High performance work systems and firm performance

Purpose The link between high-performance work systems (HPWS) and firm performance can be enhanced through the mediating effect of relational correlations. By building employee social capital and incorporating relevant HR practices within the HPWS, optimum results can be attained. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings The link between high-performance work systems (HPWS) and firm performance can be enhanced through the mediating effect of relational correlations. By building employee social capital and incorporating relevant HR practices within the HPWS, optimum results can be attained. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 451-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romina García-Chas ◽  
Edelmira Neira-Fontela ◽  
Concepción Varela-Neira

Purpose – The purpose of this investigation is to analyze the role of perceived organizational support (POS) and intrinsic motivation in the relationship between high-performance work systems (HPWS) and job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach – The sample used in this study consists of 180 engineers from 25 companies. The model entails a cross-level moderated mediation process that was tested using multilevel structural equation modeling. Findings – This research shows that the effect of HPWS via POS on job satisfaction is stronger among engineers with low intrinsic motivation than engineers with high intrinsic motivation. Practical implications – Given the findings of this paper, organizations are advised to consider the importance of HPWS perceptions and intrinsic motivation to help strengthen engineer satisfaction. Originality/value – This is the first study to provide evidence for the mediating effect of POS in the relationship between employees’ shared perceptions of the HPWS implemented at their companies and their job satisfaction, and the moderating role of employee intrinsic motivation in the relationship between POS resulting from HPWS and job satisfaction.


Author(s):  
Muhammad Siddique ◽  
Stephen Procter ◽  
Jody Hoffer Gittell

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to look at the role relational coordination might play in understanding the relationship between high-performance work systems (HPWS) and organizational performance. Design/methodology/approach Research was conducted in a large financial services provider in Pakistan. Across 120 branches of the bank, data on relational coordination and on the practices making up HPWS were obtained from employees by means of a questionnaire survey. Data on branch-level performance were obtained independently of this, from the bank itself. Findings Analysis shows relational coordination to be a mediating variable between HPWS and branch performance. Relational coordination is also a mediating variable for each of the three component parts of HPWS: ability-enhancing, motivation-enhancing and opportunity-enhancing HR practices. Practical implications These results have important implications from two points of view. From the point of view of relational coordination, they show how the concept might apply in a previously under-researched sector, and also how relational coordination might act as a mediator for HR practices other than those aimed directly at enhancing employee opportunities. Breaking down HPWS into its component parts suggests that individual employee ability and motivation might also play a role. Originality/value This suggests that the ability-motivation-opportunity model needs to place greater emphasis on opportunity, and also that more account needs to be taken of the structural aspect of work – in particular, the degree of interdependence.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bharat Chillakuri ◽  
Sita Vanka

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical investigation into the mediating effect of high-performance work systems (HPWS) on health harm (HH). The paper also examines the role of perceived organizational support (POS) and its indirect effect on work intensification (WI) and HH through HPWS. Further, the implications of the HH on individuals, organizations, families and societies are also presented. Recognizing the need for sustainable human resource management (HRM) practices that drive employee well-being and reducing HH is also highlighted.Design/methodology/approachData for the study were collected using four established scales. The data collected from 345 executives were analyzed using the SPSS 25.0 Version and Amos 21.0.FindingsThe study confirmed that work intensification causes HH. The results also indicate the significant mediation of HPWS and the moderation of POS between WI and HH, thus suggesting the inevitability of HR intervention for implementing sustainable HRM practices, which reduce the negative harm of the work.Research limitations/implicationsData were collected from executives working in IT organizations in India. However, IT work exhibits broadly similar technology/platforms across the world and hence, applicable to the other contexts as well.Practical implicationsThe study suggests that organizations should formulate policies and initiate interventions toward the care of employees, motivating toward higher performance and support them to prevent HH of work. It is difficult to categorize what comprises the care of employees in the current context of HPWS and treating employees as an end in itself. Generally, it is seen in terms of health and safety, work–life balance, remuneration, workload, job role and job design. People are core to sustainable development, and the HR must design and develop systems so that the organization can retain a healthy and productive workforce from a sustainability perspective. Moreover, sustainable work performance is a function of high resource levels of employees (energy, time and competences) and the allocation of resources, leading to resource regeneration. Hence, organizations need to source from a variety of sources and balance it for the sustainable performance of employees.Originality/valueThe HRM literature reveals the positive effect of POS on employee health, but studies that investigated the adverse impact of POS are notably absent. The study bridges this gap and is novel, as it explores the moderating role of POS on HPWS and HH and reaffirms the need for building sustainable organizations and sustainable HRM practices. Moreover, the paper provides contextual support to the literature, where studies relating to sustainable HRM practices in developing countries like India are absent.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario J. Donate ◽  
Emilio Ruiz-Monterrubio ◽  
Jesús D. Sánchez de Pablo ◽  
Isidro Peña

