The Effect of Human Resource Director (HRD) Competency on the Performance of Exponential Organizations—Analysis of the Continuous Mediating Effect Based on Organizational Identity, Self-Efficacy, and the Moderating Effect of Organizational Politics

Abstract

Academic institutions and companies generally consider HRD competency to be an essential indicator of whether HR can play its role effectively and has a close relationship with organizational performance. Based on this, this paper explores the impact of HRD competency on the performance of exponential organizations. The relationship between HRD competency and exponential organization performance was examined using structural equation modeling with five scales to evaluate 570 HRDs in exponential organizations: competency, organizational identity, self-efficacy, organizational politics perception, and exponential organization performance. Our findings suggest that HRD competency influences exponential organizational performance and that organizational identity and self-efficacy play continuous mediating roles. In addition, organizational politics negatively moderates the relationship between HRD competency and organizational identity. Our findings enrich and extend the research on the impact of HRD competency on the performance of exponential organizations and provide a theoretical basis and empirical support to understand and help organizations with their strategic decisions.

1. Introduction

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the view that HR is an essential source of competitive advantage for organizations has continued to gain acceptance [1,2]. HR administrators, especially HRDs, are the ones with the primary responsibility for the organization’s HR department, and they are becoming increasingly central to modern organizational decision making [3,4]. According to organizational behavior theory, all strategies are ultimately realized through people [5,6]. As the basis for supporting organizational competition in society, HRDs play a substantial role in locating and preserving talent, as well as ensuring the development and promotion of the organization itself [7,8]. For example, topics often discussed in such studies include how to attract, develop, and retain high-quality talent over time through sustainable HRM activities; how to improve employee health, well-being, and engagement; and how to improve people’s employability to help organizations gain a sustainable competitive advantage. Changes in external business environments in recent years have had a significant impact on organizations, with continuous developments in information technology and networking in the digital economy, as well as the concept of “exponential organizations” [9,10,11]. Organizations are increasingly facing trends requiring them to diversify their workforces, flatten their internal structures, and digitize their organizational information [10,11]. Researchers are beginning to focus on how to achieve organizational sustainability through human resource management. Meanwhile, organizations that have been successful in their globalization efforts also tend to have a human resource management system for improving sustainability [8,12,13] in an attempt to integrate the concept within the system and actively explore the relationship between organizational sustainability and human resource management. Therefore, given the accelerated and nonlinear pace of technological progress, effectively translating an organization’s ambitious goals for change into competitive advantages and better performance could help them to assure sustainability. Assessing human resource activities at the decision-making level in order to balance the economic impact and development of the organization is crucial for exponential growth [11,12]. This also requires HRDs to have a higher level of technological literacy than ever before; thus, how to improve organizational performance from the perspective of HRD competency has also become a research focus [13].

What is the relationship between HRD competency and exponential organizational performance? In 1973, McClelland proposed the theory of competency, defining it as the combination of individual characteristics that lead to high efficiency or high job performance. Thus, the very introduction of the concept of competency points to the impact on performance. Nowadays, there is a fact-based consensus that high job performance requires employees to have a combination of competencies, such as motivation, traits, values, knowledge, and skills, that are potentially associated with high performance. Competency is a determinant of organizational performance. Many scholars have explored in depth the relationship between competency and organizational performance. Scholars in the field of human resources, in both the popular press and the academic literature, have emphasized the importance of competency for HRDs as an effective tool for recruitment, selection, training, personal development, and leadership succession planning, and have pointed out that there is a certain correlation between HRD competency and organizational performance [14,15].

In the existing literature on the relationship between HRD competency and exponential organizational performance, scholars have narrowed their focus to their respective research areas and studied the impact of these variables individually [15,16,17,18,19,20], whereas there are no empirical studies that combine HRD competency with types of critical situational factors of exponential organizations. Thus, it is difficult to discover essential differences in the competency of different HRDs in exponential organizations, and researchers cannot effectively reveal the critical paths concerning the career development of HRDs, which is not conducive to guiding organizations to provide targeted training and development activities for HRDs. Although empirical studies also show the predictive effect of competency on organizational performance [15,20], in studies related to their relationship at different levels, the findings are inconsistent, mainly reflected in the differences in correlation coefficients between the two variables. At the same time, HRDs are the backbone of organizational activities, requiring them to be successful and have the appropriate competencies, but also have a high level of self-efficacy and organizational identity [21,22].

Therefore, based on social contagion theory, we explored the influence of HRD competency on organizational performance in exponential organizations based on weight change theory and examined the mediating effect of self-efficacy and organizational identity from a cognitive perspective to reveal the “black box” in the relationship between competency and organizational performance. Thus, our research expands the field of competency research, enriches the theory of strategic human resource management based on competency, explores the mechanism of action affecting the performance of exponential organizations from the perspective of competency, and provides a new way of thinking for organizations to evaluate their personnel.

The rest of the paper is structured as follows: Section 2 describes the relevant theoretical background and research hypothesis. Section 3 provides the data sources and research methods specific to this study. Section 4 presents the relevant results of the investigation. In Section 5, we discuss the results of the study. Finally, in Section 6, we present the study’s contributions and limitations.

2. Literature Review and Hypothesis Development

2.1. Literature Review

2.1.1. Competency

The concept of competency was formally introduced in 1973 by a Harvard professor, David McClelland, who argued that school performance, intelligence, and aptitude were ineffective predictors of career achievement and that competency tests should replace them [23,24,25]. Subsequently, many scholars conducted extensive theoretical and empirical research on competency in psychology, management, education, and behavior. Summarizing the research in the field, it can be found that competency has three main characteristics: (1) different job contents require different competencies [16,26,27], (2) competency has a positive correlation with high performance [8,21,28,29], and (3) competency mainly demonstrates knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics [1,26,27,30].

