Ulrich et al. (2010) define competencies as the knowledge, skills, and behaviors demonstrated by individuals in getting their tasks done. HR competencies help to enhance employee satisfaction (Daguplo et al., 2019). A study by Martina et al. (2012) also defined it as the act of asserting one’s real working potential. These are a combination of employee’s attributes like knowledge, skills, and abilities. These further contain personality features that enable HR professionals to be useful members of the organization (Daguplo et al., 2019).

Similarly, many authors proved that competencies are relative to employees’ characteristics (knowledge, skills, behavior, attitude, aptitudes, and social motives) which are linked to effective and advanced job performance (Dubois and Rothwell, 2004; Ellis, 2014; Fareed et al., 2019, 2020). HR effectiveness can be defined as the outcome of HR activities. The HR activities include HR competency, manager support, and compensation planning and strategy contributions.

Moreover, competencies refer to the ability to perform a particular activity, have certain general and specific knowledge, abilities, skills, and attitude to be qualified in a specific work-related area. Therefore, we can argue that competencies are required to achieve the required level of effectiveness. According to Heinsman et al. (2007), HR competencies have become the leading construct in HRM research to improve an employee’s performance. Aitchison (2007) also pointed out that the main obstacle for HR professionals to perform effectively in organizations is their lack of competencies.

A significant modification of HR professional competencies by Ulrich et al. (2007) and colleagues suggested six competencies domains: credible activist, cultural and change steward, talent manager/organizational designer, strategic architect, business ally, and operational executor. Some of these competencies, including culture and change steward (CCS), talent manager/organization designer (TMOD), and strategic architect (SA), enable HR professionals’ to develop organizational capabilities, which in turn can create competitive advantage (Ulrich and Grochowski, 2012). However, Business ally (BA) and operational executor (OE) do not differentiate an organization or an employee, but knowledge and competency in these areas are required for better performance. This version of the Ulrich et al. (2007) model is deemed the most relevant to the current business environment and directly related to HR professionals in the 21st century. Based on this argument, this study examines HR professional competencies and their influence on professional’s effectiveness by using Ulrich model and the level of effectiveness where organizational support can moderate this relationship.

According to Grossman (2007), credible activist (CA) competency is the top indicator of HR professional performance. This competency is at the heart of what it takes to be an effective HR professional. Ulrich et al. (2010) argued that the HR professional needs to be both credible (respected, admired, and listened to) and active (offers a point of view and takes challenging assumptions). Some have called this “HR with an attitude.” HR professionals who are credible but not activists are admired but have little impact. Activists who are not credible have the idea that no one implements. The credible means that HR professionals must be respected, admired, listened, and honored and activist means that he should be active to offer his point of view and meet challenges. Those who are Activist but not credible may not be listened to even though they have good ideas. The competency, Credible Activist, dominates all other competencies as it serves as the heart of competencies (Enkhjav et al., 2020). Ulrich et al. (2009) stated that “Credibility” moves the HR professional up the people axis, and activism moves them up the business axis. Both are involved in HR professional performance.

Since HR professionals work with the human side of the business, they need to have strong interpersonal skills. Credible Activists create an environment of trust that leads to results in optimistic working relationships with all employees of the organization. Ulrich et al. (2009) found that Credible Activists created a strong relationship between employee effectiveness and business performance. Selmer and Chiu (2004) identified that HR professionals with credible activist competency could become more useful for their organizations’ business success. Inyang (2010) argued that HR professionals should act with integrity in all business dealings and honor a personal commitment. They need to develop inter-relationships with all the employees of the organization. Highly effective HR professionals are focused both equally on the organization’s business and HR-related needs. In general, the credible activist domain has the most significant influence on HR professionals’ effectiveness. Hence, we can hypothesize that as:

