Inclusion values, practices and intellectual capital predicting organizational outcomes

Purpose - This study examines whether inclusion values predict organizational outcomes through mediating effects of inclusive HR practices and investigates whether intellectual (human and social) capital serves as a contingency variable in moderating the relationship between practices and outcomes. Design/methodology/approach - Organizational-level data were collected from 79 senior-level executives. Hypotheses were examined via regression analyses and the product-of-coefficients approach was used to test for indirect and conditional indirect effects. Findings - This study found a positive relationship between inclusion values and inclusive HR practices and between inclusive HR practices and organization-level outcomes. Inclusive HR practices mediated the relationship between values and outcomes and intellectual capital moderated the relationship between practices and outcomes, such that inclusive HR practices played a greater role in augmenting outcomes for organizations with lower intellectual capital. Practical implications - Alignment of inclusion values and inclusive HR practices is important for organizational effectiveness, and inclusive HR practices are likely to play a particularly important role when an organization is relatively weak in intellectual capital. Originality/value - This paper broadens the inclusion literature by using a macro-level lens to understand how organizational inclusion values and practices may relate to organizational outcomes. It also shows the importance of intellectual capital as a contextual variable in the inclusion practice to outcome relationship.