Recent corporate scandals and excessively egotistical behavior on the part of organizational leaders underscore the need for industrial and organizational (I-O) psychology and human resource (HR) scholars and practitioners to critically examine how organizational systems and practices can stimulate leader narcissism. Whereas most organizational scholarship considers leader narcissism to be a stable input that influences important organizational outcomes, we challenge organizational scholars and practitioners to further inspect how organizational practices may either stimulate or suppress leader narcissism. We focus on HR practices as one specific set of organizational practices within the area of expertise of I-O psychologists and HR professionals. Drawing on self-categorization theory, we argue that highly personalizing HR practices (e.g., hypercompetitive leader selection, high-potential programs, elevated leader pay) can encourage leaders to define themselves in terms of a “special” personal identity in ways that set them apart from the broader collective within organizations and in turn facilitate leader narcissism. In contrast, we argue that depersonalizing HR practices (e.g., rotational leader selection, inclusive developmental programs, interdependent rewards) can encourage leaders to act in group-oriented ways that benefit the interests of others in an organization—and beyond. We call on organizational scholars and practitioners to consider more carefully how HR practices—often designed with the goal of cultivating leadership potential—may unintentionally reinforce leader narcissism. With this analysis, we hope to stimulate research in this area and offer insights to shape HR policies and practices in ways that discourage destructive forms of leader narcissism.

The Russian Arctic regions have a significant geographical, historical, and economic connection with the Northern Sea Route (NSR); the successful implementation of Russia’s geo-political and geo-economic strategies in the Arctic is mainly dependent upon the socio-economic situation in these regions. Population migration is a determinant of the current and future labour potential of the supporting regions; compared to natural growth, it has been a key driver of population and an indicator of the quality of human resources. The research herein considered the factors and impacts of migration on the quality of human resources in the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF). Russian population census data for 2002 and 2010, and statistical materials were analysed by age and migrant education to characterise the quality of human resources. To identify the causes of migration, the quantitative data analyses were supplemented with results from sociological studies and expert assessments. An index methodology was used to compare the quality of life and human capital development of the Arctic regions. Accordingly, most of the analysed Arctic regions showed high indicators of human development, which were higher than the national average in education, but significantly lower in longevity. Further, most of the Arctic regions occupied lower positions in Russian regional quality of life. It was concluded that the AZRF regions hold high quality of human capital; however, since high-quality living conditions are lacking, they serve as donors of human capital to other parts of the country. These regions would require external labour resources in the near future due to the planned large-scale projects for the development of the NSR, concurrent reduction and ageing of labour resources, and demand changes in the labour market. The government’s socio-economic policies would determine the scale, dynamics, and direction of migration, as well as their impact on the demographics and labour potential of the supporting regions of the NSR.

Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic was declared, strict visitor restrictions were issued for long-term care facilities (LTCFs). A year later, restrictions are still in place and they continue to impact family members who have limited or no in-person contact with their relative in LTCFs. The goal of this qualitative longitudinal focused ethnography was to understand the experience of family members who have a relative in a LTCF where visiting has been restricted during the pandemic. Seventeen family members participated in two interviews that were 6 months apart. Data analysis highlighted five key drivers, defined as the workforce, communication deficits, characteristics of care, public health directives, and autonomy of relative which in turn resulted in three main themes: psychological distress, surveillance, and visiting challenges. This study provides a glimpse into the difficult experiences of families with a relative residing in a LTCF in the province of New Brunswick.

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is a highly contagious viral disease that affects domestic and wild artiodactyl animals and causes considerable economic losses related to outbreak management, production losses and trade impacts. In Tunisia, the last FMD outbreak took place in 2018–2019. The effectiveness of control measures implemented to control FMD depends, in particular, on the human resources used to implement them. Tunisia has the ultimate objective of obtaining OIE status as ‘FMD-free with vaccination’. The aim of this study was to determine and compare the necessary and available human resources to control FMD outbreaks in Tunisia using emergency vaccination and to assess the gaps that would play a role in the implementation of the strategy. We developed a resources-requirement grid of necessary human resources for the management of the emergency vaccination campaign launched after the identification of a FMD-infected premises in Tunisia. Field surveys, conducted in the 24 governorates of Tunisia, allowed quantifying the available human resources for several categories of skills considered in the resources-requirement grid. For each governorate, we then compared available and necessary human resources to implement vaccination according to eight scenarios mixing generalised or cattle-targeted vaccination and different levels of human resources. The resources-requirement grid included 11 tasks in three groups: management of FMD-infected premises, organisational tasks and vaccination implementation. The available human resources for vaccination-related tasks included veterinarians and technicians from the public sector and appointed private veterinarians. The comparison of available and necessary human resources showed vaccination-related tasks to be the most time-consuming in terms of managing a FMD outbreak. Increasing the available human resources using appointed private veterinarians allowed performing the emergency vaccination of animals in the governorate in due time, especially if vaccination was targeted on cattle. The overall approach was validated by comparing the predicted and observed durations of a vaccination campaign conducted under the same conditions as during the 2014 Tunisian outbreak. This study could provide support to the Tunisian Veterinary Services or to other countries to optimise the management of a FMD outbreak.

