Next, our data are clustered at the organization level. They were gathered from three
different organizations, but with a similar HRM structure (see supra). To be able to fully
generalize these results it would be useful to carry out a more extensive survey, in which 24
organizations with different types of HRM structure are included. In each of these settings the
relationship between the HR department, line managers and employees will be different.
Therefore, the most optimal partnership between line management and HR department in
terms of steering employees’ affective commitment might be different as well. Future
research may also look into the roles other important HR actors (e.g. external HR service
providers, HR consultants, shared service centers, expertise centers, embedded HR
generalists, …) can play in steering employee attitudes and behaviour. For example, in
organizations with ‘embedded’ or decentralized HR generalists, it may be interesting to study
the interplay between corporate HR, local HR generalists and line managers. In addition, we
looked at the Belgian/Luxembourg divisions of what are in fact very large international
organizations. What we considered to be the central HR department can, if we look at a higher
level, be regarded as a decentralized HR department in the international structure of the
organization. The HR departments we studied will thus probably not be completely
independent in taking HRM decisions and determining which role they play. In future
research, it might be interesting to take these hierarchical relationships into account and to
examine their influence on the effectiveness of HRM implementation in the organization