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse social capital (SC) development oriented to innovation. The relationship between high-performance work systems (HPWSs) and total quality management (TQM) philosophy is considered in this paper as an enabling factor that allows firms to accumulate SC oriented to develop radical and incremental innovation capabilities (IIC). Design/methodology/approach This paper establishes hypotheses and a model based on partial and total mediating effects of SC to develop innovation capabilities, which are focused on previous unexplored connections between HPWS and TQM and their effects on SC. The model and hypotheses are statistically tested through a partial least squares approach to structural equations models in a multi-industry sample of Spanish companies. Findings The study results show a system of specific human resource practices connected to SC development. Moreover, SC is found to be a mediating factor in the relationship between TQM and IIC, although the effect is not significant when radical innovation capabilities (RIC) are considered in the model. Finally, it is shown that HPWS partially mediates the relationship between TQM and SC. Research limitations/implications This paper mainly contributes to the study of organizational context enablers for intellectual capital (IC) development from a knowledge-based view, especially when firms are seeking to build or improve innovation capabilities. As a managerial approach, HPWSs and TQM are shown as powerful tools to establish prolific contexts for SC development, especially when TQM is rightly supported by a HPWS. Originality/value This is a quantitative study that analyses, for the first time, predictive relationships between popular tools such as TQM and HPWSs to create an organizational context for SC development, considering a multi-industry sample of firms. Important implications are also drawn to help managers to create IC assets related to social interaction and network relationships.


2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  

Purpose This paper examines the relationship between business strategies and employees’ intention to leave (ITL), through the mediating role of high-performance work system (HPWS). Design/methodology/approach To test their hypotheses, the authors used self-administered questionnaires. They drew up a list of 600 organizations of different nature and structure operating in India that were listed by the Federation of Indian Chambers and Industry. They approved 192 organizations and sent the surveys to 960 executives. They aimed to receive a minimum of one response from an HR executive and two from non-HR executives from each one. In the end, they received 572 useable responses. Findings The study found that high-performance work systems (HPWS) mediate the relationship between business strategy and employees’ intention to leave (ITL). The two effective approaches were “quality management” and “innovation strategy”, both of which reinforced the adoption of HPWS. But a third approach, a “cost-reduction strategy”, was not shown to be positively correlated with HPWS. Another important finding was that the influence on ITL did not vary across the types, or ownership structures, of the firms. Originality/value The data has lessons for HR departments. First, it shows it is advantageous for firms hoping to retain more employees to invest in HPWS that are consistent with the values of their organizations. A second practical finding is that firms need to take into account the Indian context. A third lesson is HR practitioners should make strong efforts to communicate the goals of the HPWS to employees The study also shows firms adopting cost-reduction strategies should focus more on treating employees as resources.


