Promoting employee career growth: the benefits of sustainable human resource management

Abstract

To achieve sustainable development, research has indicated that organizations and individuals should be aware of the significance of sustainable human resource management (HRM) practices. However, relatively little research has investigated individual outcomes. This study links sustainable HRM practices with an important individual outcome: career growth. Using social cognitive career theory, this study investigated psychological capital and career growth as beneficial outcomes of sustainable HRM practices, proposing person–organization (P‐O) fit as a key boundary condition. Based on time‐lagged survey data collected from a Chinese company, the study found that sustainable HRM practices could significantly promote psychological capital and career growth. Moreover, P‐O fit magnified the beneficial impact of sustainable HRM practices on psychological capital while further moderating the mediating effect of psychological capital. When P‐O fit was high, the effects of sustainable HRM practices on psychological capital and career growth were stronger. In addition, we discussed theoretical contributions and practical implications.

How negative workplace gossip undermines employees’ career growth: from a reputational perspective

“…As career growth has been demonstrated to result in less voice behavior (Wang et al, 2014), lower organizational and career commitment (Weng et al, 2010) and decreased job satisfaction and performance (Spagnoli, 2020), it is thus important to explore its antecedents. Our research posits that negative workplace gossip is a detrimental predictor of career growth, supplementing earlier research that primarily focused on positive antecedents (Cheng et al, 2023;Jiang et al, 2020;Liu et al, 2010;Spagnoli, 2020). As negative workplace gossip is common and can permeate targets' work and daily lives, it must be considered for a full understanding of employees' career growth in organizations.…”

“…According to SIP theory, individuals process and react to social information cues (Salancik and Pfeffer, 1978). And social cognitive career theory indicates that external environments or events can influence individuals' career judgements through cognitive processes (Cheng et al, 2023;Lee and Yu, 2023;Lent et al, 2017). In conjunction with the above arguments, hospitality employees thus benefit from a good reputation through more resources from supervisors and more help from colleagues, and then have greater career growth potential.…”

“…Therefore, the positive antecedents of career growth are well explored. Sustainable human resource management practices, work support and personality have been found to be positive determinants of career growth (Cheng et al , 2023; Liu et al , 2010; Yang et al , 2015). However, detrimental factors inhibiting career growth have received limited attention.…”

“…Career growth has many benefits; for instance, it is related to higher organizational and career commitment (Son and Kim, 2021; Weng et al , 2010). While research has identified positive antecedents of career growth in the hospitality sector (Cheng et al , 2023; Liu et al , 2010; Wang, 2013), it has neglected negative factors hindering career growth. Thus, clarifying how negative workplace gossip affects targets’ evaluations of their career growth can provide valuable insights for employees and companies to effectively manage the adverse consequences of unfavorable workplace gossip and boost employees’ career growth.…”

“…Generally, negative gossip spreads more widely and has a greater impact than positive gossip, as people are more interested in and concerned about negative content (Babalola et al , 2019). Research has explored the detrimental effects of negative workplace gossip (Akgunduz et al , 2023; Cheng et al , 2023; Li et al , 2023); for example, it fosters employees’ political acts and knowledge hiding (Cheng et al , 2022a, b), leads to work–life conflict (Liu et al , 2020) and damages personal well-being (Cheng et al , 2022c; Xie et al , 2023).…”