Determining the strategic position of HRM places a high demand on the study of HRM job competency [25]. Domestic and international experts and scholars have studied HR competency from different perspectives. Kim and McLean proposed that global HR development must have four dimensions and three levels of competency [28]. The competency of HR professionals as constructed by Schutte et al. includes 11 characteristics across three components: professional behavior and leadership, service orientation and execution, and business intelligence [29]. Based on a review of approximately 100 papers on HRM competency, Ulrich et al. proposed that personal competency for HR practitioners includes integrity, interpersonal communication, relationship management, problem solving, technical competence, and formal communication [31].

2.1.2. Exponential Organizations

From the beginning of the 21st century, a new organizational model has emerged in the world, with agility and impact that differ from the existing models [32], called exponential organizations. The only existing definition states: “An exponential organization is an organization whose impact (or output) has increased disproportionately (at least ten times) compared to its peers, with the help of rapidly evolving digital technologies” [11]. According to this definition, the hypothetical requirement to become an exponential organization is based on Michiel Muller’s contemporary marketing rule: “It takes nine times as much improvement to get people to switch from an existing product to a new product for a startup” [33]. These organizations follow the 6D concept of disruption: digitized, deceptive, disruptive, demonetized, dematerialized, and democratized [33]. It is described this way because digitized technology can cause an organization to enter a period of high growth that is not easily detectable to the outside world (deceptive), and such rapid growth will become disruptive with technologies that dematerialize, demonetize, and democratize the organization’s products or services [34].

Digital technology is the foundation on which an exponential organization is built [11,12]. Unlike linear organizations that use large numbers of workers or large-scale offline production, in the digital era, there are decisive and fundamental forces behind the development of exponential organizations [11]. Because digital technology is embedded in their DNA, exponential organizations can effectively produce information products or provide information services following a lean startup, and they deliver viable innovative products or services to customers [11]. This can be achieved by following a strategy that involves employing a small number of people and using few or no production facilities, but quickly brings new products from invention to market while creatively reorganizing its resource allocation, using leveraged resources efficiently, and transferring essential business functions to the community and crowd [9]. In this research, to locate this type of organization more precisely, according to Ismail’s definition of the form of exponential organizations in actual society [11], we selected companies no more than 10 years old that are valued at more than $1 billion for our study.

2.1.3. Organizational Performance

Performance can be divided into individual, team, and organizational levels [35]. The essential components of performance, the factors that influence it, and the measures that need to be used vary considerably between the levels [36]. The aim of this study was to explore organizational level performance according to Gray and Matear, so we used financial performance and human resource performance (employee satisfaction and productivity) as measures of organizational performance [37]. Bates and Holton define organizational performance from a management perspective, arguing that it is the desired outcome, the productive output that an organization demonstrates at different levels to achieve its stated goals, and stating that “performance is a multidimensional construct, and its results tend to vary widely depending on the perspective from which it is observed and measured” [38].

Most scholars evaluating organizational performance use a two-dimensional model with two measurement dimensions: task performance and management performance [38]. Task performance refers to the set of goals and objectives set by the organization, and management performance refers to the set of goal-related behaviors of groups and individuals in the organization [14,39]. In recent years, the criterion of organizational effectiveness and operator performance over a specific period has been widely adopted in the fields of economics and management to evaluate organizational performance. The level of operating efficiency is mainly expressed in terms of profitability, operational asset level, debt servicing capacity, and subsequent development capacity [17]. In terms of organizational performance, many scholars believe that financial performance, as a traditional measure, is an essential component in the evaluation of corporate performance [17]. However, due to the relatively lagging nature of financial performance, the use of multiple performance indicators can provide a more objective and accurate measure of organizational performance than a single financial indicator [38]. HR performance is a common non-financial performance indicator because reasonable employee satisfaction and efficient employee productivity are accurate predictors of an organization’s long-term growth potential. Therefore, human resources, as essential corporate capital, should be considered when measuring organizational performance.

Evaluating organizational performance includes evaluating both the organization’s operational efficiency and operational performance, which can accurately and objectively reflect its realistic performance status and predict its future development prospects. The methods of organizational performance evaluation are mainly divided into single-criteria and multi-criteria methods. The main indicators in the single-criteria evaluation method include productivity, net profit, goal attainment, and organizational growth and stability; however, this method has failed to gain acceptance because of the diversity of organizational goals. Therefore, multi-criteria performance assessment is the common approach today. Campbell [40] compiled the five most commonly used indicators for evaluating organizational performance: productivity, overall performance, employee satisfaction, compensation for investment, and turnover. Choi and Mueller [40] measured organizational performance using financial and non-financial indicators. Financial indicators are easy to quantify, compare, and understand, but they can only reflect short-term operating conditions and favor the assessment of historical achievements. Non-financial indicators are not easy to quantify, compare, and understand, but they are beneficial to long-term development, such as customer satisfaction and teamwork effectiveness. Kaplan and Norton [41] developed the balanced scorecard to enrich and expand performance evaluation metrics along four dimensions: financial, customer, internal processes, and learning and growth.

There are two main ways to apply performance evaluation and measurement indicators: combined effectiveness and multidimensional effectiveness scales [42]. The combined effectiveness scale reflects total performance by assigning certain weights to the performance criteria required for a specific job and then integrating them into a combined effectiveness score by a linear synthesis method. The idea of the multidimensional effectiveness scale is that the dimensions are independent of each other because each one has multiple ways to achieve success. Thus, a multidimensional effectiveness scale emphasizes the need to collect multiple job performance indicators to determine the dimensions of the scale and understand it better [43].

