Development and validation of a scale for compassionate human resource management practices

Purpose Since employees' suffering has become a pervasive and unavoidable phenomenon in the workplace, this study aims to propose a new concept called compassionate human resource management practices (CHRMP) and to develop a scale to measure it. Design/methodology/approach Study 1 employed grounded theory to explore the connotations and structure of compassionate human resource management practices (CHRMP) and developed an initial scale comprising 5 factors and 40 items. Study 2 employed exploratory factor analysis to confirm the structure of CHRMP and developed a formal scale consisting of 5 factors (occupational growth support, family needs assurance, health care services, lean process improvement, and fair ecological maintenance) and 17 items. Study 3 confirmed the factor structure of the CHRMP scale through confirmatory factor analysis and assessed its reliability and validity. Study 4 selected perceived organizational support and job burnout as criteria to test the criterion-related validity of the scale. Findings The results indicated that the CHRMP scale possesses good psychometric properties, and that the CHRMP of the organization can effectively predict employees' perceived organizational support and job burnout. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature on human resource management practices by providing a new concept called CHRMP and developing a scale to measure it within the Chinese context. It also emphasizes the importance of CHRMP in improving employees' perceived organizational support and job burnout.