Mối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sự

ABSTRACT The dissertation is developed to explore the relationships among HR change leadership role, HR professionalism or employee voice and employee outcomes of organizational commitmeMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sựMối quan hệ giữa mức độ áp dụng vai trò lãnh đạo sự thay đổi của nhân sự, sự chuyên nghiệp nhân sự, tiếng nói nhân viên và các kết quả nhân viên trong các doanh nghiệp định hướng phát triển bền vững: trong vai trò trung gian của sự quy kết nhân sự

HO CHI MINH OPEN UNIVERSITY

PHAM THI DIEM

THE RELATIONSHIPS AMONG THE DEGREE OF ADOPTING HUMAN RESOURCE CHANGE LEADERSHIP ROLE, HUMAN RESOURCE PROFESSIONALISM, EMPLOYEE VOICE AND EMPLOYEE OUTCOMES IN SUSTAINABILITY-ORIENTED ENTERPRISES: IN MEDIATED ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCE

ATTRIBUTION

Major : Business Administration

Code : 9340101

SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATION

Ho Chi Minh City, 2024

The dissertation was completed at: HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

Supervisor: Professor, Nguyen Minh Ha, Ph.D

Reviewer 1:

Reviewer 2:

Reviewer 3:

The dissertation will be defended in front of the Dissertation Evaluation Council at HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY In:

The dissertation can also be found at:

LIST OF PUBLISHED ARTICLES RELATED TO THE DISSERTATION

Huynh LT., Diem PT (2024) Enhancing organizational commitment through adopting the

human resources change leadership role and managing human resources attribution in

sustainable enterprises in Vietnam Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development

8(x): 8953 https://doi.org/10.24294/jipd.v8ix.8953 – Scopus, Q.2

Ha M Nguyen, Diem T Pham (2025) Enhancing employee’s outcomes through adopting the

change leadership role of human resource professionals in sustainable enterprises HCMCOUJS-Economics and Business Administration, 15(4) 2025 DOI:10.46223/HCMCOUJS https://journalofscience.ou.edu.vn/index.php/econ-en/article/view/3598

Pham Thi Diem, Nguyen Truong Phuc Tran (2026) The relationship between the degree of

adopting human resource change leadership role and human resource attribution in sustainable enterprises HCMCOUJS-Social Sciences, 16(2) 2026 DOI:10.46223/HCMCOUJS https://journalofscience.ou.edu.vn/index.php/soci-en/article/view/3608

Pham Thi Diem, Bui Thanh Khoa, Huynh Luong Tam The professionalism required for

doing the HR change leadership role in sustainable enterprises in Vietnam Manuscript

submitted for publication in the Business Management – Scopus Q4 [Submission

Status: Under Review]

Nguyen Minh Ha, Pham Thi Diem Activating employee voice through human resource

professionalism in sustainable enterprises in Viet Nam Manuscript submitted for

publication in the International Journal of Economics and Management – Scopus Q3

[Submission Status: Under Review]

Nguyen Minh Ha, Pham Thi Diem Fostering work engagement through adopting strategic

resources of the change leadership role and employee voices in sustainable enterprises

in Vietnam Manuscript submitted for publication in the Baltic Journal of

Management – Scopus Q2 [Submission Status: Under Review]

ABSTRACT

The dissertation is developed to explore the relationships among HR change leadership role, HR professionalism or employee voice and employee outcomes of organizational commitment and work engagement; as well as the mediated role of HR attribution in the relationships among these variables and employee outcomes in sustainable enterprises Grounded on the resource-based view of firm theory (Barney, 1991), attribution theory (Weiner, 1985), social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) and signaling theory (Spence, 1973), the study model with 14 hypothesis is built to test the directly and indirectly relationships among included variables

The dissertation is employed the mix methods of qualitative and quantitative researches Qualitative research are conducted through in-depth interviews with 05 experts to fully supplement scales’ content value and adjust them consistent with sustainable context in Vietnam Quantitative research is executed with three studies The firstly preliminary study with 51 experts is designed to test the items-content validity The secondly preliminary one with 263 employees working in the sustainable enterprises is executed to evaluate scale’s reliability, convergent and discriminant validity The finally official study with 1,058 employees working in 24 sustainable corporates is designed to test concept, hypothesis, measurement and structural models The non-probability of purposeful sampling method is used in this study

Cronbach’s Alpha is used to assess the scales’ reliability EFA with Factoring extraction and Promax-rotation method is proceed to assess convergent, discriminant validity of scales PLS-SEM method is used to analysis composite reliability coefficient, extracted variance, as well as test hypothesis and model Confirmatory composite analysis (CCA) is conducted to test the convergent, discriminant and nomological validity of variables

Principal-Axis-As results, all hypothesis are supported by testing empirical evidence The findings highlighted that organizational commitment and work engagement not only depend on the adoption of HR change leadership role or HR professionalism or employee voice, but also how employees perceive and interpret the underneath management intent of sustainable HRM practices via the signal of various voice behaviors or HR professionalism or the adoption of

HR change leadership role Based on the findings, the study recommended the managerial implications to enhance employee outcomes, which contribute to overall sustainable performance of sustainable enterprises in Viet Nam