This article examines how management-labor relations and labor legislation have evolved in China since Deng Xiaoping's “Open Door” reforms were introduced in 1979 and how they have changed over the two decades since then. We reconsider the role of Chinese trade unions, enterprises and the state agencies involved, as they move from an employment system that was once called the “iron rice bowl” to a new one based on market forces. This change raises serious dilemmas and issues: are there contradictions between preserving workers' rights and at the same time, enhancing productivity? Does such a transition constitute the onset of “collective bargaining” and a labor-market in the Western sense? How are such shifts likely to be affected by China's entry into the WTO in late 2001? These and other related questions are analysed in the article.

Most questionnaires used for managerial purposes have been developed in Anglo-Saxon countries and then adapted for other cultures. However, this process is controversial. This paper fills the gap for more culturally sensitive assessment instruments in the specific field of human resources while also addressing the methodological issues that scientists and practitioners face in the development of questionnaires. First, we present the development process of a Personal and Motive-based competencies questionnaire targeted to Spanish-speaking countries. Second, we address the validation process by guiding the reader through testing the questionnaire construct validity. We performed two studies: a first study with 274 experts and practitioners of competency development and a definitive study with 482 members of the general public. Our results support a model of nineteen competencies grouped into four higher-order factors. To assure valid construct comparisons we have tested the factorial invariance of gender and work experience. Subsequent analysis have found that women self-rate themselves significantly higher than men on only two of the nineteen competencies, empathy (p < .001) and service orientation (p < .05). The effect of work experience was significant in twelve competencies (p < .001), in which less experienced workers self-rate higher than experienced workers. Finally, we derive theoretical and practical implications.

This study examines the role of human resources in strategy formulation processes in China's emerging market. Employing a qualitative data driven thematic analysis, we present evidence collected from six comparative case sites of Spanish firms in China. Our findings suggest that high performing firms use a dynamic adaptive logic while lower performing firms use a static structural logic. A dynamic adaptive model of strategic human resource management is identified, emphasizing a fluid and informal process between strategy, human resources and international management.

Mentoring and coaching practices are helping businesses grow by supporting the development of their human capital. Family businesses have a unique atmosphere and distinctive features that make it especially important to discover whether mentoring and coaching affect their performance. We have used a resource-based vision and knowledge-based vision to analyse this relationship using structural equation methodology in a sample of 630 companies. The results show that there is a direct relationship between mentoring and coaching and the performance of family businesses.

Mergers and acquisitions can be a mechanism used by firms to access innovative knowledge, including intellectual property, and to strengthen and expand their core capabilities. In the mergers and acquisition context, the creation of value depends on the transfer of capabilities and knowledge being carried out successfully during the post-acquisition integration process. The paper adopts this view. It examines the role of the top management and personnel who hold knowledge and skills linked to the capability of the acquired firm considered most valuable by the acquiring firm in the transfer of knowledge from the acquired firm to the acquiring firm. The paper also examines whether the impact of the retention of the acquired firm's high-value human resources (HVHR) on knowledge transfer is moderated by the degree of embeddedness of the knowledge to be transferred. Furthermore, the study identifies the factors that influence the retention of the acquired firm's HVHR. We tested the model using data from a sample of 57 domestic, related, friendly Spanish mergers and acquisitions belonging to a wide variety of industries. The results support the notion that the more embedded the knowledge, the greater the impact of the acquired firm's HVHR retention on the knowledge transfer. They also show that the autonomy granted to the acquired firm, the frequency of use of rich media among the personnel of both firms, and the acquired firm's pre-acquisition profitability are factors encouraging the acquired firm's HVHR to remain. The study contributes to the literature on knowledge transfer in mergers and acquisitions by highlighting the relevance of retention of the acquired firm's HVHR for knowledge transfer, as well as demonstrating the importance of taking into consideration the nature of the knowledge to be transferred. It also contributes to the literature on the implementation process in mergers and acquisitions by identifying factors available to managers to favor HVHR continuity in the acquiring firm or the one resulting from the merger.

In the maritime community, a runner-up will undertake this typical process to catch up with the front runner; first, as a nation's economy grows its domestic crew costs rise, creating a gap with those abroad, which in turn depresses the international competitiveness of shipping companies. Then, to maintain their economic strength, shipping companies have their ships fly a “flag of convenience” relying on increasing amounts of cheap foreign labour. As a result, the nation gradually loses domestic seafarers, which, in the worst case, leads to a depletion of national human resource needed for its maritime cluster to continue to exist. In that sense, the personnel shortage issue is a fate for top runners in the marine transport world, where international competitiveness is inevitable. The Japanese maritime sector is just facing this issue. In this paper, the current situation in the maritime sector and its dependence on foreign labour, the cause and process of the change and the problems of the outcomes are explained, and the possible solutions in terms of the social mechanism of personnel development and utilization are discussed.