Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of innovative HR practices as an important mechanism through which strategic flexibility affects firm performance as well as the role of female leadership in this relationship. Design/methodology/approach-Data were gathered from a sample of 113 firms in China. The authors collected information on organizational strategy, HR practices, CEO information, corporate social responsibility and other firm characteristics in terms of firm age, location, and financial performance. Conditional procedural analysis was conducted to test the model. Findings-The authors found strong evidence in support of the mediation relationship in which organizations with a strong focus on strategic flexibility are more likely to adopt Innovative HR Practices. Furthermore, the authors found that the extent to which firms have adopted innovative HR practices has a strong effect on employee productivity. In addition, the authors found that female leadership enhances strategic flexibility-performance relationship. Research limitations/implications-Information on strategic flexibility, HR practices and firm performance was collected at the same time. Future studies based on panel data would be helpful to establish the causal relationships in the model. Practical implications-The authors' findings suggest that practitioners should put more emphasis on developing innovative HR practices, as they are required by strategic flexibility. Social implications-Firms pursuing strategic flexibility should feel more confident when appointing a female CEO, because the results show that female leadership may enhance the positive impact of strategic flexibility on firm performance. Originality/value-This research study is the first empirical examination of the mediating influence of innovative HR practices on the relationship between strategic flexibility and firm performance. The study also shows that female leadership benefits an organization in implementing strategic flexibility. The results are of value to researchers, human resource management managers, employees, and executives who are seeking to develop practices that are flexible and innovative in order to stay competitive in dynamic environments.

Purpose -The purpose of the paper is to analyse how the male-female pay gap in China varies across the pay distribution and to provide evidence on the factors that influence that gap. Design/methodology/approach -The authors use the Recentered Influence Function modification of quantile regressions to estimate how the male-female pay gap varies across the pay distribution. The authors also decompose the pay gaps at different quantiles of the pay distribution into differences in endowments of wage determining characteristics and differences in the returns for the same characteristics. The analysis is based on data from the Life Histories and Social Change in Contemporary China survey. Findings -The authors find evidence of a sticky floor (large pay gaps at the bottom of the pay distribution) and some limited and weaker evidence of a glass ceiling (large pay gaps at the top of the distribution). This pattern prevails based on the overall pay gap as well as on the adjusted or net gap that reflects differences in the pay that males and females receive when they have the same pay determining characteristics. The pattern largely reflects the coefficients or unexplained differences across the pay distribution. Factors influencing the pay gap and how they vary across the pay distribution are discussed. The variation highlights considerable heterogeneity in the Chinese labour market with respect to how pay is determined and different characteristics are rewarded, implying that the conventional Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions that focus only on the mean of the distribution can mask important differences across the full pay distribution. Social implications -At the bottom of the pay distribution most of the lower pay of females reflects their lower returns to job tenure, experience and a greater negative effect of family responsibilities on females' wages, and to a lesser extent their lower level of education, less likelihood of being CPP members and their concentration in lower paying occupations. At the top of the pay distribution most of their lower pay reflects their lower returns on education, job tenure and work experience, and to a lesser extent their lower levels of experience and lower likelihood of being in managerial and leadership positions. Originality/value -The paper systematically examines the male-female pay gap and its determinants throughout the pay distribution in China, highlighting that the conventional Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions that focus only on the mean of the distribution can mask important differences across the full pay distribution and not capture the considerable heterogeneity in that labour market.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between employees’ perceptions of organizational support for employee health (OSEH) and employees’ turnover intention and job performance, with a focus on the possible mediating roles of affective commitment and wellness program participation in these relationships. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from surveys of employees at a public university that provides employees with a variety of wellness program options. Conditional procedural analysis was conducted to test the model. Findings Results showed that employees’ perceptions of OSEH positively related to both turnover intention and job performance and that affective commitment fully mediated the relationships between OSEH perceptions and both dependent variables. Research limitations/implications Cross-sectional data were collected on OSEH, affective commitment, employees’ intent to remain in the organization and job performance. Future studies based on panel data would be helpful to establish the causal relationships in the model. Practical implications Our findings show that employees’ perceptions of OSEH are likely to affect behavioral outcomes through affective commitment, suggesting that managers should ensure that employees are aware of organizational support for health promotion. Our findings also suggest that organizations move beyond a focus on design of wellness programs to include an emphasis on the overall OSEH. Originality/value This research study is the first empirical examination on the two possible channels through which organizational health support may influence employees’ intent to remain and job performance – participation in wellness programs and affective organizational commitment. The results are of value to researchers, human resource management managers, employees and executives who are seeking to develop practices that promote employee health at the workplace.

We utilize a data set that has not been used in literature—the Life Histories and Social Change in Contemporary China (LHSCCC)—to provide new evidence on male‐female pay differences in China. The data set not only enables us to control for a wide range of pay‐determining characteristics but also is the first to enable an analysis of the different components of pay (e.g., base pay and performance pay) as well as for total pay. We find: (1) Women receive about three‐quarters of male pay for each of the dimensions of base pay, performance pay, and total pay, before adjusting for the effect of different pay‐determining factors; (2) Approximately two‐thirds of the gap reflect the fact that females tend to be paid less than males for the same wage‐determining characteristics (often labeled as discrimination), while about one‐third reflects the fact that males have endowments or characteristics that tend to be associated with higher pay, especially supervisory responsibilities, general labor market experience, occupational skills, education, and membership in the Communist party; (3) Marriage has a large positive effect on the earnings of women in China (and none for men), but childcare responsibilities for children under the age of 6 have a large negative effect on the earnings of women although these are offset almost completely if an elder family member is present, highlighting that childcare responsibilities disproportionately fall on women unless an elder family member is present; (4) Pay premiums for higher level skills and higher supervisory ranks are remarkably small for both males and especially females; (5) With respect to the unexplained or “discriminatory” portion of the gap, females get a huge pay penalty for simply being female, but a substantial portion of this gets offset by the higher pay premium they receive for such factors as Han ethnicity, being married, and education. This suggests that discrimination tends to occur in the form of a pay penalty for simply being female and not from lower returns to the same endowments of pay‐determining characteristics. (JEL J3, J7, M5)

We provide an in‐depth analysis of gender differences in performance pay in China based on a unique dataset — the Life Histories and Social Change in Contemporary China — that provides information on the different components of pay including performance pay and base pay as well as a wide array of pay determining characteristic. The share of performance pay is documented and its determinants, including gender, analysed. Particular attention is paid to gender differences in the different dimensions of performance pay: the probability of receiving it; the magnitude conditional upon receiving it; and their product being the overall unconditional magnitude. Gender differences in these dimensions are decomposed into components due to male–female differences in the endowments of characteristics that explain these dimensions of pay, and gender differences that arise even when men and women have the same endowments of such characteristics with the later component, often taken to reflect discrimination.