Attracting, developing, and retaining talent are the second most eminent functions of HR professionals’. According to Ulrich et al. (2009), the most effective HR professionals’ are both talent managers and organization designers. Talent management focuses on competency requirements and how individuals enter and move up, across, or out of the organization. An organization designer focuses more on how an organization incorporates capability into the structure, processes, and policies that shape the working of an organization. Grossman (2007) argued that the appreciation or depreciation of the value of a human asset depends on the intelligence and effectiveness of an organization’s design. Similarly, Kaplan and Norton (2004) also found that it is difficult to reach a high sustainable performance without the alignment of an organizational design and talent placement. It does not matter how talented the employees are if the underlying processes and structures are misaligned. Therefore, it is a vital area for HR professionals’ to be competent where they have to take the lead to engage their employees and enable them to contribute to the organizational performance (Morgan and Jardin, 2010). According to Dhanpat et al (2020), talent manager is responsible for knowing what skills are required to the employees and how to improve those skills. Talent Management means the knowledge of customer requirement, strategy, and integration of each other. The organizational Designer means the ability of HR professional to design the policies and structure of the organization or shaping the organization how it works. Talent Management and Organizational designing work together and success cannot be sought in long run by the organization without their active integration (Payne, 2010; Theys and Schultz, 2020).

Developing talent ultimately leads to higher retention and productive employees. Organizational structure refers to the structure of an organization to achieve its desired goals. HR professional is not only about the talent or an organization design; it is about both of them interacting simultaneously. Ulrich et al. (2008) argued that talent with no supporting organization design might not be sustained, and an effective organization design may not deliver results without talented employees. HR professionals ensure that a company’s talent management and organizational capabilities are aligned with customer requirements and strategy by integrated with each other and worked effectively and efficiently. Building HR professional competencies in the Talent Manager/Organization Designer domain is a significant way to make the HR professionals’ to be effective. HR professionals need to balance between getting and developing the right talent and ensuring that the organization’s structure is conducive to delivering the desired organization capabilities. Kaliannan et al. (2016) suggested that an HR professional as a talent manager is responsible for recruiting, managing, analyzing, promoting, and retaining the employees in their organization.

Ellehuus (2012) found that HR professionals’ have talent management competency, which helps them generate more profit and enhance their employees’ performance by up to 25 percent. Many managers understand the importance of this competency, and most of them fail to link strong talent management/organization designer competency and the success of their business. HR professionals can effectively perform as a talent manager/organization designer competency for their organization’s growth. This study thus hypothesized that as:

Culture and change became a common buzzword in the late 20th century. The 1980s and 1990s brought a dramatic era of downsizing, mergers, acquisitions, and restructuring for many organizations. Culture and change have been acknowledged as an influential factor in examining the performance of an organization (Wilkins and Ouchi, 1983; Jones et al., 2005). According to Dhanpat et al (2020) and Junita (2021), the change agent is one who embraces change in the organization, responds actively to the change, and lets people know how to deal with the change. Ulrich et al. (2008) argue that culture has been an essential feature in HR competency studies since 1997. Restructuring of the HR system is often implemented when organizations undergo structural and cultural changes. Wright and Snell (1998) suggested that when companies respond to dynamic environments, the HR professionals are expected to drive their efforts to build flexible organizations. HR professionals first develop practices in a way that can be accepted; second, expand the skill sets of their employees; and finally, develop their employees’ behavioral flexibility. It is challenging to become a competent culture and change steward. When HR professionals lead an organizational change, the chances are high that they will send out confusing rather than coherent and consistent messages to the employees. Culture is a not a single event but a series of activities. Meeting external customer expectations with internal employee and organization behaviors is termed as culture. Culture steward is HR professionals who respect the old culture and help to shape the new culture. They direct managers to reflect the culture by their actions. In reality, they make the culture. Successful HR professionals help make culture happen and develop discipline to make changes happen in the organization (Sabuhari et al., 2020; Febriyarso and Ruslan, 2021).

