Analysis of the Relationship between Strategic Management of Human Resources and Administrative Innovation in the Public Universities of Isfahan, Iran

Today, human resources are the most important competitive advantage of organizations. Therefore, university administrators should be aware of how to effectively use this strategic factor and advantage. However, innovation is also a valuable tool in confronting uncertainty, and responding to and impacting the external environment. The aim of the present study was to determine the simple and multiple correlations between functions of strategic human resource management and administrative innovation in medical and nonmedical universities in the Isfahan province, Iran. This was a descriptive and correlational study. The study population consisted of all faculty members of public universities of Isfahan (1830 people) from which 480 people were chosen by stratified random sampling. The research tools included strategic human resource management practices questionnaire and the administrative innovation questionnaire. The face and content validity of the questionnaires were confirmed, and their reliability was calculated by Cronbach’s alpha. Data analysis was performed by descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings showed that the mean scores of strategic human resource management practices and administrative innovation scores in public universities of this province were less than average. On the other hand, a significant multiple correlation existed between strategic human resource management practices (training, service reward, assessment of performance, providing human resources, and employee contributions) and administrative innovation. Beta coefficients were statistically significant between all the practices of strategic management of human resources and administrative innovation. The variance inflation factor for these variables was 1.33 to 2.75; which shows no line between them and that the regression model has been significant. The member's comments regarding the relationship between strategic human resource management practices and administrative innovation in terms of demographic characteristics were similar. Educational organizations can pave the way for organizational innovation by adopting appropriate human resource functions.