2.2. Hypothesis Development

2.2.1. Direct Effect of HRD Competency on Organizational Performance

Since 1973, when McClelland proposed the theory of competency, defined as the combination of individual characteristics that lead to high efficiency or high job performance, the very introduction of the concept pointed to the impact on performance. Now, there is a fact-based consensus that high job performance requires that employees have a combination of competencies such as motivation, traits, values, knowledge, and skills that are potentially associated with high performance. Competency is a determinant of organizational performance.

Many scholars have explored in depth the relationship between competency and organizational performance. Reports in the field of human resources, in both the popular press and the academic literature, have emphasized the importance of HRD competency as an effective tool in recruitment, selection, training, personal development, and leadership succession planning, and have pointed out a degree of correlation between HRD competency and organizational performance [14,15].

Numerous studies have examined the impact of competency on career success and found that competency has a significant impact on subjective career success (e.g., career satisfaction, and happiness) and objective career success (e.g., performance, pay, and promotions) [44]. Empirical studies have also shown the predictive effect of competency on performance in practice [16,21,45,46]. However, studies on the relationship between competency and organizational performance at different levels have inconsistent findings, mainly reflected in wide differences in the correlation coefficients between the two variables. In such studies, the correlation coefficients ranged from −0.08 [47] to 0.310 [48]. Meanwhile, when exploring performance in HR, it is often assumed that organizational performance is influenced by the interaction of three essential factors, competence, motivation, and environment, suggesting that there should be moderating and mediating variables between competency and organizational performance. Therefore, this study investigated the influencing relationship between HRD competency and organizational performance as well as the possible moderating and mediating variables between the two. As a result, the first hypothesis of this study was formulated:

H1: 

HRD competency has a positive effect on the performance of exponential organizations.

2.2.2. Mediating Effect of Organizational Identity

The concept of organizational identity is based on social identity theory. At present, academics mainly define organizational identity from three perspectives: affective, sociological, and cognitive. This study uses Mael et al.’s [49] viewpoint, which is based on the cognitive perspective and considers organizational identity to be the members’ perception of belonging to the organization in the form of an emotional attachment expressed in terms of their loyalty and pride toward the organization, believing that its success or failure is related to their own. This is in line with social contagion theory [50] and can be used to reveal the psychological connections and mechanisms between individual employees and their organization. Numerous studies have shown that employees’ identification with the organization significantly predicts their work attitudes and behaviors [17]. This is partly because organizational identity reduces the ambiguity caused by employees’ multiple identities and gives them a sense of purpose. It is also because organizational identity satisfies their desire for self-improvement, which motivates them to display positive work attitudes and behaviors to maintain consistency with the organization [17].

In their study, Takase et al. [51] found that nurses’ perception of competency influenced their organizational identity and behavior. Pu et al. [52] found that employees’ values positively influence their organizational identity. Karanika-Murray pointed out that the organizational identity of employees mediates the relationship between work competency and the associated performance [45]. It can be seen that in organizational situations, the mechanism of organizational identity mainly functions by helping employees to establish a psychological connection with the target (organization) and giving them a corresponding sense of attachment and purpose [46]. The sense of attachment helps employees define themselves according to the organization’s characteristics, construct a positive self-image, and find the value and meaning of their position, and that sense of purpose guides them to demonstrate attitudes and behaviors that meet organizational expectations [46]. Organizational identity represents an emotional bond between the employee and the organization. The stronger the sense of organizational identity, the stronger the sense of belonging and the tendency to de-individualize, considering the fate of the organization and their fate as one. This leads to improvements and proactive behavior that is beneficial to organizational performance [17,46]. For these reasons, and because organizational identity was also found to play a mediating role in previous studies, we hypothesized that HRD competency has a positive predictive effect on organizational identity. Thus, we formulated the following hypothesis:

H2: 

Organizational identity positively mediates the relationship between HRD competency and the performance of exponential organizations.

2.2.3. Mediating Effect of Self-Efficacy

Social cognitive theory suggests that people are not always passive in response to their environment, but they can reflect on it and adapt, and actively transform their environment [50]. The psychological concept of self-efficacy refers to a person’s beliefs about whether they are confident in accomplishing specific goals; the more confidence the person has, the higher their self-efficacy [53]. Individuals with high self-efficacy show greater resilience to stress and better subjective well-being [54], as well as better mental health [55]. Previous research has shown that individuals who plan competently for the future are more likely to succeed [56,57,58]. Additionally, a clear plan helps to improve self-efficacy [59].

Social cognitive theory also suggests that the most significant factor influencing human behavior is an individual’s strong core beliefs and that self-efficacy, as an essential belief, will have a direct impact on individual behavior [60]. According to self-efficacy theory, when people are in certain situations, in addition to making subjective evaluations of the organizational structure and culture, job characteristics, leadership styles, and other situational factors, they also make subjective comparisons between the characteristics of these factors and their abilities and then determine whether they are confident in their ability to achieve their personal goals [61]. The higher their self-efficacy, the more employees will believe that they can achieve their personal goals based on their ability, the less likely they will be influenced by a negative external environment, and the more willing they will be to challenge themselves with more complex work, set higher work goals, and put more effort into achieving their goals so that they can achieve higher performance [60]. From this, we speculated that personal competency has a positive predictive effect on self-efficacy, and formulated the following hypothesis:

H3: 

Self-efficacy positively mediates the relationship between HRD competency and the performance of exponential organizations.

