International Handbook of Entrepreneurship and HRM

Citation

Huang, Q. (2009), "International Handbook of Entrepreneurship and HRM", International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 312-314. https://doi.org/10.1108/13552550910957373

In response to the growing recognition that too little is known about the inter‐section between entrepreneurship and human resource management, Rowena Barrett and Susan Mayson edited International Handbook of Entrepreneurship and HRM. The book draws on contributions from a diverse, international group of both new and established scholars from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Germany and Sweden. This highly original book focuses on human resource management issues in the context of entrepreneurial and small firms, including original theoretical and empirical chapters. The book is divided into three thematic sections: theory and research methods; the nature and effect of HRM in smaller and entrepreneurial firms; and specific functional aspects of HRM in small firms.

Part I comprises three chapters. The first two chapters (Chapter 2 by Chell and Chapter 3 by Audretsch and Monsen) present an overview of different approaches to understand the nature and process of entrepreneurship and its HRM implications, and the importance of entrepreneurship in regional development. The third chapter of this part, written by Cassell and Nadin, explores the value an interpretivist perspective can bring to the theoretical and methodological development of the discipline. This chapter provides a good base for understanding different approaches used in empirical research presented in the chapters that follow.

Part II encompasses ten chapters. The main focus of this part is on HRM and entrepreneurship and the nature of HRM in small, newer, growing and/or entrepreneurial firms. A number of chapters explore the formality of HRM in these firms. For example, based on data from interviews with 11 small business owners, Barrett and Mayson (Chapter 6) find that formal and informal HRM practices can co‐exist within firms. This is followed by three chapters which investigate the relationship between formal HRM practices and organisational performance. In Chapter 7, Michie and Sheehan find evidence from UK and US small firms that human resource management can generally contribute to both objective and subjective measures of corporate performance. Similarly in Australia, Warriner (in Chapter 9) suggests that formal human resource practices can make contribution to firm growth in terms of three different growth measures dealing with the firm's future growth orientation, and past growth in sales and employees respectively. Furthermore, HRM can provide entrepreneurial firms with competitive advantages, as Zotto and Gustafsson suggest in Chapter 5, since it can be used as an entrepreneurial tool. Also, Heneman, Tansky and Camp in Chapter 8 find visionary and contemporary HRM strategies are the key characteristics of high‐growth firms in the US. Formalisation may lead firms to better performance as indicated by the above‐mentioned chapters. However, this formalisation can also be problematic. For example, for team members who became “employees”, they can become alienated (Martin et al. in Chapter 10). Also, the process of formalisation can result in growing pains, as Marlow and Thompson reveal in Chapter 11.

Some other chapters in this part address the context of entrepreneurship and HRM such as the ownership context, or the geographical location of the firm. Both Chapter 12 by Hyman et al. and Chapter 13 by Harris and Red suggest that benevolent paternalism can be effective management under some conditions. Employee involvement and empowerment play an important role. In China, where the context is very different from the cases discussed in other chapters in this section, Cunningham and Rowley in Chapter 14 find human resource practices in small firms are changing, but they still exist alongside more “traditional” ways of managing in that region.

Part III of the handbook shifts to more specific human resource management practices or issues in small and entrepreneurial firms. By and large, several chapters focus on various topics related to the management of employees in such firms. In Chapter 15, Blackburn and Smallbone explore how the motivation and world perspectives of small firm owner‐managers affect the ways in which they respond to externally‐imposed government regulations. Chapter 16 by David and Watts investigates some key aspects of the decision to become an employer and the learning process following this decision. In Chapter 17, Cardon and Tarique look at Organizational Attractiveness of Small Businesses and find that smallness and newness of firms are liabilities in attracting new recruits only for some, but not all, small firms. Chapter 18 by Williamson and Robinson also deals with the issue of recruitment, but from a different perspective. They consider how small firms locate and hire new employees. They find that small firms use both formal and informal recruitment methods and effectiveness of recruitment methods is contingent upon the size of the firm. In Chapter 19, Blackman and Hindle use the concept of psychological contract to examine the mismatch between entrepreneurial business owners' and their employees' expectations. They further suggest that psychological contract provides a way to develop better models of how to implement and develop HRM in a new entrepreneurial venture. Boocock et al. (Chapter 20) look at another aspect of human resource management – job design – and find that incremental improvement in job design can enhance problem solving, learning, motivation and performance of employees. Devins' analysis of two publicly‐funded skill development programmes in the UK (Chapter 21) suggests that if a proactive and targeted approach is taken to skill development, learning can be encouraged. In Chapter 22, Taylor reviews available research on training and development in small firms and suggests that future research needs to be more nuanced and contextualised, if it is to lead to more robust theoretical frameworks to underpin empirical research on training and development in smaller and entrepreneurial firms. Different from the above chapters in this part, in Chapter 23, Kaplan and Katz seek to explain how the emerging organisation might shape an entrepreneur's career to develop a flexible framework of entrepreneurial careers. In the last chapter (Chapter 24), Wagar and Grant examine the impact of HRM practices, employee voice and organisational cost‐cutting on the intention of small business managers and professionals to quit their job. By using a sample of graduates from a Canadian university, their analysis suggests that high‐involvement HRM strategy can help to retain these employees. Taken as a whole, these chapters demonstrate, through a range of methodological and conceptual lenses, an overriding theme that HRM plays an extremely important role in the success of small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures.

As an early collection of research on the intersection of entrepreneurship and HRM, the book has some limitations. For example, some chapters are descriptive and lack sufficient in‐depth analysis. The impact of different institutional contexts on entrepreneurship and HRM could be addressed in more detail and depth, e.g. institutional drivers toward formality of HRM practices in the firms. However, the book offers a unique insight into understanding the role of HRM in developing sustainable entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial ventures as well as how HRM practices and procedures can be used to help navigate, or indeed drive, the changing landscape in smaller and entrepreneurial firms. It is a useful resource for many small firms, entrepreneurship and economic development researchers, and also for policy‐makers and post‐graduate students interested in these areas. It provides a starting point to consider a variety of issues with regard to HRM and, in this regard it is an interesting and useful handbook.