Human Capital Management As A Strategic Mediator: Empirical Evidence From The Petroleum Industry in Tamil Nadu

Abstract

The present study aims at exploring the mediating role of Human Capital Management (HCM) between Organizational Culture (OC) and Psychological Empowerment (PE) with respect to Organizational Effectiveness (OE) in the Tamil Nadu petroleum industry. The research is framed within the Human Capital Theory (Becker, 1964), the Resource-Based View (Barney, 1991) and Spreitzer's (1995) Psychological Empowerment framework to develop and validate an integrated structural model based on the survey of 400 stratified workers in eight major petroleum organizations. Leadership Practices, Employee Engagement, Knowledge Accessibility, Workforce Optimization and Learning Capacity are the five sub-dimensions of HCM. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) via AMOS confirms significant positive influences of OC (β = 0.486, p < 0.001) and PE (β = 0.421, p < 0.001) on HCM, and of HCM on OE (β = 0.612, p < 0.001). Partial mediation by indirect paths was confirmed by bootstrapped mediation analysis (via OC: HCM: OE: β = 0.298; PE: HCM: OE: β = 0.257). The study contributes to the HCM theory in the South Asian energy industry and offers practical recommendations for HR professionals in the petroleum industry.