2.2.4. Continuous Mediating Effect of Organizational Identity and Self-Efficacy

From the above analysis, it can be seen that HRD competency can influence the level of exponential organizational performance through organizational identification and self-efficacy [17,60]. When individuals have a stronger organizational identity, their perception of manageability and behavior intentions are strengthened, individuals show a positive psychological state, and their motivation to work is increased, which bring better performance to the organization [16]. Looking at several characteristics of good performers, they usually have high self-efficacy to reach their goals and enough competency to accomplish them. Interestingly, however, when we look at underperformers, we see that some of them have high self-efficacy to achieve their goals, and their competencies are not bad, but they are always rated as underperformers. The root cause of this is that performance is often based on self-efficacy and competency, while the impact of the environment on employee identification with the organization is ignored. Therefore, based on hypotheses H2 and H3, in this paper, we further suggest that organizational identity and self-efficacy have a continuous mediating role and that organizational identity may be a prerequisite for self-efficacy. Accordingly, we formulated the following hypothesis:

H4: 

Organizational identity and self-efficacy have a continuous positive mediating role in the relationship between HRD competency and the performance of exponential organizations.

2.2.5. Moderating Effects of Organizational Politics

Scholars believe that when employees passively perceive political phenomena in the workplace, they respond in some way in their recognition of the organization. There is now a consensus among researchers in the field that the objective presence of organizational politics in the workplace influences employees’ organizational identity, primarily by affecting their subjective perceptions [62]. In other words, the impact of organizational politics on employees depends on how they interpret the influence of politics in the workplace, and it is their subjective perception of such influence that affects their organizational identity [63,64]. While the majority of studies have considered job performance as a direct response to employees’ perception of organizational politics, a number of scholars have suggested that there may be some underlying psychological mechanism operating between organizational politics and employee performance [65,66] that can cause reactions related to organizational identity, job satisfaction, emotional commitment, psychological contract, psychological anxiety, job burnout, etc. Usually, people show a high level of effort in their work in order to obtain extrinsic and intrinsic rewards, such as salary, bonuses, career development, etc. [35]. However, if people realize that organizational politics are widespread in the workplace and that some can gain more benefits or resources by engaging in political activities outside the formal rules of the organization, while the efforts of others are not adequately recognized by the performance evaluation and compensation system, then it will weaken the connection between the level of action and the desired outcome, which will harm their sense of organizational fairness [35] and result in undesirable behavioral outcomes.

It has been found that a positive image of an organization satisfies individuals’ desire for self-improvement and gives them a high sense of self-esteem, which can significantly increase their identification with the organization [67,68,69]. Elsbach [70] proposed organizational disidentification in an extended model of organizational identity, in which the process and mechanism of formation are the opposite of organizational identity. When the organization has a negative reputation, a negative image, or other factors that individuals do not appreciate or accept, they will not want to define themselves by their similarity with the organization, but will actively seek differences between themselves and the organization to show their independence. Research has found that organizational disidentification often leads to a strong sense of rebellion against cultural factors such as the organization’s existing vision, mission, and values, thereby jeopardizing individuals’ attitudes and behaviors in the organization [71,72]. It is clear that the perception of organizational politics has a significant impact on organizational identity. Therefore, this study argues that organizational politics can interact with HRD competency. The combined effect leads to more utilitarian values, which reduces organizational identity. That is, the perception of organizational politics will negatively regulate the relationship between HRD competency and organizational identity. Therefore, we hypothesize the following:

H5: 

HRD competency with higher awareness of organizational politics has a less positive impact on organizational identity compared to lower awareness of organizational politics.

Based on the above analysis, a theoretical model was constructed, as shown in Figure 1.

3. Research Design

3.1. Study Sample and Data Collection

A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. The evaluation was made by self-assessment. The formal survey was conducted between June and August 2022, making full use of the social resources of the researcher and the subject group. As survey respondents, we selected the HRDs and HRM staff at 630 exponential organizations in East China, Northeast China, North China, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta regions, who officially agreed to participate in the study. This type of data is more representative and comprehensive. We distributed 1239 questionnaires and 658 were returned, among which 570 were valid, indicating a response rate of 46%.

The survey was distributed directly to respondents by research assistants, who also collected the responses. Respondents were informed that the confidentiality of their personal information was guaranteed, as the survey was for academic purposes only. The demographic information is shown in

Table 1. Basic information of survey subjects.

Item	Category	Number	Percentage
Gender	Male	176	30.88%
	Female	394	69.12%
Age	21–30	201	35.26%
	31–40	297	52.11%
	41–50	72	12.63%
Education	College	232	40.70%
	Bachelor	264	46.32%
	Master	74	12.98%
Working years	2–5	87	15.26%
	6–10	214	37.54%
	10+	269	47.19%

.

3.2. Variable Definitions

The measurement instruments came from established scales in existing studies, and the selected scales are as follows (the questionnaire is detailed in Appendix A):

HRD competency: 11 questions, based on the scale of Zhang and Qing [73].

Organizational identity: Six questions, based on the scale of Mael and Ashforth [49].

Self-efficacy: 10 questions, developed by Luszczynska and Scholz [53].

Exponential organization performance: Five questions, with financial performance indicators adopted from Gray’s scale [37] and HR performance indicators adopted from Huselid’s scale [47].

Organizational politics perception: Six items, using the organizational politics perception scale developed by Vigoda [74].

Control variables: Studies have shown that demographic variables have a significant effect on organizational performance [75], so to avoid the influence of irrelevant variables on model validation, gender, age, education, and working years were selected as control variables in this study, as detailed in

Table 2. Summary of measurement variables.