CONTENTS

1.1 Research problems 1

1.1.1 Research objectives 1

1.1.2 Research participants 2

1.1.3 Research scope 2

1.2 Research methods 2

1.3 Contributions to world literature 2

1.4 The outline of dissertation 3

2.1 Key concepts and definitions 3

2.1.1 Human resource change leadership role 3

2.1.2 Hunam resource professionalism 3

2.1.3 Employee voice 4

2.1.4 Human resource attribution (HR attribution) 4

2.1.5 Employee outcomes 4

2.2 Foundational theories related to the research paradigm 4

2.2.1 Resource-based-view of firm theory 4

2.2.2 Attribution theory 5

2.2.3 Social exchange theory 5

2.2.4 Signaling theory 5

2.3 Research hypotheses and model 6

2.3.1 The association of the adoption of human resource change leadership role, human resource professionalism and employee voices 6

2.3.2 The association of the adoption of human resource change leadership role, human resource professionalism, employee voice and employee outcomes of organizational commitment and work engagement 7

2.3.3 The mediating role of human resource attribution in the relationships among the adoption of human resource change leadership role, human resource professionalism, employee voice and employee outcomes 8

2.4.4 Research model 11

3.1 Research process 12

3.2 Research methods 12

3.2.1 Qualitative method 12

3.2.2 Quantitative method 12

3.3 Scale development in sustainable context in Viet Nam 12

3.4 Sample and data collection 13

3.4.1 Sampling method and sample size 13

3.4.2 Data collection 13

3.5 Data analysized methods 13

3.6 The result of preliminary research 14

4.1 Descriptive statistics 14

4.2 The scale reliability and exploratory factor analysis 14

4.3 Measurement model validity assessment 14

4.4 Structural model 15

4.4.1 Multi-collinear assessment 15

4.4.2 Determination coefficient (R² value) 15

4.4.3 Impact coefficient f² 15

4.4.4 Blindfolding and predict relevance Q² 15

4.4.5 Path coefficients of the structure model & Hypothesis Testing 15

4.4.6 Specific indirect effect, total indirect effects and total effects 16

4.5 Result discussion 16

4.5.1 The research scales 16

4.5.2 The research hypothesese 16

5.1 Conclusions 22

5.2 Theoretical contributions 23

5.3 Managerial implications 23

5.3.1 For sustainable corporates 24

5.3.2 For HR department and HR professionals of sustainable enterprises 24

5.4 Limitations and future research 30

5.4.1 Limitations 30

5.4.2 Future research 30

LIST OF CHARTS, PICTURES, FIGURES Figure 2.1 General Model 11

LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Results of in-depth interview on refining scales 12

Table 4.1 The results of testing Hypotheses 15

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Research problems

HR professionals play the central role akin as a institutional entrepreneur in leading sustainable activities; therefore, their ways, methods, ability and the extent to which they adopt sustainable HRM practices may affect their professionalism and employee voices Besides, the adoption of HR change leadership role, HR professionalism, employee voice may affect to employee outcomes at both organizational level (organizational commitment) and at job level (work engagement) directly or indirectly via HR attribution Ultimately, such positive employee outcome significantly contribute to achieve and maintain organization’s sustainable goals and overall sustainable performance While reviewing literature reveals that these issues are underdeveloped or researched fragmented or remain controversial Therefore, the study address these gaps

Firstly, the study focus on which roles HR professionals play in leading organizational change toward sustainability; which HR competencies are required to possess in this new context by an empirical research Secondly, the study investigates how are the adoption of

HR change leadership role and HR professionalism in doing their role influential to various voice behaviors within organization Thirdly, it explores how are strategy valuable resources such as the adoption of HR change leadership role, HR professionalism and employee voices affect employee’s perception, attitudes and behaviors as well as employee outcomes of organizational commitment and work engagement Finally, HR attribution known as employees’ beliefs on why HR practices are implemented and it have found to be related to important employee attitudes and behaviors, so the study also concern on its mediated role in the relationships between the adoption of HR change leadership role or HR professionalism

or employee voice and employee outcomes of organizational commitment and work engagement in sustainable context in Viet Nam Such findings considerably contribute to both theoretically and empirically, as well as response to the calls of Ren et al (2020), Hu & Oh (2022) and Sanders et al (2021)

1.1.1 Research objectives

1) Confirming the concept of the HRM institutional entrepreneurship role of Ren & Jackson (2019) and add one more domain of “controlling change” to this HR change leadership role in sustainable context Thereby, identify the respective competencies required for HR professionals to enact this role

2) Demonstrating the directly impact of adoption of HR change leadership role on HR professionalism; and the direct effect of adoption of HR change leadership role and HR professionalism on employee voice in sustainable enterprises

3) Exploring the direct impact of adoption of HR change leadership role, HR professionalism and employee voices on employee outcomes of organizational commitment and work engagement in sustainable enterprises

4) Investigating the mediated role of HR attribution in the relationships between the adoption of HR change leadership role or HR professionalism or employee voices on employee outcomes of organizational commitment and work engagement in sustainable enterprises

5) Grounded on the achieved results, the study recommends the managerial implications to enhance employee outcomes of organizational commitment and work engagement, which in turn contribute to overall sustainable performance of sustainable enterprises in Viet Nam

