Factors affecting the sustainable development of HRS in transforming economies: A fsQCA approach

Abstract

Human resources services (HRS) are kinds of services concerning human resources acquisition, development, and allocation provided to employers and workers. The services promote the efficiency and effectiveness of the human resources market. Recently, the services have been regarded as crucial for the sustainable development of the national economy, attracting policymakers in transforming economies to promote the expansions of the services. This paper presents a systematic study of factors that affect the development of the services. In this text, the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method was used to explore the configurations of the factors that drive the growth of the services. The data was from province governments’ statistics and influential research reports in China, and each province observation was considered as a case (in fsQCA terms). In this article, the marketization of human resources (MOHR) referring to allocating human resources through the labor market rather than government bureaucracy, is a possible necessary condition for the boom of the HRS. Moreover, we identified seven paths to explain both the high and low development level of HRS. Among the paths, the configuration of general development of regional economy, social legitimacy of the services, and marketization of human resources are the basic conditions that lead to a high growth rate of the HRS. These research findings enriched our understanding of the valid strategies for cultivating the services industry in China and other transforming countries. To cultivate and upgrade the services, we suggested that transforming economies should pay more attention to economic internationalization and speed up the marketization of human resources.