2016 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Unai Elorza ◽  
Christopher Harris ◽  
Aitor Aritzeta ◽  
Nekane Balluerka

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand how management and employee perspectives of high-performance work systems (HPWS) relate to employee discretionary behaviour. In addition, the paper examines to what extent the relationship between employees’ perception of the HPWS and discretionary behaviour varies among different organizations/groups. Design/methodology/approach – Two samples were used in the study. The first sample included data from 51 managers and 1,023 employees from 26 manufacturing companies. The second sample included 52 managers and 6,382 employees from 42 manufacturing companies. Findings – The study shows that employee rated HPWS mediates the relationship between management rated HPWS and individual-level discretionary behaviour. Moreover, results showed that the effect of employee rated HPWS on discretionary behaviour varies among different organizations/groups. Practical implications – Results show that employee perceptions of the HPWS more strongly predict employees’ discretionary behaviour than management rated HPWS. Moreover, it shows that employees’ perceptions of the same HPWS, but operating in different organizational contexts exhibit different levels of discretionary behaviour. Originality/value – The study differentiates between management and employee perspectives of the HPWS. It also examines the variability of the relationship between HPWS and discretionary behaviour. Multilevel structural equation modelling is used to test the hypotheses.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anastasia A. Katou

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of high-performance work systems (HPWS) on organizational performance through the mediating role of human resources (HR) flexibility (expressed by functional flexibility, skills malleability and behavioural flexibility).Design/methodology/approachThe study examines theoretical relationships in the Greek context, which reflects changing economic and financial crisis, based on multilevel structural equation modelling estimation, using three waves of sample data collected in years 2014, 2016 and 2018 from organizations operating in the private sector.FindingsThe study finds that although HPWS positively influences all three HR flexibility dimensions, this positive effect is not transferred equally to organizational performance. The dominant effect on organizational performance is attributed to skills malleability, a smaller effect to behavioural flexibility and a negligible effect to functional flexibility.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the data collected refer to three different years, most of the companies and individuals responded to sampling were different. As such, the study does not allow for dynamic causal inferences due to its quasi-longitudinal nature.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study may influence managerial decisions in developing bundles of HPWS policies and practices in relation to HR flexibility attributes.Originality/valueSince most studies consider HR flexibility as an aggregated construct, this study is possibly one of the very few studies that is examining the differential impact of the HR flexibility dimensions on organizational performance in turbulent times.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiou-Shiu Lin ◽  
Ran Xiao ◽  
Pei-Chi Huang ◽  
Liang-Chih Huang

PurposeDrawing on signaling theory, the purpose of this study is to explore how high-performance work systems (HPWS) interact with leader–member exchange (LMX) to predict employees' proactive behavior and job engagement. Moreover, the present study also proposes the mediating role of job engagement in the interactive effects of HPWS and LMX quality on proactive behavior.Design/methodology/approachThe data of this study include 228 customer-contact employees and 44 store managers from chain store enterprises in the service sector in Taiwan. The proposed models were tested with hierarchical linear modeling and Monte Carlo simulation.FindingsThe results show a significant interactive effect of HPWS and LMX on job engagement and proactive behavior. In addition, job engagement serves as a vital mechanism linking the interactive effect of HPWS and LMX quality on proactive behavior.Originality/valueThis study uses signaling theory to unpack the question when and how HPWS can be more influential on employees' proactive behavior. In particular, the positive effect of HPWS on proactive behavior is more prominent only when employees enjoy high LMX quality with their respective line managers. In addition, the interactive effects of HPWS and LMX quality on proactive behavior are mediated by job engagement. The findings provide valuable theoretical and managerial contribution by integrating HRM and leadership research.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aulia Vidya Almadana ◽  
Suharnomo Suharnomo ◽  
Mirwan Surya Perdhana

Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationships between high-performance work systems (HPWS) on knowledge-sharing behavior (KSB) among Indonesian employees through the mediating role of feeling trusted (FT) and moderating role of generational differences (GD). Design/methodology/approach Sample were collected from 278 employees working in the Indonesian financial companies. This research used structural equation modeling to investigate the associations of HPWS and KSB. Furthermore, Sobel Test was applicated to test the mediation effect of FT. Finally, Hayes PROCESS was used to test the moderation impact of GD. Findings The empirical results revealed that HPWS positively impact FT and KSB. Hereafter, FT also positively impacts KSB and then succeeds to mediate the relationships between HPWS and KSB. Finally, GD were failed to moderate the relationships between HPWS and KSB. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the few studies that illustrate the roles of GD between the relationships between HPWS and KSB.


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