Professor Li’s team has conducted three research projects on different aspects of HR management. They look at encouraging innovative behaviour in the workforce, the role of HR practices in different local contexts, and the practice of paradoxical leader behaviour.

In one research project, Professor Li and her colleagues focus on the role of innovation, and explore an interesting question: “Are performance-based rewards sufficient to encourage innovation?”. In the current global market, companies need to be adaptable and versatile in order to thrive. “Employee innovative behaviours” are increasingly recognised as a major contributor to organisational innovation. This refers to activities undertaken by employees to generate, develop and implement new ideas. Businesses increasingly aim to encourage their employees to work in this way.

Research on how HR management can foster innovative behaviour is still in its early stages. Professor Li’s work is an important and timely contribution to this.

She draws on situational strength theory, which suggests that the extent to which your personality traits drive your behaviour depends on the situation you are in. She references research arguing that strong organisational structures that provide support and clarity can liberate their employees from unhelpful distractions and enhance creativity.

Using these ideas, she investigates the relationships between financial and non-financial performance-based rewards, employee perceptions of HR strength, and the uncertainty avoidance of the country within which an organisation operates.

HR strength refers to the level of clarity and consistency in terms of what employees are expected to deliver and why. Uncertainty avoidance is the extent to which a society, organisation, or group relies on social norms, rules, and procedures to alleviate the unpredictability of future events.

In her study, she used responses from 1589 employees and 186 managers in 29 organisations across 10 countries. The study adopted a multilevel design, which aimed for both breadth and depth, drawing on data at individual, organisation, and country levels. The organisations represented in the sample are from different industries and vary in size, and the perceptions of both employees and managers are included.

Dr Li’s research found that performance-based rewards alone were not significantly associated with innovative behaviours. However, they were much stronger where there was high HR strength and low uncertainty avoidance. Put simply, performance rewards were more effective at encouraging innovation when HR processes were clear and supportive, and when the host society of the organisation was more accepting of ambiguity, uncertainty and change. This emphasises the important role of HR practices and employees’ understanding of them.

In a second research project, Professor Li and her colleagues conducted two studies to investigate an intriguing question: “Will companies’ investment in employees enhance performance?” They explored the impact of the skills, knowledge and experience of the workforce in a region, and examined how this affects the relationship between a company’s HR practices and how well the company does in China.

In recent years, there has been much emphasis on researching the fit between HR practices and their operating contexts. This has become increasingly vital given that globalisation has facilitated the rapid spread of strategic HR management from west to east. However, our knowledge about the effectiveness of HR practices in different socioeconomic and cultural environments remains limited.

In one study, Professor Li and her colleagues looked at data from 9,125 companies across 30 provinces. In another, they looked at 203 companies across seven provinces.

They found that when the quality of the employees in a region was low, the way a company managed its employees had a bigger impact on the company’s performance. They also found that when a company focused on being innovative, the effect was even stronger. Once again, this highlights the importance of HR practices and their increasing relevance in a landscape that rewards innovation.

In the third research project, Professor Li and her colleagues theorized the role of leadership.

As organisational environments become increasingly complex and dynamic, leaders face contradictory demands. They are required to combine self-centredness with a focus on their employees and colleagues. They must develop a closeness with their colleagues while maintaining a professional distance, treat junior members of staff equally while allowing individualisation, enforce work requirements while allowing workplace flexibility, and maintain control whilst encouraging autonomy. Professor Li and her colleagues call this “paradoxical leader behaviour”.

Existing research on organisational paradoxes has promoted different approaches for understanding and managing them. For example, one researcher suggests that the role of a leader is to support opposing forces and harness the tension that this creates.

Professor Li and her colleagues note that research on organisational paradoxes largely comes from a Western perspective. However, they also acknowledge the basic alignment between these ideas and Eastern perspectives rooted in the yin-yang philosophy. The yin-yang philosophy views the world as a holistic, dynamic environment in which two opposing yet interdependent forces shape all phenomena. This theoretical base could help to broaden our understanding of paradoxes beyond the Western perspectives generally seen in research.

Professor Li and her colleagues used a field sample of 76 supervisors and 516 subordinates from 6 firms. They examined the conditions that exist before and after leaders display paradoxical behaviour and assess how successful this mode of leadership is.

Their findings showed that leaders who think holistically and can understand complexities tend to exhibit this paradoxical leader behaviour. The leaders who embrace this were found to be more effective in complex environments, leading to better performance among their team members. This challenges traditional leadership approaches and emphasises the importance of cognitive flexibility. It also shows that holistic thinking is important for all managers, regardless of cultural differences.

We live in a complex, constantly changing world. For businesses to survive and thrive in this environment, they need to understand how to get the best out of their workforce. Studies like those conducted by Professor Li and her colleagues explore different techniques that can encourage high-quality performance and emphasise the vital importance of HR management.