Collectivism-oriented HRM and individual creative contribution: The roles of value congruence and task interdependence

This study deals with the issue whether collectivism-oriented human resource management (HRM) system influences individual creative contribution to research teams in particular in an Asia-Pacific context. It is argued that, given certain environmental factors, such as high person-organization value congruence among team members and task interdependence, the collectivism-oriented HRM system should have a positive effect on individual creative contribution to the research teams. A multi-level theoretical model is proposed accordingly, which is then tested with data from 40 research teams and 168 individuals in Chinese universities. The results demonstrated that collectivism-oriented HRM helps to enhance individual creative contribution through the path of value congruence. Moreover, the relationship between value congruence and individual creative contribution was moderated by task interdependence. These findings offer novel insight into how an organization can develop its HRM system and improve individual creative contribution in research teams.