Variables	Names	Symbols	Definition	References
Independent variable	HRD competency	HRMC	HRMC score	[76]
Mediating variables	Organizational identity	ORI	ORI score	[55]
	Self-efficacy	SEF	SEF score	[61]
Moderating variable	Organizational politics	ORP	ORP score	[77]
Dependent variable	Exponential organization performance	ExOP	EXOP score	[53]
				[43]
Control variables	Gender	Gen	Respondent’s gender	[78]
	Age	Age	Respondent’s age
	Education	Edu	Respondent’s education level
	Working years	Year	Respondent’s work years

.

3.3. Empirical Model

Most of the current quantitative research in organizational performance uses regression analysis [79,80], which is a method of testing the direction and magnitude of the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable. Researchers often need to combine multiple indicators into a single factor-by-factor analysis and then place the factor in a regression model to reduce the problem of multicollinearity. This method is simple to use and easy to interpret. It can help researchers to identify and test interrelationships between variables that are not easily observed directly. So, we adopted this method, and to test the hypotheses, we constructed the following model:

$$ExOP={\beta }_0+{\beta }_{1}HRMC+{\beta }_{2}Gen+{\beta }_{3}Age+{\beta }_{4}Edu+{\beta }_{5}Year+\epsilon$$

(1)

$$ORI={\beta }_0+{\beta }_{1}HRMC+{\beta }_{2}Gen+{\beta }_{3}Age+{\beta }_{4}Edu+{\beta }_{5}Year+\epsilon$$

(2)

$$\mathrm{SEF}={\beta }_0+{\beta }_{1}HRMC+{\beta }_{2}ORI+{\beta }_{3}Gen+{\beta }_{4}Age+{\beta }_{5}Edu+{\beta }_{6}Year+\epsilon$$

(3)

$$ExOP={\beta }_0+{\beta }_{1}HRMC+{\beta }_{2}ORI+{\beta }_3\mathrm{SEF}+{\beta }_{4}Gen+{\beta }_{5}Age+{\beta }_{6}Edu+{\beta }_{6}Year+\epsilon$$

(4)

$$ORI={\beta }_0+{\beta }_{1}HRMC+{\beta }_2\mathrm{ORP}+{\beta }_{3}HRDC*ORP+{\beta }_{4}Gen+{\beta }_{5}Age+{\beta }_{6}Edu+{\beta }_{6}Year+\epsilon$$

(5)

Equation (1) calculates the relationship between HRD competency and exponential organizational performance. Equation (2) calculates the relationship between HRD competency and organizational identity. Equation (3) calculates the mediating role of organizational identity in the HRD’s competency and self-efficacy. Equation (4) calculates the role of organizational identity and self-efficacy in mediating the continuum between HRD competency and exponential organizational performance. Equation (5) calculates the role of organizational politics perception in mediating between HRD competency and organizational identity.

4. Results Analysis

In this paper, SPSS 26.0 was used to test the data for reliability, validity, descriptive statistics, and correlation analysis, and hypothesis testing was completed by using the Process program developed by Hayes.

4.1. Reliability and Validity Tests

The Cronbach’s alpha score was greater than 0.7 for each measure, as shown in

Table 3. Reliability analysis.

Construct	Cronbach’s Alpha	Item	Question	CITC
HRD competency	0.944	11	HRDC1	0.747
			HRDC2	0.796
			HRDC3	0.782
			HRDC4	0.805
			HRDC5	0.767
			HRDC6	0.786
			HRDC7	0.779
			HRDC8	0.805
			HRDC9	0.757
			HRDC10	0.817
			HRDC11	0.740
Organizational identity	0.867	6	OI1	0.681
			OI2	0.689
			OI3	0.639
			OI4	0.768
			OI5	0.764
			OI6	0.783
Self-efficacy	0.936	10	SE1	0.811
			SE2	0.810
			SE3	0.784
			SE4	0.739
			SE5	0.754
			SE6	0.803
			SE7	0.724
			SE8	0.780
			SE9	0.679
			SE10	0.808
Organizational politics	0.878	5	OPP1	0.721
			OPP2	0.745
			OPP3	0.761
			OPP4	0.776
			OPP5	0.802
Exponential organization performance	0.872	5	BP1	0.738
			BP2	0.777
			BP3	0.814
			BP4	0.671
			BP5	0.842

. Additionally, the CITC score for each question item was in the range of 0.639–0.842, which is higher than 0.4 and considered reasonable. The factor loading between the dominant and latent variables in the measurement model was significantly greater than 0.6, indicating that the variable measures had high internal consistency. The measurement model had good intrinsic quality and passed the reliability test.

In terms of validity, in this study, we mainly used AMOS software to conduct a CFA of the scale. The analysis found that the fit indicators were good, with results showing χ²/df = 2.934, RMSEA = 0.058, IFI = 0.913, TLI = 0.906, CFI = 0.912, PGFI = 0.734, and PNFI = 0.812, and the fit of the five-factor model was good and within a reasonable range, as detailed in

Table 4. Overall fit indices of measurement model.

	χ2/df	RMSEA	IFI	TLI	CFI	PGFI	PNFI
Score	2.934	0.058	0.913	0.906	0.912	0.734	0.812
Criterion	<5	<0.08	>0.9	>0.9	>0.9	>0.5	>0.5

and Figure 2.

The CR values of all variables were calculated to be greater than 0.7 and AVE values were greater than 0.5 (HRD competency CR = 0.945, AVE = 0.609; organizational identity CR = 0.867, AVE = 0.522; self-efficacy CR = 0.936, AVE = 0.593; organizational politics CR = 0.873, AVE = 0.580; exponential organization performance CR = 0.879, AVE = 0.594), indicating that the scale had very good convergent validity, as detailed in

Table 5. Convergent validity.

