Effects of human resource management practices on logistics and supply chain competencies - evidence from China logistics service market

摘要

The Chinese logistics service market is a vibrant and highly contested arena. The industry, however, has been characterised as operationally inefficient in comparison with those of the developed economies. Shortage of logistics human resources and lack of logistics expertise have been identified as two of the key contributory factors. Based on responses from 76 Chinese logistics service providers to a survey conducted in 2010, this study explores whether, and how, four sets of human resource management (HRM) practices contribute to nurturing three logistics and supply chain (L&SC) competencies in the Chinese logistics service market. Results from a hierarchical multiple regression analysis show that not all HRM practices were equally effective in building L&SC competencies. While training and development, and recruitment and selection were significant in contributing to nurturing the three L&SC competencies, both performance management and reward management did not. These findings suggest that conventional HRM practices designed to reward individual performance may not be suited to nurturing team-based L&SC competencies in the Chinese context. The implications of these findings were discussed and directions for further studies offered.