR competency. Recent research on HRM has led to active discussions about HPWS gap and HR devolution. At the center of these discussions lies the roles of line managers. While the key role of HR department is to design HR policy and HR system and provide the big picture to fit into the strategic goal of a company, the implementation and communication of these HR policy and system with the employees falls into the responsibility of line managers. In particular, these HR roles in a modern enterprise are increasingly being transferred to line managers. While contribution of line managers to achievement of organizational goals is increasing, the HRM research has been limited to HR policies and practices, or the role of HR department. In order for line managers to properly perform the required HR roles, they have to be equipped with proper competency. Nevertheless, there has been only insufficient research to discuss the required HR competency of line managers for proper performance of such roles. There is no clear definition of line managers' HR competency nor appropriate scales for them. Thus, due to lack of such fundamental research, it is nearly impossible to prove the process of line managers' HR competency influencing HR effectiveness and contributing to organizational performance. Due to these necessity and limitations, this dissertation intended to develop scales for line managers' HR competency and prove validity based on theoretical discussions. The main objective of this dissertation is as follows. First, it intends to examine the importance of line managers' HR competency as a solution to address the gap between intention and implementation of HPWS, which has been actively discussed in the recent HRM studies. Second, it intends to expand the discussions on the devolution of HR roles to line managers, which has emerged as a significant issue in HRM research along with HPWS gap. This highlights the importance of the required HR competency for line managers to perform the transferred HR roles. Third, against such backdrop, it intends to categorize line managers' HR competency into analyzable and measurable concept, develop scales to measure them, and examine validity, with the purpose of studying the definition and composition of line managers' HR competency as well as the impact of them on HR effectiveness. The scales for line managers' HR competency in this study have been designed based on the competency definition of Boyatzis (1982) and Spencer and Spencer (1993) and key HR roles proposed by the previous research. It also empirically proved that line managers' HR competency are composed of six dimensions of HR knowledge, HR communication, HR development, HR conflict resolution, HR compliance, and HR characteristics that they have a positive impact on HR effectiveness, through verification and analysis based on such scales. The results of this dissertation will provide implications to lay the theoretical and empirical foundation for diverse perspectives and discussions on the importance of line managers as contributor to HR performance as well as organizational performance.