ORIGINAL ARTICLE The “HR–line-connecting HRM system” and its effects on employee turnover Sunghoon Kim 1 | Zhong-Xing Su 2 | Patrick M. Wright 3 1 UNSW Business School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia 2 School of Labor and Human Resources, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China 3 Darla Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina Correspondence Zhong-Xing Su, School of Labor and Human Resources, Renmin University of China, No. 59, Zhongguancun Street, Beijing, 100872, China. Email: suzhongxing@ruc.edu.cn Funding information National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award numbers: Project No: 71272157, 71472178 Although the importance of positive, trusting, and cooperative relations between HR profes- sionals and line managers has been well documented, little is known about how organizations can systematically nurture such relationships. This article specifies the “HR–line-connecting HRM system,” which consists of a bundle of HRM practices designed to improve the relation- ship between HR and line managers. Drawing on the social capital perspective and HR strength theory, we propose that such HRM practices develop HR managers' social networks with line managers and facilitate the formation of a shared language between them, which should in turn result in low employee turnover. Our theory is generally supported by empirical analyses on data from Chinese high-tech firms. KEYWORDS HR–line-connecting HRM system, shared language, social capital, social network, strategic HRM 1 | INTRODUCTION Strong social bonding between HR professionals and line managers is indispensable for successful implementation of HRM policies (Brewster, Gollan, & Wright, 2013; Farndale & Kelliher, 2013; Kim & Ryu, 2011; Renwick, 2003; Ryu & Kim, 2013; Sanders & Frenkel, 2011). Research suggests that positive, trusting, and coop- erative relationships between HR professionals and line managers could generate a strong HRM climate (Bowen & Ostroff, 2004) and thereby lead to positive outcomes such as enhanced employee performance (e.g., Alfes, Shantz, Truss, & Soane, 2013), effective work–life balance programs (McCarthy, Darcy, & Grady, 2010), and the expedited adoption of advanced production systems (Gollan, Kalfa, & Xu, 2015). Although the organizational benefits of positive HR personnel–line manager relations are well understood, little is known about how organizations can systematically nurture and develop such relationships. The literature has predominantly treated HR–line relations as an exogenous variable, and its ante- cedents have received surprisingly limited attention. This is an unfortunate omission, as practitioners need to know how to facilitate close working relationships between line managers and HR professionals (e.g., Conaty & Charan, 2010; Ulrich & Brockbank, 2005). Our study fills this gap by investigating an antecedent of collabo- rative relations between HR professionals and line managers. Specifi- cally, we have identified a set of HRM practices that could systematically promote social interaction and collaboration between HR specialists and line managers. This bundle of HR practices, which we have termed the HR–line-connecting human resource management (HRM) system, consists of practices that can enhance the collaborative capacity and motivation of line and HR managers to cooperate, as well as provide them with opportunities to work side by side. Draw- ing on social capital theory and HR strength literature, we assert that the HR–line-connecting HRM system enhances the strength of the HR climate by influencing intraorganizational social networks and shared cognitive mental models, thereby improving employee outcomes. Our study on the HR–line-connecting HRM system is in line with the growing interest in HRM literature about HR subsystems that tar- get specific organizational goals (Jackson, Schuler, & Jiang, 2014). Traditionally, HRM scholars have focused on general HRM systems (such as high-performance work systems) and their impacts on generic organizational performance (Huselid, 1995; Jackson et al., 2014; Lepak, Liao, Chung, & Harden, 2006). Despite its merits and influences, this approach has been the subject of debate. For instance, P. Wright and Sherman (1990), in exploring the lack of DOI: 10.1002/hrm.21905 Hum Resour Manage. 2018;1–13. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrm © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 1