Ulrich et al. (2008) found that effective HR professionals clearly understand the culture required to deliver the business strategy and communicate the desired culture broadly and frame it to engage employees. Effective HR professionals develop their organizations’ potential for change and transform that potential into effective change processes and structure. Edgley-Pyshorn and Huisman (2011) emphasized that HR professionals have to take the role of teacher, guiding and facilitating their employees to perform better in the cultural change process. They can motivate all employees of their organization and adjust their behavior to fit-in the new culture. HR professionals must work with the management team and other key individuals to ensure the sustainability of the cultural change. Any organization embark on a culture change program should enlist HR professionals in defining and enacting the culture. When HR professionals have the skills to make culture real, they help their organization to become competitive and this competency therefore becomes more significant and effective for HR professionals in many organizations (Wiley, 2010; Ahmad et al., 2012). Thus, it can be hypothesized that as:

The strategy architect is one who has ability to clarify the external trends and use them according to the internal actions and finally communicates its effect on human capital (Dhanpat et al., 2020). Strategic focus across all functional areas is the key to success. HR professionals are expected to safeguard organizational policies and strategies. While exploring the psychological frames of HR professionals, Labedz and Lee (2011) found that these professionals do not have a strategic outlook yet have shown people-oriented behaviors. Ulrich et al. (2008) argue that HR professionals must thoroughly master the business’s strategic architecture in which they work. They need an in-depth appreciation of the business portfolio, making each business distinctive in the customers’ eyes. HR professionals must understand the business strategy and align HR practices with it. It includes identifying the problems central to the business strategy, recognizing marketplace trends and their impact on the business, and translating the strategic direction into annual business and HR initiatives. According to Brockbank et al. (2012), the HR professionals must also be aware of the global business context, and they should apply this knowledge in developing a personal vision for the future of the organization. They need to develop customer-focused business strategies and translate the business strategy into annual business plans and goals. The strategy Architect competency helps to contribute overall business strategies. A Strategy Architect knows the art of changing negative to positive and how to formulate strategy or use strategic tools to keep progress. Leaders and HR professionals contribute significantly to strategy by integrating internal stakeholder and external stakeholder expectations (Junita, 2021).

Moreover, HR professionals have to take responsibility for the process of developing strategy regularly. However, they cannot contribute at the strategic level in their organizations because it is perceived that they lack the competency to work at the strategic level (Edgley-Pyshorn and Huisman, 2011; Reilly, 2012). Therefore, HR professionals need to focus on a vision on how the organization can “win” in the marketplace, now and in the future. They can then play an active part in establishing an overall strategy to deliver on this vision. It would require them to recognize business trends and how these will impact the business, thus forecasting potential obstacles to success and facilitating strategic clarity. This linkage helps make customer-driven business strategies real to the employees of the company (Ulrich et al., 2007). Similarly, Inyang (2010) argued that HR professionals must think about how they can contribute as strategic resources and contribute to organizational growth. Therefore, we can hypothesize that as:

This competency states that HR Professionals must have knowledge of his business, his customers, and products to successfully achieve the objectives of business. They must have understanding of all departments of business i.e., Marketing, Sales, Accounts, and research to help the business to earn money (Sharma and Sakpal, 2019). According to Ulrich et al. (2009), the competency of Business Ally has shifted dramatically from the last few decades. At first, “understanding the business” was very significant for an HR professional to be perceived as competent. But, in 2002, it was found by Ulrich et al. (2007) for the first time that “understanding the business” is one of the weakest statistical predictors of an HR professional overall competence. Businesses succeed by setting goals and objectives that respond to external opportunities and threats. HR professionals contribute to a business’s success by knowing the social context or setting in which their business operates. They also know how the business makes money, in terms of who the customers are, why they buy the company’s products or services.

Payne (2010) conducted their study in the Midwest region of the United States and found that HR professionals must develop competencies, particularly those that are business-related. Business-related competency is the need of the day. Ulrich et al. (2008) stated that HR professionals are increasingly expected to contribute directly to the success of their organizations’ business, and businesses succeed by profitable responding to changing external conditions. Therefore, HR professionals help drive the business’s success by knowing the broader setting in which the business operates. In addition, HR professionals must understand the value chain of the business, how it makes money, how it coverts less-valuable inputs into more-valuable outputs, and how resources within the company are arranged to deliver on customer expectations.

