Developmental HRM, employee well‐being and performance: The moderating role of developing leadership

Abstract

Answering the call for more insights in the relationship between human resource management (HRM), employee well-being and performance, this study examines the link between developmental human resource (HR) practices and employee task performance, and includes both happiness (i.e., affective organizational commitment) and health related (i.e., exhaustion) well-being as mediators. Based on social exchange theory and cognitive dissonance theory, we also explore the line manager's developing leadership behaviour as a moderator in the relationship between developmental HRM and well-being. The multi-source data from 403 employees and 53 line managers show that distinct developmental HR practices influence well-being and employee performance differently, and suggest that the developing leadership behaviour of line managers influences the way in which developmental HR practices affect employees. Overall, the results underline the need for a configurational perspective on HRM, well-being and employee performance, taking line managers' behaviour into account as an essential element of the HRM system, next to formal HR practices.

Improving Millennial Employee Well-Being and Task Performance in the Hospitality Industry: The Interactive Effects of HRM and Responsible Leadership

“…Considerable evidence indicates that HRM systems have significant effects on employee well-being through long mutually reciprocal relationships between organizations and individuals [53], including high-performance work systems [58], high-involvement systems [59], and development HRM [25]. However, employee well-being as a by-product in these research studies has not received enough attention, and it is worthwhile to "give greater priority to the impact of HR practices designed to improve well-being on both well-being and performance" (Guest, 2017, p. 26) [17].…”

“…First, it is acknowledged that HRM and leadership are among the most influential organizational factors for employee experiences at workplaces [5,23,25]. HRM is a critical antecedent of employee experience and psychological need satisfaction in the hospitality sector that affects employee work competence, motivation, and opportunities [81,82].…”

“…Therefore, HRM and responsible leadership may function in different ways but together send supportive and caring signals to employees and build reciprocal relationships between organizations and individuals [25]. Leroy et al (2018) explained that supervisory leadership impacts employee experiences through informal individual relationships including caring, encouraging and offering advice, and HRM influences employees through formal management systems and processes including training and development, promotion, and performance appraisal [24].…”

“…Leroy et al (2018) explained that supervisory leadership impacts employee experiences through informal individual relationships including caring, encouraging and offering advice, and HRM influences employees through formal management systems and processes including training and development, promotion, and performance appraisal [24]. Moreover, responsible leadership has a day-to-day focus on caring, supporting, and being trustworthy for employees; HRM encompasses development and commitment practices and systems that are complementary organizational factors improving employee psychological experiences and fostering good relationships in workplaces [25].…”

Good is Not Good, When Better is Expected: Discrepancies between Ideal and Actual Collectivism and their Effect on Organizational Commitment

“…Social exchange is based on reciprocity, the exchange of benefits or resources, and the relationships that derive from this exchange, and it has been applied in multiple ways to study effects on employee attitudes (for example, Marescaux et al . ). For the exchange to be initiated, an organization must provide benefits or resources that are valuable to employees (Molm, ; Cole et al ., ).…”