1.1.2 Research participants

Research participants are office staff; HR staff; technician, production, R&D; team leaders, vice team leaders; functional directors, vice functional directors; managers, vice managers; chief executive officers, vice chief executive officers, executive directors, vice executive directors who have at least one year working at 24 sustainable enterprises

1.1.3 Research scope

The survey was conducted from Nov 2023 to Jan 2024 at 24 sustainable enterprises, which typically implement the Corporate Sustainable Index (CSI) of Viet Nam and are consecutively honored by the VCCI in year 2018, 2019 and 2020

1.2 Research methods

The study employed the mix method of qualitative and quantitative method and the process of developing scales mainly based on the recommendations of Churchill (1979)

1.3 Contributions to world literature

The study contributes new findings to the existing HRM and organizational behavior theory and take benefits for scholars and practical, concretely as follows:

Firstly, the findings contributes to theory of sustainable HRM practices, HR

professionalism, employee voice and employee outcomes of organizational commitment and work engagement in sustainable context in Viet Nam Different from previous studies, this study highlights that positive employee outcomes are not only enhanced by green HR practices or CSR practices (Shoaib et al., 2021; Bizri et al., 2021) or leadership styles (Lee et al., 2018; Mwesigwa et al., 2020); but also depend on the adoption of HR change leadership role, HR professionalism and employee voice behaviors Besides, it reveals that voice behaviors also depend on the adoption of HR change leadership role and HR professionalism

Moreover, the study confirms and expands HRM institutional entrepreneurship role

of Ren & Jackson (2019) into HR change leadership role by the quantitative method, which facilitates to boost researches on HR role in sustainable context Thereby, it introduce new set of HR competences combining both HR function and sustainable context-competencies

Secondly, the results contribute to HR attribution theory and demonstrate the important

mediating role of HR attribution in the relationships between the adoption of HR change leadership role or HR professionalism or employee voice and employee outcomes in sustainable context Thereby, three important antecedents of HR attribution, such as the adoption of HR change leadership role, HR professionalism and employee voices are added

to theory Moreover, it adds to the development of HR attribution concept, which external attribution such as legal compliance (e.g human right, labor law, environmental protection law, etc.) is considered as a crucial objective that organization need to implement voluntary and should be under organization’s control

Thirdly, the findings extend RBV theory (Barney, 1991), demonstrated HR change

leadership role, HR professionalism, employee voice as the factors of human capital resources

and capabilities that create firm’s value (organizational commitment and work engagement),

in turn indirectly improving its overall performance Besides, it has also extend the signaling theory (Spence, 1973) that identify HR professionals/employees act as senders; the adoption

of HR change leadership role, HR professionalism and employee voices are signals that reveal organization’s management intent

Finally, the findings are guidelines helping sustainable enterprises to design

sustainable HRM practices elicit employee ability, motivation and opportunities, which contribute to sustainable objectives It pointed out the human capital resources and capacities such the adoption HR change leadership role; HR professionalism; employee voice, which sustainable enterprises should concern and invest to enhance organizational commitment and work engagement as well as to add value From there, sustainable enterprises may consider

to re-organize their structure to facilitate for enacting HR change leadership role effectively

or improve organizational conditions for promoting positive employee voices Also, it helps them building a HR competencies to recruit, train and appraisal HR professionals Furthermore, it also shows that HR attributions within organization are complex and different Thereby, it provides important information, which helps sustainable enterprises building appropriate communication strategies in order to increase positive attributions and minimize negative attributions

1.4 The outline of dissertation

The structure of the dissertation are designed to consist of 5 chapters

Chapter 1 Introduction

Chapter 2 Literature review

Chapter 3 Research methodology

Chapter 4 Research results

Chapter 5 Conclusions and recommendations

LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Key concepts and definitions

2.1.1 Human resource change leadership role

HR change leadership role defined as the actions taken by HR professionals, maybe being individuals or a group, to identify opportunities in both internal and external organizational conditions; leverage resources such as their skills, knowledge and social capital as well as HR system in order to change organizational norms, rules, routines, values corresponding to sustainability-objectives (Ren & Jackson, 2019); and control harmful activities to socialism and ecology (Stalh, 2019)

2.1.2 Hunam resource professionalism

HR professionalism is the extent to which HR professionals apply of expertise knowledge and specialist skills necessary to perform the change leadership role in sustainable context HR professionalism is measured by the degree that HR professionals use seven HR competences in doing their HR change leadership role: (1) strategic positioner; (2) credible activist; (3) capability builder; (4) change champion; (5) human resource innovator and integrator; (6) technology proponent and (7) interpersonal leader

2.1.3 Employee voice

Employee voice is defined known as an individual’s voluntary and open communication directed toward individuals within the organization that is focused on influencing the context of the sustainable work environment (Maynes & Podsakoff, 2014) It

is constructed by positive voice and negative voice Positive voice consists of supportive and constructive voice, while positive voice includes defensive and destructive voice

2.1.4 Human resource attribution (HR attribution)

HR attributions are defined as causal explanations that employees attach meaning of management’s motivations to the sustainable HR practices It consist of two types of

employee HR attributions, namely, (i) well-being attribution and (i) performance attribution

