The relationship between human resource practices and organizational performance in the Chinese construction enterprises

Abstract

Construction comprises a multitude of knowledge-driven activities within and amongst participating organizations. Given the dynamic environment and multi-project operations, construction organizations need to develop well-structured human resource practices to manage employees as well as to learn, innovate and change creative directions which are vital for organizational continuous improvement. Chinese construction enterprises have gained experience in various types of projects within the competitive environment over the 30 years of economic transformation to a market-based, socialist economy. This paper develops a framework to investigate the effects of human resource practices and organisational learning on the performance of Chinese construction enterprises. It is postulated that organizational learning exerts a mediating effect on the relationship of human resource practices and performance. This paper proposes a mixed method approach in which the qualitative study will contribute to the understanding of the current human resource practices and the barriers (if any) in implementing organizational learning practices in the Chinese construction stateowned enterprises; the quantitative analysis will examine the mediating effect of organizational learning on the relationship between human resource practices and organizational performance.