Construct	CR	AVE
HRD competency	0.945	0.609
Organizational identity	0.867	0.522
Self-efficacy	0.936	0.593
Organizational politics	0.873	0.580
Exponential organization performance	0.879	0.594

.

4.2. Analysis of Common Method Deviations

The data required for this study were obtained using a self-evaluation approach, and the empirical results may be affected by common method bias. To minimize common method bias, we referred to Podsakoff and Organ [81] and used Harman’s one-way test for common method bias. The results show that the unrotated exploratory factor analysis extracted five factors with characteristic roots greater than one. The maximum factor explained 33.863% of the variance, which is lower than the critical value of 40%, indicating that common method bias had less influence on the results of this study, as detailed in

Table 6. Common method deviation test.

Factor	Total	Percentage of Variance	Accumulation %
1	12.529	33.863	33.863
2	4.270	11.541	45.404
3	2.963	8.008	53.412
4	2.302	6.221	59.633
5	1.815	4.904	64.537

.

4.3. Correlation Analysis

The means, standard deviations, and correlation coefficients of all variables in this study show that HRD competency has a significant positive relationship with organizational identity, self-efficacy, and exponential organization performance (r = 0.352, p < 0.001; r = 0.376, p < 0.001; r = 0.347, p < 0.001, respectively). These results indicated that it was possible to test hypotheses H1-H3, initially verifying the research hypothesis of this paper. The details are shown in

Table 7. Correlation analysis.

	M	SD	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
1. HRD competency	3.753	0.993	1
2. Organizational identity	3.661	0.959	0.352 ***	1
3. Self-efficacy	3.541	1.043	0.376 ***	0.360 ***	1
4. Organizational politics	3.766	0.970	0.428 ***	0.403 ***	0.495 ***	1
5. Exponential organization performance	3.695	0.984	0.347 ***	0.352 ***	0.350 ***	0.416 ***	1
6. Gender	1.690	0.462	0.015	0.042	0.022	0.006	0.027	1
7. Age	1.770	0.655	−0.001	0.016	0.014	−0.03	0.025	−0.086 **	1
8. Education	1.720	0.679	0.041	0.025	0.044	0.053	0.114 **	0.018	−0.090 **	1
9. Working years	2.320	0.724	−0.068	0.044	0.053	0.025	0.021	−0.004	0.416 **	−0.102 **	1

Note: **, and *** indicate significant at the 5%, and 1% levels, respectively.

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4.4. Empirical Results

First, the data were analyzed using multiple regression analysis controlling for gender, age, education, and years of service, which revealed a direct positive predictive effect of HRD competency on exponential organization performance (β = 0.342, p < 0.001), verifying the hypothesis H1.

Second, the mediating role of organizational identity and self-efficacy in the relationship between HRD competency and exponential organization performance was analyzed, controlling for gender, age, education, and years of service, using continuous mediated effects analysis with the PROCESS macro for SPSS developed by Hayes. When mediator variables were introduced, HRD competency showed a direct positive predictive effect on organizational identity (β = 0.343, p < 0.001) and self-efficacy (β = 0.304, p < 0.001), and organizational identity had a direct positive predictive effect on self-efficacy (β = 0.276, p < 0.001). Additionally, when HRD competency, organizational identity, and self-efficacy simultaneously predicted exponential organization performance, they were all significant positive predictors (β = 0.195, p < 0.001; β = 0.215, p < 0.001; and β = 0.184, p < 0.001, respectively), as detailed in

Table 8. Regression analysis results.

Dependent Variable	Independent Variables	R	R²	F	β	t
ExOP	Constants	0.365	0.134	17.391 ***	1.873	6.792 ***
	HRMC				0.342	8.776 ***
	Gen				0.047	0.559
	Age				0.024	0.373
	Edu				0.153	2.667 **
	Year				0.066	1.111
ORI	Constants	0.361	0.130	16.868 ***	2.005	7.448 ***
	HRMC				0.343	9.021 ***
	Gen				0.074	0.905
	Age				−0.015	−0.230
	Edu				0.023	0.417
	Year				0.099	1.715
SEF	Constants	0.453	0.205	24.255 ***	1.089	3.709 ***
	HRMC				0.304	7.186 ***
	ORI				0.276	6.306 ***
	Gen				0.013	0.157
	Age				−0.027	−0.401
	Edu				0.049	0.836
	Year				0.103	1.721
ExOP	Constants	0.471	0.222	22.894 ***	1.141	4.108 ***
	HRMC				0.195	4.715 ***
	ORI				0.215	5.061 ***
	SEF				0.184	4.670 ***
	Gen				0.025	0.311
	Age				0.033	0.535
	Edu				0.138	2.529 *
	Year				0.020	0.361

Note: *, **, and *** indicate significant at the 10%, 5%, and 1% levels, respectively.

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Following the test for continuous mediated effects proposed by Fang et al. [82], this study used a bias-corrected nonparametric percentage bootstrap test with a 95% confidence interval calculated after 5000 replicate samples to test for specific and total mediated effects. The results show the following: Line 1: Confidence intervals for HRD competency → organizational identity → exponential organization performance does not include 0. Line 2: Confidence intervals for HRD competency → self-efficacy → exponential organization performance does not include 0. Line 3: Confidence intervals for HRD competency → organizational identity → self-efficacy → exponential organization performance does not include 0. Overall, hypotheses H2, H3, and H4 are supported, as detailed in

Table 9. Mediating effects test.