Furthermore, when HR professionals speak intelligently about a balance sheet or make recommendations based on market conditions, their credibility increases. This credibility allows them opportunities to participate in increasingly more strategic discussions at all levels of the organization. Being a business ally is not about memorizing only the financials of an organization but rather about being aware of what is going on around them. Inyang (2010) argued that HR professionals must understand the organization’s business direction and its competitive position in the market. HR professionals must have business-related competency, which can become more effective. Accordingly, it can be hypothesized that as:

This competency states that HR professional has to hold the operations of any organization so he/she needs to be able to draft, adapt, and implement policies. If there is flaw in the policies of HR professional, it spoils his credibility. These skills are ranged in HR activities as Transactional or legacy. The operational activities like policies which need to be drafted, adapted, and implemented and hiring and training of employees are all vital so they are highly needed to an HR professional (Khabibullina, 2019).

Some scholars have emphasized the importance of organization operational execution as a competitive edge in service organizations, especially in banks (Wilkinson et al., 2009). Roth and Van Der Velde (1991), for example, suggested a service strategy must address how operations will support and network with the competitive weapon of a business. In the past day-to-day activities and policy, issues were the prime responsibility of the personnel department (Anthony et al., 1999). The personnel department managed the paperwork, employee hiring, firing, paying, and promoting. Operational implementations of HR activities are administrative in nature. The personnel department focused on the terms and conditions of work and the running of the administrative systems to assist the employees in performing their duties properly (Ulrich et al., 2008).

HR professional as an operational executor is responsible for HR procedures that need to be documented and implemented. Employees also have many administrative needs (e.g., to be paid, relocated, hired, and trained). It revolves around the HR professional’s ability to execute the operational aspects of managing people and organizations. HR professionals ensure that these basic needs are efficiently dealt with through technology and shared services. Furthermore, HR professionals must develop working relationships with line managers and employees and consider their suggestions for better operational execution. The HR professional is accountable for ensuring these fundamental needs are effectively met (Ulrich et al., 2009). Hence, the following can be hypothesized.

The word “Will” is associated with intrinsic motivation to be useful or not. Willingness is made up of the belief, attitudes, and intentions of the employees involved in knowledge-related activities (Smith and McLaughlin, 2004). Smith and McLaughlin (2004) further argued that if the will is combined with employees’ competencies and capabilities, then personal performance will go up. If HR professionals lack the willingness and motivation to contribute their knowledge and expertise, they may not be effective (Raza et al., 2020). One way by which HR department can add value to its organization is that HR professionals be willing to actively contribute to HRM strategies and their implementation.

Kurz and Bartram (2002) argued that activities and roles could be performed more innovatively if managers are willing. Currie and Kerrin (2003) claimed that employees lack the willingness and motivation to contribute their knowledge if competent managers are not appraised justly, resulting in project failures. Another study by Chen and Silverthorne (2005) also reported that competency and willingness affect each other (positively or negatively) while employees’ willingness will enhance the assigned task’s efficiency and effectiveness because of increased competency. Analoui (1999) also argued that competencies alone could not be adequate for managerial effectiveness. There is also a need for employee willingness, which will play a vital role in their effectiveness. Further, Raza et al. (2020) suggested to study employees’ willingness to perform with employee effectiveness as they have highlighted employee willingness is a new concept and it should be studied in future studies. It leads to the following hypothesis:

Organizational support refers to the beliefs of an employee that the organization values his contribution toward the success of organization and also cares about his welfare. This is actually a support from organization to the employee which shows the significance of the employee in the eye of organization. The behavior of an employee is affected by this perception. This is an exchange relationship between employee and organization (Desa and Asaari, 2020). Organizational support for employees in various ways has been initiating interest in management scholars (AL-Abrrow, 2018). It is now well accepted among various scholars and as one vital factor playing a significant role in improving the employees’ and organizations’ effectiveness (Shore and Wayne, 1993; Yoon and Lim, 1999). It is the feeling that organization cares for the employee (Alnaimi and Rjoub, 2019). HR professionals may not be effective in performing their role if they lack adequate staff, the latest technology, financial resources, and top management empowerment. Organizational support tends to reduce adverse job outcomes and reduce turnover intentions (Baranchenko et al., 2020). It reduces negative employee outcomes such as knowledge hiding behavior and extra role behavior as it initiates a sense of social exchange (Alnaimi and Rjoub, 2019).

