Pellets of unknown material contained in an aluminium cylinder were found in the north area of the Asiago plateau (Vicenza), a locality of the First World War (1914‐1918). Elemental analysis, infrared, chromatography and NMR experiments indicate that the main product is pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). This substance was probably an igniting primer used by Austro‐Hungarian (A.U.) military engineering. Hypothesis of medical use of the pellets can be disregarded while it seems improbable the use of this explosive by German Army during the Second War World.

In this study, we developed and tested a causal model to predict innovative work behaviour (IWB) integrating the literatures on psychological contract, job design and organizational justice. Two hundred and four employees from Irish manufacturing organizations participated in the study, and we collected data using a survey questionnaire. The psychological contract variable of perceived obligation to innovate, job autonomy and pay showed direct effects on IWB. In addition, pay and job autonomy also had indirect effects on IWB through the mediating variable of psychological contract -perceived obligation to innovate. The organizational process of meritocracy, equity perceptions and procedural justice perceptions influenced IWB through the mediating variables of psychological contract, although none of these variables influenced IWB directly. Overall, the results indicated good support for the integrative model and provided support for the crucial role played by psychological contract in influencing IWB. Implications are discussed.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how a system of human resource management (HRM) practices, labelled high-performance work systems (HPWS), influences organizational innovation in professional service firms (PSFs). In this study, innovation in PSFs is seen as an indicator of firm performance and is calculated as the revenue per person generated from new clients and new services, respectively. Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative data were collected from 195 managing partners, HR managers or experienced Partners in 120 Irish accounting firms. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the hypotheses. Findings – The analysis results indicate strong support for the mediating role of employees’ innovative work behaviours in the relationship between HPWS and two types of PSFs’ innovation performance. Practical implications – Managers need to effectively adopt and implement innovation-based HRM practices to encourage and support employees’ creative thinking and innovation. Through the adoption and utilization of these practices managers can enhance the firm’s innovation and its performance. Originality/value – This study contributes to our understanding of the link between HRM and firm innovation by explicating a pathway between these variables. This study also generalizes consistent findings on the HRM-firm innovation relationship to a different context, i.e. PSFs.

This article demonstrates that a diversity and equality management system (DEMS) contributes to fi rm performance beyond the effects of a traditional high-performance work system (HPWS), which consists of bundles of work practices and policies used extensively in high-performing fi rms. A DEMS typically includes diversity training and monitoring recruitment, pay, and promotion across minority or other disadvantaged groups. Our analysis of quantitative data from service and manufacturing organizations in Ireland confi rms thatHPWS practices are associated with positive business performance and fi nds specifi cally that DEMS practices are positively associated with higher labor productivity and workforce innovation and lower voluntary employee turnover.

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This article offers line managers and HR professionals an actionable, researchbased framework for developing psychological contracts with employees that suit their organizational and human resource (HR) strategy. Leadership styles supporting the fi rm's HR strategy are key to making psychological contracts that benefi t both the fi rm and its members. When managers' styles are out of sync with HR strategy, this mismatch can lead to poorer performance through ineffective and unfulfi lled psychological contracts with workers.

Professional service fi rms (PSFs) play an important role in the knowledge-based economy. Their success is highly dependent on their people, the knowledge resources they possess, and how they use these resources. However, how to systematically manage human resources to attain high performance is not fully understood. This study addresses this issue by investigating the linkage mechanisms through which high-performance work systems (HPWS) infl uence the performance of PSFs. We integrate resource-based and dynamic capability theories in order to identify and investigate two intervening mechanisms that link HR practices to fi rm performance. The fi rst mechanism is the intellectual capital resources comprising the human, social, and organizational capital that HPWS create. The second mechanism is the uses to which both HPWS and resources can be applied, operationalized as organizational ambidexterity, the simultaneous exploitation of existing knowledge and exploration of new knowledge. These mechanisms are hypothesized to link HPWS to fi rm performance in the form of a practicesresources-uses-performance linkage model. Results from a longitudinal study of 93 accounting fi rms support this linkage model. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Keywords: high-performance work systems; professional service fi rms; organizational resources and uses; fi rm performance; linkages model P rofessional service firms (PSFs) are knowledge intensive organizations requiring a highly educated workforce to provide customized solutions to clients (Greenwood, Li, Prakash, & Deephouse, 2005;Maister, 1993; von Nordenflycht, 2010). The primary assets of PSFs are the knowledge and capabilities embedded in their professional staff (Løwendahl, 2000). The success of PSFs such as accounting, consulting, and law firms largely depends on their human resources, although only a few studies address their human resource issues (e.g., Fu, 1991) and dynamic capability theory (Teece, Pisano, & Shuen, 1997). The RBV argues that the firm's competitive advantage lies in its valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable, and nonsubstitutable resources. HR practices themselves are not a direct source of competitive advantage. Rather, advantage derives from the contributions made by people selected, trained, and developed through such practices. In particular, it is the human and social capital that HPWS creates that provide firms the means to achieve superior competitive performance (e.g., Messersmith & Guthrie, 2010;Takeuchi, Lepak, Wang, & Takeuchi, 2007;Youndt et al., 1996). Intellectual capital resources including human capital (Becker, 1964;O'Sullivan & Sheffrin, 1998), social capital (Burt, 1992;Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998), and organizational capital (Subramaniam & Youndt, 2005;Youndt, Subramaniam, & Snell, 2004) are particularly important in knowledge-based PSFs. Below, we review the literature and propose specific hypotheses regarding the effects HPWS dimensions have on these distinct forms of capital.The mere possession of resources is inadequate in understanding fir...

As organizations shift the central focus of their competitive strategy away from value appropriation towards value creation it is to knowledge workers that they will look to provide the innovation to fuel their continued development. The state of the relationship between the knowledge worker and the employer -the psychological contract -will determine whether this source of innovation and creativity is released. In this study, we developed and tested a causal model of the causes and consequences of psychological contract. Over four hundred participants who were knowledge employees drawn from eleven leading edge companies in the high-technology software, manufacturing and nancial services sector participated in the study. We found support for the hypothesis that the psychological contract and those organizational processes relating to procedural justice would have a direct effect on two critical organizational outcomes, namely, employee commitment and intention to remain with the organization. We also found support for the hypothesis that psychological contract variables mediated the relationship between organizational processes and employee commitment and intention to stay with the organization.