This article responds to recent calls for research examining the mechanisms through which high‐performance human resource practices (HPHRPs) affect employee outcomes. Using the theoretical lens of social exchange and process theories, the authors examine one such mechanism, public service motivation, through which HPHRPs influence employees’ affective commitment and organizational citizenship behaviors in public sector organizations. A sample of professionals in the Egyptian health and higher education sectors was used to test a partial mediation model using structural equation modeling. Findings show that public service motivation partially mediated the relationship between HPHRPs and employees’ affective commitment and organizational citizenship behaviors. Similar results were achieved when the system of HPHRPs was disaggregated to consider the individual effects of five human resource practices.
This study responds to recent calls for research on how and why ethical leadership is related to employee outcomes. Drawing on self-concept–based theory and substitutes-for-leadership theory, the study examines both the mediating and moderating role of work meaningfulness on the relationship between ethical leadership and work engagement. Using a sample of Egyptian public hospital nurses, the results of structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that work meaningfulness partially mediated the relationship between ethical leadership and engagement. Furthermore, the results showed the positive relationship between ethical leadership and work engagement was stronger for employees who experienced lower rather than higher levels of meaningfulness. Thus, public sector organizations need to put emphasis on nurturing ethical leadership and stimulating employees’ sense of work meaningfulness. However, they need to be aware that, sometimes, they may not be able to get “double the benefits” when they invest in developing both.
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