2.2 Foundational theories related to the research paradigm

2.2.1 Resource-based-view of firm theory

Within RBV theory (Barney, 1991), people as a strategic resource to a firm’s success through the interaction and convergence of strategy and HRM issues (Wright et al., 2001)

Firstly, the human capital pool refers to the stock of employee skills that exist within a firm

at any given point in time It can and does change overtime, and must constantly be monitored

for its match with the strategic needs of the firm Secondly, not only HRM systems and

routines, but also employee behavior also forms an independent component of SHRM that affects to sustainable competitive advantage Employees ‘discretionary behaviors that may

have either positive or negative consequences to the firm Thirdly, the multiple practices

rather than single practices in term of system, such as communication (both upward and downward), work design, culture, leadership, and a host of others affect to employees and shape their competencies, cognitions, and attitudes

Grounded on RBV (Barney, 1991), the study argues the adoption of HR change leadership role, HR professionalism and employee voice can serve as strategic resources and capacities, which contribute to sustainable performance by enhancing employee’s organizational commitment and work engagement Utilizing these strategic resources and capabilities are efficient, effective and successful, which help sustainable enterprises attaining their competitive advantages Therefore, a designed HR system with the high degree of adopting HR change leadership role, HR professionalism and employee voice heard will create a supportive and engaging work environment, leading employee organizational commitment and work engagement Such a sustainable HR system would elicit employee perception, ability, motivation and opportunities that enhance employee performance via their

organizational commitment and work engagement; in turn contribute to sustainable objectives

2.2.2 Attribution theory

The attribution theory (Weiner, 1972) identifies how individuals determine causes for events and describes how the resulting attributions determine individuals ‘emotions, thoughts, motivations and behaviors Social attribution demonstrated that people can attach different meanings to social stimuli, and their behavioral and attitudinal responses to that information may differ based on the way that they infer these stimuli (Fiske & Taylor, 1991) HR attributions explain employees’ beliefs on why HR practices are implemented (Nishii et al., 2008) The management aims to enhance service quality and employee well-being positively relate to employee commitment and satisfaction By contrast, the management aims in cost-reduction and employee exploitation negatively relate to employee satisfaction

HR attribution theory (Nishii et al., 2008) is used to examine the mediated role of HR attribution in the relationships among the adoption of HR change leadership role, HR professionalism or employee voice and employee’s outcomes Concretely, employees form perceptions about sustainable HR practices based on their experiences and observations via the adoption of HR change leadership role, HR professionalism and employee voice Based

on experiences and observations on HR professionals’ behavior, attitude and working ability

in their doing role and co-workers’ voice, employee may attribute the organizations’ intentions to the organization’s genuine concern for their well-being, or for organization’s strategic interests rather than employee welfare As result, they exhibit their organizational commitment and work engagement differently

2.2.3 Social exchange theory

Social exchange theory (SET, Blau, 1964) pointed social exchange create favors that diffuse future obligations and tends to bring feelings of personal obligations, gratitude and trust, as well as build substantial social patterns. Reciprocity is one’s response to a beneficial

action by returning a benefit and a harmful action by returning a harm (Meeker, 1971) The social exchange process begins when a supervisor or coworker treats a individual in a positive

or negative manner (Eisenberger et al., 2004) In response, the subordinate or coworker may choose to reciprocate this treatment with their good or bad behavior (Eisenberger et al., 1987)

The study employs the reciprocity of SET (Blau, 1964) to explain employee’s attitudes and behavior on the social exchange relationships between organization and employees; between HR professionals and employees Social rewards such perceived organizational support and change leaders’ support, which is activated by the adoption of HR change leadership role, HR professionalism and employee voice, are exchange resources These resources could promote employee voice or organizational commitment directly

2.2.4 Signaling theory

Signaling theory (Spence, 1973), which demonstrated that organizations send signals

to its various stakeholders to reduce information asymmetry Receiver relies on signals, which usually are underlying, unobservable and attributive in order to make decision HRM process

as a complex communicating system with various active participants

Grounded on signaling theory (Spence, 1973), the study argues the content, manner and level of implement of HR change leadership role as well as coworker’s voice behaviors, would reveal management intent Based on the perceived signals, employee will attribute the underlying aims of sustainable HR practices and give corresponding responses known as HR attribution, as results to predict organizational commitment and work engagement

2.3 Research hypotheses and model

2.3.1 The association of the adoption of human resource change leadership role, human resource professionalism and employee voices

(1) The link between the adoption of HR change leadership role and human resource professionalism

Within the RBV framework (Berney, 1991), the HR change leadership role is considered as a strategic capability that contributes to the organization’s ability to manage and adapt to change When HR professionals adopt the change leadership role, they develop and demonstrate knowledge and skills that are valuable in managing other resources and capacities, making them a critical asset to the organization Therefore, the adoption of HR change leadership role would enhances HR professionalism

H1 The adoption of HR change leadership role positively associates with HR professionalism

(2) The impact of HR professionalism on employee voice

SET (Blau, 1964) demonstrated that a strong relationship built by advantageous and fair transactions will produce effective work behavior and positive employee attitudes (Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2013) The high/low HR professionalism considered as the positive/negative treatments of HR professionals toward employees during the process of social transaction to enact their change leadership role Thereby, employee would response

to positive treatments in providing a good supports from HR professionals by engaging positive voice By contrast, they make negative voice to react bad treatments such bad supports from HR professionals Hence:

H2a: HR professionalism positively affect to positive voice

H2b: HR professionalism negatively affect to negative voice

(3) The link between the adoption of HR change leadership role and employee voice

Within SET (Blau, 1964), the adoption of HR change leadership role is considered as organizational support, which induce a strong relationship between HR professionals and employees Providing organizational supports such as favorable organizational conditions; the construction of rationales; material resources or social resources, which are created by the adoption of HR change leadership role are considered as HR professionals’ treatment to employees (see Riggle et al., 2009) In response, employee would response to positive treatments in providing high organizational supports from HR professionals by engaging positive voice By contrast, they make negative voice to react bad treatments in providing low organizational supports from HR professionals Hence:

H3a: The adoption of HR change leadership role positively affects to positive voice H3b: The adoption of HR change leadership role negatively affects to negative voice

2.3.2 The association of the adoption of human resource change leadership role, human resource professionalism, employee voice and employee outcomes of organizational commitment and work engagement

(1) Link between the adoption of human resource change leadership role and organizational commitment

Grounded on RBV theory (Barney, 1991), the study demonstrates that organizational commitment would be enhanced by the adoption of HR change leadership role, which known

as strategic resource and capabilities, ultimately contribute to sustainable performance In addition, social exchange theory (Blau, 1964) demonstrated that perceived organizational support (POS) is a consistent, strong predictor of employee commitment to organization (Wayne et al., 1997) While, the adoption of HR change leadership role may induce POS via providing favorable organizational conditions and sustainable values Hence:

H4: The adoption of HR change leadership role is positively influential to organizational commitment

(2) Link between the adoption of human resource change leadership role and work engagement

Within RBV theory (Barney, 1991), work engagement may be enhanced by the adoption of HR change leadership role that act as valuable strategic resource and capabilities through creating a supportive work environment and a sense of shared purpose and commitment When adopting these roles within organization, employees would engage in works, because they feel a sense of shared purpose and commitment Employees are not only highly motivated because of corporate social responsibility works (Bizri et al, 2021, Schaufeli

et al., 2009), but also engage in activities that have great innovative potential and outcomes (Bakker & Xanthopoulou, 2013) Hence:

H5: The adoption of HR change leadership role positively affects to work engagement

(3) Impact of HR professionalism on organizational commitment

Within RBV theory (Barney, 1991), HR professionalism may be considered as a strategic resource, which may enhances organizational commitment through fostering a supportive and trustworthy work environment Within SET framework, HR professionalism would induce LMX relationships between employee and HR professionals through support, trust, respect (Brower et al., 2009) Such LMX relationships have a positive associations with organizational commitment, satisfaction with supervision and overall satisfaction (Gerstner

& Day, 1997)

H6: HR professionalism positively associates with organizational commitment

(4) Impact of HR professionalism on work engagement

Within RBV theory (Barney, 1991), HR professionalism is a strategic resource and capability, which could enhances the value of human capital within the organization Thus it fosters a supportive work environment where employees feel supported and valued, which in turn promote work engagement (Wright et al., 2001) Hence:

H7: HR professionalism positively affects to work engagement

(5) The link of employee voice and organizational commitment

Within RBV theory, employee voice can be considered a valuably strategic resource

(Wright et al, 2001) When employees feel empowered to express their opinions and know that their voice is valued, they enhances a deeper emotional attachment, leading to higher levels of organizational commitment (Detert & Burris, 2007) Within SET framework, employee voice is a broader category of organizational citizenship behaviors (Van Dyne et al., 1995) When perceived organizational supports, employees are more likely to engage in organizational citizenship behavior (Lynch et al., 1999), stimulates greater their organizational commitment (Rhoades et al., 2001) and vice versa Hence:

H8a: Positive voice positively correlates with organizational commitment

H8b: Negative voice negatively connects with organizational commitment

(6) The positive link of employee voice and work engagement

Within RBV theory, employee voice can be considered a valuably strategic resource Sustainable enterprises that effectively manage and leverage internal resources, such as employee voice, can foster higher levels of work engagement, ultimately contribute to sustainable performance Adopting employees’ reasonable voice is an effective management tool to enhance employee’s work engagement (Li et al., 2021) and giving the opportunity to feed employees’ views upwards is one of the main drivers of engagement (Truss et al., 2006)

H9a: Positive voice positively connects with work engagement

H9b: Negative voice negatively connects with work engagement

2.3.3 The mediating role of human resource attribution in the relationships among the adoption of human resource change leadership role, human resource professionalism, employee voice and employee outcomes

(1) The link between the adoption of human resource change leadership role and human resource attribution

Grounded on attribution theory (Weiner, 1985), HR attribution (Nishii et al., 2008) and signaling theory (Spence, 1973), the study argued that the adoption of HR change leadership role is a kind of specific sustainable HRM practices and considered as a signal that disclose management’s purpose; while HR professionals act as signalers and employees are receivers Adopting HR change leadership role will disclose organization’s management intent, and employees will develop their interpretation based on their experiences and observations of special HR practices implemented by HR professionals (Yang, 2014) Employee would make

a positive attribution when management’s purpose is beneficial to themselves By contrast, employee would make a negative attribution when management intent is not benefit to themselves (Nishii et al., 2008) Hence:

H10a: The adoption of HR change leadership role positively correlates with being HR attribution.

well-H10b: The adoption of HR change leadership role negatively effects to performance

HR attribution

(2) Effect of HR professionalism on HR attribution

Within signaling theory, HR professionals are signalers, who are representatives of their organization and disclose their organizational management intent via their professionalism in doing the change leadership role Through their professionalism in

implementing HR sustainable practices, HR professionals transmit their actual meaning and make themselves outstanding to employees to elicit desired attitudes and behaviors Thereby, employees experience a practical working environment With good experiences, employees would interpret management intent as concern on employee and ultimately they would make the well-being attribution; by contrast, they make a performance HR attribution

H11a: HR professionalism is positively influential to well-being HR attribution

H11b: HR professionalism is negatively influential to performance HR attribution

(3) Impact of employee voice on HR attribution

Within signaling theory (Spence, 1973), coworkers could be considered signalers, who disclose their organizational management intent via their voice (signals) (Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978) Through frequent interactions, employees’ thought processes will be influenced by coworkers’ opinions on the purpose of HR practices implementation (Chen et al., 2013) When employees (themselves and co-workers) adopt voice referring to sustainable HRM practices, it may signal a positive/negative social stimuli, which is characterized by employee’s thoughts, ideas and views that heard and appreciated by HR professionals As results, management intent aiming on concern employee’s benefit is caused of the positive attribution, whereas those on exploitation or controlling would induce negative attribution (Nishii et al., 2008) Hence:

H12a: Positive voice positively affects to well-being HR attribution

H12b: Negative voice positively affects to performance HR attribution

(4) The mediating role of human resource attribution in the relationships among the adoption

of human resource change leadership role, human resource professionalism, employee voice and organizational commitment

Organizational commitment is positively affected by well-being HR attribution (Nishii

et al., 2008; Van De Voorde & Beijer, 2014); and negatively by control-focused HR attributions (Fontinha et al., 2012) In addition, POS known as is a strong predictor of employee commitment to organization (Wayne et al., 1997) When making a well-being attribution to the adoption of HR change leadership role, it means that employee perceives that management intent motivated by a concern on employees (Nishii et al., 2008) Such positive intent would induce POS, which ultimately shape their commitment to organization Hence:

H13a: Well-being HR attribution positively affect to organizational commitment H13b: Performance HR attribution negatively affect to organizational commitment

Previous researches showed that well-being HR attribution plays a mediating role between strategy HR practices focusing on service quality and employee well-being and organizational commitment (Nishii et al., 2008) Therefore, when HR change leadership role

is effectively adopted and signals a positive intent, employees would make well-being attributions, fostering POS and advancing their organizational commitment However, if the adoption of HR change leadership role are perceived as performance maximization through controlling and exploiting on employee, which is seen as a lack of organizational support, thus diminishing organizational commitment Hence:

H13c: Well-being HR attribution mediates in the relationship among the adoption of

HR change leadership role and organizational commitment

H13d: Performance HR attribution mediates in the relationship among the adoption

of HR change leadership role and organizational commitment

When HR professionals handle their roles with high competence, credibility and support, they foster an environment where employees feel supported and respected Therefore, employees would perceive that sustainable HR practices are aimed at supporting their growth and welfare (Paoline & Lambert, 2011) and they make well-being attributions

By contrast, employee infers sustainable HR practices mainly focusing on performance improvement or cost reduction, thus forming performance attributions that reduce organizational commitment Hence:

H13e: Well-being HR attribution mediates in the relationship among the adoption of

HR professionalism and organizational commitment

H13f: Performance HR attribution mediates in the relationship among the adoption of

HR professionalism and organizational commitment

When employees see positive voice behaviors as positive signals, they may interpret sustainable HR practices aligned with their welfare and make well-being attributions, thus fostering a sense of belonging and loyalty to the organization (Nishii et al., 2008; Yang, 2014)

By contrast, employees would make performance attributions when observing negative voice behaviors, because they infer sustainable HR practices as focused on exploitation via negative signals from their coworkers This lead to reducing their trust in the organization’s motives and weakening their attachment to it (Hewett et al., 2019; Chiaburu et al., 2013)

H13g: Well-being HR attribution mediates in the relationship among positive voices and organizational commitment

H13h: Performance HR attribution mediates in the relationship among negative voice and organizational commitment

(5) The mediating role of human resource attribution in the relationships among the adoption of human resource change leadership role, human resource professionalism, employee voice and work engagement

When employee perceive management intent beneficial to them, they shape the positive emotional and behavioral responses and vice versa Guest et al (2020) highlighted that positive HR attributions are strongly associated with higher work engagement, while negative attributions can lead to disengagement and dissatisfaction Hence:

H14a: Well-being HR attribution positively associates with work engagement

H14b: Performance HR attribution negatively connects with work engagement

The HR change leadership role is a kind of special sustainable HRM practices that sends signals about management’s intent, which employees interpret it through the lens of