In many studies on relationships in the management literature, the intervening variable or moderating variable has been found to play some role (Chenhall and Brownell, 1988; MacKinnon et al., 2002; Stephen, 2017). Sharif and Ahmad (2009) found that organizational support has a moderating role in studying behavioral variables in organizations. The importance of organizational support as an intervening variable in behavioral studies is further enhanced by earlier researchers (Schermerhorn, 1975). Employees’ performance is mainly a result of organizational support because it enables them to utilize their competencies effectively. Baranchenko et al. (2020) considered and realized the moderating impact of organizational support between employability and turnover intentions. AL-Abrrow (2018) also identified that organizational support serves the moderator’s role between organizational politics and silence. Thus, this study is also interested in investigating the moderating effect of organizational support on HR professionals’ effectiveness.

Furthermore, the HR sub-functions are related to recruitment and selection, training and development, and performance-based reward system. If these are supported relatively and adequately, they will affect competency building and professionals’ willingness such that their effectiveness will be enhanced accordingly. According to Mathis and Jackson (2010), many factors affect the performance of individual employees, including their abilities, efforts expended, and the organizational support they receive. Kane et al. (1999) found that HRM effectiveness can be attained by organizational support. At the same time, Black et al. (2003) argued that it is challenging for HR professionals to get adequate support from their organization due to the lack of financial investment in this particular area. Organizational support not only satisfies employees’ motivation to take their job seriously but may also affect the employees’ willingness (Lin and Lin, 2011). According to Desa and Asaari (2020), the employees who think that their organization support them, they perform better than those who feel they are not supported by the organization. Well-coordinated management practices can also enhance the effectiveness of the employees particularly, and as such organizational support is highly effective in firms that are service-oriented like banks. It leads to research the following hypothesis (Figure 1):

Theoretically, all the study hypotheses are supported by the resource-based theory of barney. Barney discusses that organizations should identify and develop unique assets to get maximum results. As we discussed, employees are the critical assets of any organization. To get a competitive advantage, organizations need competent employees who are not replaceable and have all the qualities of VRIN. All the HR Professional’s competencies and HR professionals will have a significant and positive impact on HR Professional’s Effectiveness. Organizational support moderates the relationship between HR professionals’ competencies, HR professionals’ willingness, and HR professionals’ effectiveness.

The constructs for the present study were adapted from the model of Ulrich et al. (2007). In HR professionals’ competencies, 9 items were used for measuring Credible Activist, 10 items for Talent Manager / Organization Designer, 8 items for Culture and Change Steward, 12 items for Strategy Architect, 11 items for Business Ally, and 8 items for Operational Executor. Sample items for HR professionals’ competencies are credible activist “HR professionals in our bank respond promptly to our issues,” talent manager “HR professionals in our bank are able to promote talented employees,” culture & change steward “HR professionals in our bank take a proactive role in bringing about change,” strategy architect “HR professionals in our bank translate business strategy into annual business initiatives,” business ally “HR professionals in our banks are aware of the social issues having an impact on the banks business,” and operational executor “HR professionals in our bank are good at managing the labor policies and procedures.” Han et al. (2006) and Sharif and Ahmad (2009) scales were adapted to measure HR’s professional willingness (7 items), Organizational support (10 items), and HR’s professional effectiveness (11 items). Sample items are, HR professionals’ willingness “HR professionals in our bank are self-motivated to take proactive actions” organizational support “HR department has been provided with adequate training budget in order to enhance the competency level of their HR professionals” and HR professionals’ effectiveness “HR professionals in our bank have given value-added contributions to our bank’s operational performance.” All the instrument items were measured through 5 points Likert Scale ranging from 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5 (Strongly agree) by using the English language.

