Facilitating the Implementation Process of High-Performance Work Systems: The Role of Authentic Leadership

Abstract

Although substantive research has devoted increasing attention to variability in human resource practices at the organization, group, and individual levels, the critical role of line managers' leadership in predicting this variability in the human resource management delivery and implementation process has been overlooked. Drawing from social information processing theory and human resource (HR) attributions theory, this study proposes that authentic leadership moderates the positive relationship between department-level high-performance work systems and employee-perceived high-performance work systems. Moreover, employee-perceived high-performance work systems can enhance employees' thriving at work through commitment-focused HR attributions (well-being and performance). Analyzing the matched data from 145 departments and 834 employees, we found that the extent to which departmentlevel high-performance work systems are positively related to employee-perceived high-performance work systems depends on authentic leadership within departments. We also found that employee-perceived high-performance work systems will result in commitment-focused HR attributions (well-being and performance), which in turn motivate employees to thrive at work. This study sheds light on whether and how line managers' leadership influences the HR management process.

Employee high-performance work systems-experience attributions of well-being and exploitation: a multilevel study of Greek workplaces

“…Employee attitudes, such as motivation and organizational commitment, have been shown to be generally influenced by employees' experiences concerning HPWSs (Cao et al. , 2020; Nishii et al.…”

“…Employee attitudes, such as motivation and organizational commitment, have been shown to be generally influenced by employees' experiences concerning HPWSs (Cao et al, 2020;Nishii et al, 2008;Van De Voorde and Beijer, 2015). Employee motivation is defined as a set of intrinsic or extrinsic energetic forces that initiate work-related behavior (Pinder, 1998).…”

“…First, the connection between HPWSs and employees' attributions has been understudied (Cao et al. , 2020), and this connection's role in predicting organizational performance has been overlooked.…”

“…First, the connection between HPWSs and employees' attributions has been understudied (Cao et al, 2020), and this connection's role in predicting organizational performance has been overlooked. Therefore, the current study fills this gap by examining the differential impacts of employee HPWS attributions of well-being and exploitation on organizational performance.…”

Is authentic leadership always good for employers? A perspective of time management

“…However, an overly authentic environment can lead employees to optimize their limited resources to decide which activities to invest in because they don't have to worry about negative outcomes in a sincere environment, which past surveys have overlooked. In fact, past surveys have almost adopted a positive lens to investigate the impact of authentic leadership on positive employee behavior (Cao et al, 2020 ; Marques-Quinteiro et al, 2021 ) and the softening effect on negative employee behavior (Jang and Kim, 2021 ; Monzani et al, 2021 ), but these surveys have ignored the possible negative outcomes of authentic leadership. In response to these literature streams, the current research proposes a new stream that authentic leadership will reduce employees' investment in social capital activities through the mediating role of organizational embeddedness, and that relationship is moderated by organizational inclusion.…”