HR attributions Well-being HR attribution would activate a higher levels of work engagement, because employees feel valued and cared for by the organization (Alfes et al., 2020) While performance HR attributions lead to lower work engagement, as employees infer these practices as exploitative (Bacon & Blyton, 2005; Guest et al., 2021)

H14c: Well-being HR attribution mediates in the relationship among the adoption of

HR change leadership role and work engagement

H14d: Performance HR attribution mediates in the relationship among the adoption

of HR change leadership role and work engagement

When HR professionals demonstrate high levels of professionalism in doing their roles, they sent positive signals to employees Thereby, employees interpret sustainable HR practices as motivated by a honestly concern for their happiness and healthiness, thus making well-being attributions Such positive attributions foster employee’s work engagement, because of feeling valued and supported by their organization (Alfes et al., 2020; Fan et al., 2020) Conversely, the lack of professionalism in doing the change leadership role would induce performance attributions These negative attributions stifle engagement Hence:

H14e: Well-being HR attribution mediates in the relationship among the adoption of

HR professionalism and work engagement

H14f: Performance HR attribution mediates in the relationship among the adoption of

HR professionalism and work engagement

When employees observe positive voices, which are influential to their belief that sustainable HR practices genuinely intended to enhance their happiness and healthiness Thus, they feel motivated to contribute more to organization because they trust the organization’s concern for their well-being (Alfes et al., 2020) By contrast, when observing or engaging in negative voice behaviors, employees may infer sustainable HR practices motivated by maximizing their performance at the cost of their well-being, thus leading to disengagement

H14g: Well-being HR attribution mediates in the relationship between positive voices and work engagement

H14h: Performance HR attribution mediates in the relationship between negative voice and work engagement

2.4.4 Research model

Based on RBV theory (Barney, 1991), attribution theory (Weiner, 1972; Nishii et al., 2008), SET (Blau, 1964), signaling theory (Spence, 1973), and previous researches, the study suggests the research model (Figure 2.1)

Figure 2.1 General Model

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research process

The study are designed with three main stages: (1) Literature review and qualitative research stage; (2) Preliminary quantitative research stage; and (3) Official quantitative research stage Finally, the obtained findings are discussed and the managerial implications are suggested for sustainable enterprises

3.2 Research methods

3.2.1 Qualitative method

Qualitative techniques are used to build and adjust the measurement scales In-depth interviews are organized to generate experts’ practical opinions referring to sustainable context in Viet Nam

3.2.2 Quantitative method

Quantitative research is employed to access scales’ validity and confirm them, as well

as test hypotheses and models Quantitative research is executed with three studies The first study is used to test the items-content validity, while the preliminary study is used to evaluate scale’s reliability, convergent, discriminant validity The official study is used to test concept, hypothesis, measurement models and structural models Cronbach’s Alpha is used to assess the scales’ reliability EFA with Principal-Axis-Factoring extraction and Promax-rotation method is proceed to assess convergent, discriminant validity of scales SEM method used to test composite reliability coefficient, extracted variance, hypothesis and model

3.3 Scale development in sustainable context in Viet Nam

(1) Items generation and refinement

All original items are discussed in depth with 5 experts Some scale items are required

to adjust more appropriate to the sustainable or national context; to make clearly their meaning avoiding vague; or to remove their double-barreled content that lead to the inaccurately results

or supplemented by experts The results described in Table 3.1

(2) Assessing the content validity of the items

After assessing the content validity of scales by 51 experts, only 71/83 items of CLR; 61/61 items of HRP; 28/28 items of EV; 18/18 items of HRA; 15/15 items of OC and 9/9 items of WE are used for preliminary study

Table 3.1 Results of in-depth interview on refining scales

Items

Results of in-depth interview Total Addition Remove

Source: synthesized by author

3.4 Sample and data collection

3.4.1 Sampling method and sample size

The study used the method of non-probability of purposeful sampling and quota sampling It employed a sample of 263 employees working in the sustainable enterprises for preliminary research; and a sample of 1,058 employees working in 24 sustainable corporates for official research

3.4.2 Data collection

Besides of self-implementing the data collection via individual relationships, the

researcher has asked the support of professional survey team (5 staff and 1 leader) and paid the expenses to them The process was proceed as follows:

(1) Contacting and asking the permission to interview with the acquainted employees working in 24 pre-selected enterprises (2) Organized the meeting with each survey taker or group of them at their office or at coffee shops around 20-30 minutes by the face-to-face interview by reading each question of section 2.1 to 2.4 in an unordered way, the respondents are required to score the right option that true with the actual situation of their working enterprises (3) Interviewers said thanks for interviewees’ attendance and send a thank you gift to them Survey takers were also reminded to complete the rest questions and return questionnaires to interviewers during 3 days after the meeting (4) Interviewers re-contacted

to collect the completed questionnaires after 3-5 days after the meeting (5) Finally, these questionnaires are send to researcher for screening

3.5 Data analyzed methods

(1) Assessing reliability of scales

(i) Corrected Item - total correlation coefficient of each observed variable in the scale must be greater than or equal to 0.3; (ii) The Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient of the scale must

be greater than 0.6; and (iii) Cronbach’s Alpha if Item Deleted of each observed variable must

be smaller than the Cronbach’s Alpha of the scale

(2) Exploratory Factor Analysis analysis (EFA)