Path	Mediating Effect	Bootstrap LLCI	Bootstrap ULCI
Line 1: HRD competency → organizational identity → exponential organization performance	0.074	0.037	0.117
Line 2: HRD competency → self-efficacy → exponential organization performance	0.056	0.028	0.087
Line 3: HRD competency → organizational identity → self-efficacy → exponential organization performance	0.018	0.008	0.031
Total: Ind1 + Ind2 + Ind3	0.147	0.098	0.204

.

Finally, the PROCESS macro for SPSS was used to perform data centering of the moderating variables, and the procedure of the moderating effect test was followed by sequentially entering the control, independent, and moderator variables, and then the interaction terms of the independent and moderating variables. If the effect of the interaction term is significant, a moderating effect exists. For details, see

Table 10. Regression analysis results.

Dependent Variable	Independent Variables	R	R²	F	β	t
ORI	Constants	0.481	0.231	24.173	3.431	15.896 ***
	HRMC				0.174	4.242 ***
	ORP				0.227	5.130 ***
	HRMC * ORP				−0.149	−4.332 ***
	Gen				0.076	0.988
	Age				−0.017	−0.282
	Edu				0.008	0.153
	Year				0.077	1.413

Note: *** indicate significant at the 1% levels.

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The results show that the interaction term between HRD competency and organizational politics has a significant negative effect on organizational identity (β = −0.149, p < 0.001), indicating that organizational politics may play a moderating role in predicting the effect of HRD competency on organizational identity. To further test whether the interaction effect was as expected, low, medium, and high organizational politics perceptions were grouped by plus or minus one standard deviation. The simple slopes of the effect of HRD competency on organizational identity are 0.318, 0.174, and 0.030 for low, medium, and high organizational politics, respectively. This shows that the effect of HRD competency on organizational identity gradually decreases as the perception of organizational politics increases, indicating a negative moderating effect of organizational politics perception on the relationship between HRD competency and organizational identity. The details are shown in

Table 11. Regression analysis results.

Organizational Politics	Effect	se	t	p	LLCI	ULCI
M-1 SD	0.318	0.046	6.882	0.000	0.227	0.408
M	0.174	0.041	4.242	0.000	0.093	0.254
M+1 SD	0.030	0.059	0.504	0.615	−0.086	0.145

and the analysis is shown in Figure 3, and hypothesis H5 is verified.

In this study, we proposed five research hypotheses to be tested based on the overall framework. Normative and empirical studies, structural equation modeling, and multiple regression methods were used for validation analysis, and the final test results are shown in

Table 12. Summary of hypothesis testing results.

Hypothesis	Details	Result
H1	HRD competency has a positive effect on exponential organizational performance.	Supported; p < 0.001
H2	Organizational identity positively mediates the relationship between HRD competency and exponential organizational performance.	Supported; p < 0.001
H3	Self-efficacy positively mediates the relationship between HRD competency and exponential organizational performance.	Supported; p < 0.001
H4	Organizational identity and self-efficacy have a continuous positive mediating role in the relationship between HRD competency and exponential organizational performance.	Supported; p < 0.001
H5	HRD competency with higher organizational politics awareness has a less positive impact on organizational identity compared to lower organizational politics awareness.	Supported; p < 0.001

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5. Discussion

First of all, the study related to the effect of HRD competency on exponential organization performance reveals the following: In terms of the impact of unidimensional HRD competency on exponential organization performance, we conclude that HRD competency has a significant impact on exponential organization performance. This is consistent with the results of existing studies [15,25] and is in line with the empirical findings of the significant predictive effect of competency on organizational performance [15,25]. Unlike previous studies, this study focused on the HR perspective. It verifies that HR departments can be considered business partners of the organization and that improving the level of HR management in the organization can directly contribute to successful transformation and superior organizational performance. Furthermore, it also shows that as HR is increasingly at the heart of organizational strategy, the strategic awareness of department heads is critical to the achievement of strategic goals and organizational performance. It also reflects the importance of HR departments devoting their time and experience to strategic support and change management because this can create better value for the organization [83].

Second, HRD competency can act on the performance of exponential organizations via the indirect path of organizational identity. Previous studies have shown that competency plays a key role in the formation and enhancement of organizational identity [76]: the higher the competency of individuals, the higher the degree of personal fit with the organization, and the more they identify with the organization, motivating them to have more positive feelings, attitudes, and behaviors, which results in less burnout, more positive work engagement, and other behaviors, which have a positive impact on organizational performance [76].

Third, HRD competency can act on the performance of exponential organizations through the indirect path of self-efficacy. The higher the HRD competency, the higher the self-efficacy, which is consistent with the results of many previous studies [77,78]. When HRD competency is well developed, the basic need for job competency is satisfied, and individuals show high levels of work engagement and generate positive emotions and sufficient energy to enhance their self-efficacy. The higher the self-efficacy, the more HRDs will comply with rules and regulations, adhere to ethics, and do more to benefit customers and the organization. At the same time, they will receive positive feedback from the organization for their positive behaviors, enhancing their self-efficacy. According to the core view of self-determination theory, the higher the self-efficacy, the higher the individual performance, which drives organizational performance. As Bandura [61] suggested, people with high self-efficacy usually set more challenging goals for themselves, put more effort into them, and do not become emotional when faced with difficulties. Instead, they take a proactive attitude to overcome difficulties, have greater persistence, and are more likely to achieve higher performance.

