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PurposeThis study examines employee attraction and retention issues and uses a case study of an Australian regional medium-sized enterprise to highlight the importance of organisational context factors such as place and scale in designing human resource (HR) solutions.Design/methodology/approachThe research presents a qualitative case study, with data drawn from strategic documents, interviews and focus groups, analysed thematically.FindingsA carefully constructed set of HR strategies – including purposeful use of employer branding, synchronising of human resource management (HRM) formality and informality and capitalising on the regional context – are key to employee attraction and retention and in turn the growth and competitiveness of the case study organisation.Originality/valueThe HRM literature acknowledges the tendency to study larger corporations in metropolitan areas, at the expense of more nuanced research related to context. This research contributes to knowledge of attraction and retention through employer branding, with particular attention to scale and place, through study of a medium sized firm in a regional location. It highlights the importance of informality-formality dynamism.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise and validate a scale to capture entrepreneurship behaviour at the human resource management (HRM) functional level. Design/methodology/approach Drawing from the HRM and entrepreneurship literature, this paper first conceptualises and operationalises entrepreneurial behaviour at the human resource (HR) functional level. Second, it uses a multi-phase, systematic scale development procedure to design a two-dimensional scale of entrepreneurial HRM. Finally, the scale is validated by testing its relationship with HRM innovation. Findings The findings suggest that entrepreneurial behaviour at the HRM functional level is characterised by innovativeness, pro-activeness, risk-taking and consensus-building behaviour. The scale shed new light on the roles of HR professionals. Research limitations/implications This paper highlights the need for HR professionals to demonstrate entrepreneurial behaviour in HRM value addition. The scale development process, while providing a detailed understanding of the entrepreneurial behaviour at the HR functional level, will facilitate future research. Practical implications This scale provides HR professionals with the means to measure and improve entrepreneurial HRM, leading to higher levels of HRM-based value addition. Originality/value This is the first known attempt to capture entrepreneurial behaviour at the HRM functional level.

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