(i) KMO coefficient must value in [0.5, 1.0]; (ii) Bartlett’s test of sphericity with sig < 0.05; (iii) Eigenvalue value of 1 or more are used to determine the number of factors and total-Variance-Explained must reach a value of 50% or more (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988); (iv) the factor loading of 0.3 or more as suggested by Hair et al (2010)

(3) Assessment of reflective measurement model

(i) Composite reliability between 0.70 and 0.90 are used as satisfactory (Nunally & Bernstein, 1994) (ii) Convergent validity: the outer loadings should be 0.708 or higher (Hair

et al., 2014) AVE value of 0.50 or higher (iii) Discriminant validity (Henseler et al., 2015):

a values of the HTMT lower than 0.85 and the statistical confidence interval of the HTMT do not contain the value 1 for all combinations of concepts

(4) Assessment of formative measurement model

(i) Collinearity issues: VIF value of lower 03 (ii) The significance and relevance of the formative indicators: the outer weight coefficient close to +1 (-1) indicate strong positive (negative) relationships, whereas of reaching to 0 indicates a weak relationship

(5) Assessment of structural model

(i) Collinearity assessment: VIF values of lower than 3 (Hair et al., 2018); (ii) R2

values of 0.75, 0.50, or 0.25 can be described as respectively substantial, moderate, and weak (Hair et al., 2011) (iii) The f2values of 0.02, 0.15, and 0.35 indicate respectively a small, medium, and large effect on a dependent (Cohen, 2013) A low predictive relevance of the PLS-path modelwhen the Q2 values range from 0 to 0.25; a medium predication with the Q2

(0.25 to 0.5); and a high relevance with Q2 higher 0.5 (iv) The path coefficients fall in [-1,+1], indicate a strongly negative or positive relationship

3.6 The result of preliminary research

3.6.1 Exploratory factor analysis and scale reliability

The results of EFA and scale reliability show that all scales meet the standard requirements and are used for official research The CLR scale includes 05 factors with 50 items (IO, 10; CV, 8; LR, 8; RI, 13; CC, 11) The HRP scale includes 07 factors with 49 items (SP, 6; CA, 5; CB, 8; CM, 7; HI, 10; TP, 7; IL, 6) The EV scale includes 04 factors with 28 items (Su, 9; Co, 6; Df, 6; De, 7) The HRA scale includes 02 factors with 18 items (Wb, 9;

Pf, 9) The OC scale includes 01 factors with 13 items and the WE scale includes 01 factors with 9 items

RESEARCH RESULTS 4.1 Descriptive statistics

The sample features with ratio of 52.8 female and 47.2% male; young (25 to 40 age, 65,2%); married with ratio of 71.9%; high qualification (64.4% of degree and postgraduate; 31.5% of college; only 4.2% of vocational, intermediate and other level) Besides, their majority have over 6 years of working in sustainability-toward enterprises (account of 61.5%,

in which 42,2% over 9 years)

4.2 The scale reliability and exploratory factor analysis

The results of scales reliability and EFA show that items of CLR, HRP, EV, HRA, OC,

WE scales ensure the reliability (α >0.6, items loading>0.3) Also, 20 extracted factors meet required standards of EFA (0.5≤KMO=0.979≤ 1; Bartlett's Test with sig of 0.00<0.05; Eigenvalue of 1.257 (>1); variance index of 64.298% (>50%) and items loading >0.5

4.3 Measurement model validity assessment

The scales meet the internal consistency reliable values, convergent validity and discriminant validity, as well as achieve the relevance value with statistical significance and

no collinearity among formative indicators [outer loadings>0.708; CR<0.95; AVE>0.5; values of HTMT <0.85; HTMT ratio not contain 1, VIF<3] The outer weight of formative indicators are loaded significantly

4.4 Structural model

4.4.1 Multi-collinear assessment

VIF values of all constructs are less than 3, meaning that no collinearity among the predictive variables in the study model

4.4.2 Determination coefficient (R² value)

The R2 and R2 adjust of HRP (0.376/0.375, p<0.005), EVneg (0.444/0.443, p<0.005), HRApf (0.448/0.446, p<0.005) range in [25%-50%] of moderate level While, these of EVpos (0.527/0.526, p<0.005), OC (0.602/0.600, p<0.005), WE (0.564/0.561, p<0.005) range in [50%-75%] of substantial level

4.4.3 Impact coefficient f²

The f2 effect size of almost relationships indicate a large effect, medium or small effect Except for the f2 of EVneg->OC; EVpos->OC; EVpos->WE; HRApf-> WE; HRP->WE, indicating a non effect

4.4.4 Blindfolding and predict relevance Q²

The Q2 value of seven dependent variables (EVneg, 0.359; EVpos, 0.445; HRApf, 0.255; HRAwb, 0.302; HRP, 0.232; OC, 0.351; WE, 0.357) is higher 0, indicating a predictive accuracy of the path model for these variables

4.4.5 Path coefficients of the structure model & Hypothesis Testing

The results demonstrated the 14 hypothesis are accepted (see Table 4.1)

Table 4.1 The results of testing Hypothesis Relationship Original

sample (O)

T statistics (|O/STDEV|)

P values Hypotheses Results