The Antecedents and Consequences of Strategic HRM in Malaysian and Philippine SMEs

Abstract

From a survey of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia and the Philippines, the authors find that the adoption of strategic Human Resource Management (HRM) is at best at a moderate level. The adoption of strategic HRM by SMEs in both Malaysia and the Philippines is predicted from the positive effect of legal and regulatory requirements, the importance of business environment challenges, and the strategic role of the HR professional. Furthermore, regression analysis shows that in both countries, SMEs with strategic human resource management have better organizational performance in terms of human resource outcomes, operational outcomes, and financial outcomes, but the impact is larger in the Philippine SMEs. This study adds empirical evidence currently available from a small set of countries, mostly in North America and Europe. The authors end this chapter with implications for policy makers and HR practitioners and provide recommendations for future research.