Post-hoc Harman single factor test was applied to check common method variance (Podsakoff et al., 2003). The principal component analysis was run at which all measurement items were included for factor analysis and examined the un-rotated solution. A single factor of an un-rotated solution of principal component analysis explained 32.92% of the variance, which was lower than 50%. Hence, it indicates the absence of common method variance in our study. The skewness values of all instrument items in our study ranged from −0.022 to −1.148 and kurtosis values from 0.090 to 2.116, which proved that the data had followed the conditions of normality (Kline, 2015).

The partial least squares-structural equation modeling technique (PLS-SEM) was applied in a statistical software Smart PLS to test the measurement and structural models. The researcher uses the PLS-SEM because it handles very complex models with many indicators and constructs, estimate normatively specified constructs, able to deal with small sample sizes, and determinate latent variable scores, which can be applied in subsequent analyses. Before testing the structural model, a measurement model was assessed by computing convergent and discriminant validity. Outer loadings of construct items found with less than 0.40 were deleted from the model. This research has established the threshold criteria for outer loadings given by Hair et al. (2016). According to this criteria items’ loadings which have been retained for testing the model ranged between 0.416 and 0.919 which is considerably accepted in exploratory research because retaining these items have competed the threshold criteria of AVE (0.5) and CR (0.7) proposed by Fornell and Larcker (1981), Bagozzi and Yi (1988), and Hair et al. (2016). Generally, indicators with loadings between 0.40 and 0.70 should only be considered for removal from the scale if deleting this indicator leads to an increase in composite reliability above the suggested threshold value. Another consideration in the decision to delete indicators is the extent to which their removal affects validity. Weaker indicators are sometimes retained on the basis of their contribution to content validity (Hair et al., 2011). Only if an indicator’s reliability is low and eliminating this indicator goes along with a substantial increase of composite reliability, it makes sense to discard this indicator (Henseler et al., 2009). Table 1 shows the findings of CFA where Cronbach’s Alpha and Composite Reliability values of all variables are greater than 0.7. Moreover, loadings of all instrument items and Average variance extracted (AVE) values are also higher than the recommended threshold of 0.50 which confirm the convergent validity as evident by Figure 2 (Hair et al., 2016).

Fornell-Larcker criterion and cross-loading were applied to measure discriminant validity (Fornell and Larcker, 1981; Hair et al., 2017). Table 2 shows the results of discriminant validity, where the square roots of AVE of all variables are greater than their correlation.

For testing hypotheses in the relationship model, beta values (β), t statistics, and values of p were examined in SmartPLS software. Figure 3 and Table 3 reveal that Business Ally (β = 0.093^*, t = 2.007), Credible activist (β = 0.143^***, t = 3.159), Operational Executor (β = 0.177^***, t = 4.03), Strategy Architect (β = 0.163^**, t = 2.332), Talent Manager/Organization Designer (β = 0.142^**, t = 2.267), Organizational Support (β = 0.078^**, t = 2.331), and HR Professionals’ Willingness (β = 0.667^***, t = 20.132) were positively and significantly associated with HR’s professional effectiveness. Whereas, Culture and Change Steward also had a positive but statistically insignificant relationship with HR’s professional effectiveness (β = 0.10, t = 1.434). The study found the most significant relationship of HR professional’s effectiveness was with HR Professionals’ Willingness.

Moreover, the moderation findings showed that organizational support positively and significantly moderates the relationships of HR Professionals’ Willingness (0.251^***), Operational Executor (0.156^***), Business Ally (0.214^***), and Credible Activist (0.159^***) with HR’s professional effectiveness (Figure 4). However, the organizational support showed weak but significant positive moderation between Strategy Architect and HR professionals’ effectiveness (0.099^**). The moderating impact of organizational support remained negative and insignificant between Culture and Change Steward (−0.070), Talent Manager/Organization Designer (−0.023), and HR’s professional effectiveness.