Fourth, organizational identity and self-efficacy play a continuous mediating role between HRD competency and exponential organizational performance. Enhancing competency makes it easier for HRDs to obtain positive feedback from the organization, identify with the organization, generate motivation at work, boost their self-confidence, and put more energy into their work, ultimately helping to improve organizational performance. Additionally, according to the test results, HRD competency can influence the performance of exponential organizations through three mediating lines:

Line 1: HRD competency → organizational identity → exponential organization performance

Line 2: HRD competency → self-efficacy → exponential organization performance

Line 3: HRD competency → organizational identity → self-efficacy → exponential organization performance

In a comparison, we also found differences in the magnitude of the effect of the three mediating lines: line 1 had the most significant effect magnitude, followed by lines 2 and 3, indicating that organizational identity is the primary factor in enhancing exponential organization performance. May [46] and Richard et al. [17] also showed a significant positive relationship between organizational identity and organizational performance. However, unlike previous studies that emphasized the importance of self-efficacy, the mediating effect of organizational identity was more significant in the current study. The results of this study suggest that this may be related to the emphasis in traditional Chinese culture on harmony and collectivism. Compared to the Western system, which emphasizes polycentric and small-community autonomy, Orientals prefer a monocentric system. If organizations assume more social responsibility to obtain a positive evaluation, it would be easier to stimulate a sense of organizational honor and belonging among Orientals, which would be more effective in positively influencing organizational performance [84].

Finally, in order to verify whether HRD competency positively influences organizational identity under all conditions, we selected organizational politics perception as a moderating variable. The findings show that organizational politics perceptions negatively moderate the relationship between HRD competency and organizational identity. With increasing awareness of organizational politics, not only do employees question the organization’s publicly stated mission, vision, values, etc., but the image of the organization is significantly diminished in their minds. This negative perception will weaken employees’ positive attitude toward the organization, and in turn, they will take action to protect their interests from the negative impact of organizational politics, such as lower work commitment, less cooperation, etc., and identify with the organization negatively, which is also consistent with previous studies [65,71].

6. Conclusions

6.1. Main Findings

This study used data from 570 HRDs in exponential organizations as a sample and analyzed the impact of HRD competency on organizational performance. The results show the following: (1) HRD competency has a significant positive impact on exponential organization performance, i.e., the greater the HRD competency, the higher the performance improvement is likely to be. This is consistent with many previous studies showing that competency is a determinant of and has a significant predictive effect on performance, and plays an essential role in improving organizational and individual performance. (2) The impact of HRD competency on exponential organizational performance can be seen as a process of enhancing organizational identity. HRDs with higher competency are more likely to have a stronger organizational identity. Based on this, HRDs are more willing to share the organization’s fate, take the initiative to increase work commitment, take more responsibility, and strive to achieve the organization’s targets, which positively impacts organizational performance. (3) HRD competency can indirectly contribute to the improvement of exponential organizational performance by increasing the level of self-efficacy. Employees with high levels of self-efficacy, guided by their performance evaluations, choose more challenging and flexible compensation systems and improve their knowledge and skill level through continuous learning to provide superior performance for the organization. (4) HRD competency impacts exponential organization performance through the continuous mediating role of organizational identity and self-efficacy. Compared to self-efficacy, organizational identity is the primary factor in exponential organizational performance improvement. (5) Organizational politics perception negatively regulates the relationship between HRD competency and self-organizational identity. Being influenced by the perception of organizational politics perceptions tends to bring higher psychological stress to employees, lower their morale, and inhibit the full development of their abilities, thus negatively affecting organizational identity.

6.2. Theoretical Contributions

This research makes contributions to the existing literature on exponential organizations. Our study is among the first to investigate the effect between HRD competency and exponential organization performance, and it could be used as a theoretical reference for future research. In terms of theory, the impact of HRD competency on the performance of exponential organizations is analyzed and discussed based on the Chinese context. Based on social contagion theory, this study expands the field of competency research, enriches the theory of strategic human resource management based on competency, explores the mechanism of action affecting the performance of exponential organizations from the perspective of competency, and provides a new way of thinking for organizations to examine their personnel.

6.3. Managerial Implications

This study explores the relationship between HRD competency and exponential organizational performance from the perspective of management. It verifies that HR departments can be considered business partners of the organization and that driving the level of HR management can directly contribute to successful transformation and superior organizational performance. Furthermore, it also shows that as HR is increasingly at the heart of organizational strategy, the strategic awareness of its department heads is critical to the achievement of the organization’s strategic goals and performance. It also reflects the greater importance of HR departments devoting their time and experience to the business of strategic support and change management, because this can create better value for the organization.

We introduced two mediating variables, organizational identity and self-efficacy of HRD, to reveal the mechanism of the effect of HRD competency on exponential organization performance. We then introduced organizational politics variables to explore the situational mechanism of HRD competency with regard to organizational identity. In this way, this study further clarifies the moderating role of the theoretical model, thus broadening the existing literature in terms of the contexts in which HRD competency is more likely to promote or hinder organizational identity, which is also essential for future research. This can help organizations to understand that creating an excellent working atmosphere, building a communication platform, promoting rapport among employees, and reinforcing new employees’ willingness to work can help achieve better organizational performance. Additionally, in the HRD job description, a long-term strategic orientation to help the organization’s sustainability is clearly defined as an employment criterion, and the investment in developing competency is consciously strengthened in HRD career development to ensure the sustainability of human resources supply and meet the needs of the organization’s sustainability. Furthermore, career development platforms should be established for employees, and necessary vocational training should be provided for new employees to enhance their competency and improve their job satisfaction, to ultimately achieve a win-win situation for individuals and organizations.

6.4. Limitations and Future Research

This study also has some research limitations that will need to be improved. First, because this study involved personal emotional and cognitive issues, the respondents inevitably expressed a need for social approval and some caution, and there may have been some bias in filling out the questionnaire. Second, in the complex process of HRD competency influencing exponential organizations, we only analyzed the moderating effect of organizational politics and did not pay further attention to the moderating effects of variables such as personality traits. Future studies can explore other influencing mechanisms in depth.