A causal relationship between strategic human resource development design and employee performance of state enterprises listed on the stock exchange of Thailand

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to design a structural equation model and to test the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in order to explain the effect of strategic human resource development on the employee performance of state enterprises listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Importantly, the review of relevant literature is implemented in order to explore the concept of strategic human resource development (SHRD), aiming at investigating the design of SHRD. It also focuses on exploring the role of job satisfaction and employee commitment as mediators and the role of career development needs as a moderator to adjust the relationship of the designed SHRD and employee performance.

The respondents from the data collection were a total of 337 employees that participated in this study through the implementation of structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS program to explain the performance results of employees. The empirical findings from the qualified sample cases showed that the proposed structural model confirmed the hypothesized construct paths to be consistent with the theoretical model verified by the acceptable criteria for the fit indices. The key findings revealed that job satisfaction and employee commitment fully mediated employee performance. The interaction of career development needs with SHRD design showed a direct effect on employee performance, while its interaction with job satisfaction and commitment showed indirect effects during the second-stage moderation.

When considering the indicators used in the test to support the two contexts of SHRD, the three indicators of the developmental context—individual learning, emotional intelligence development, and strategic capability development—highly supported the SHRD design. In terms of the organizational context for the creation of a healthy environment, this context included top management support, HRD plans and policies, HRD professional roles, supervisor involvement, and evaluation of HRD. Every indicators highly supported the designed SHRD. The results of the empirical test led to the strengthening of the SHRD concept.

The empirical findings from this study provide guidelines for organizational management in terms of the implementation of strategic human resource development mainly in the state enterprises, where implementation should take into account the organizational and developmental contexts. Importantly, this implementation should align with the organization's strategy to support the work efficiency of employees. A critical suggestion from this study points out that investing in the SHRD of the organization, contributing to effective employee performance, should be carried out in parallel with imbuing employees with high job satisfaction and commitment to the organization.