High-performance HR practices, positive affect and employee outcomes

Abstract

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the affective or emotional mechanisms that underlie the relationship between high-performance HR practices (HPHRP) and employee attitudes and behaviours. Drawing on affective events theory (AET), this paper examines a mediation model in which HPHRP influence positive affect which in turn affects job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviours (OCBs).Design/methodology/approach -Two-wave data was collected from a sample of local government workers in Wales (N= 362). HPHRP were measured together with job satisfaction and OCBs at Time 1 and six months later, job satisfaction and OCBs were measured again together with positive affect. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the study hypotheses.Findings -The results revealed that HPHRP induced positive affect which, in turn, led to increased job satisfaction and OCBs. Furthermore, positive affect fully mediated the relationships between HPHRP and both job satisfaction and OCBs.Research limitations/implications -All data were collected from public sector employees in the government of Wales, which makes the generalizability of the findings unknown. More work is needed using different samples to determine whether the study results are replicable.Practical implications -Managers should endeavour to ensure that enough resources are assigned to the implementation of HPHRP and other work features that help evoke affective reactions, as these reactions are an important determinant of employees' attitudes and behaviours.Originality/value -This is one of the first studies to empirically examine the mediating role of positive affect on the relationship between HPHRP and employee attitudes and behaviours.

Do High-Performance Work Systems Really Satisfy Employees? Evidence from China

“…A bundle of practices-such as training, team work, and participative decision-making-are likely to bring relatively positive affect workplace experiences. Even though this positive affect may be important, few studies have examined the affective or emotional factors relating to HPWS and employee outcomes [21,25,26]. Developed in the mid-1990s, AET assumes that the context of the workplace generates certain events that stimulate various affective reactions and further influences employee attitudes and behavior [25].…”

“…Developed in the mid-1990s, AET assumes that the context of the workplace generates certain events that stimulate various affective reactions and further influences employee attitudes and behavior [25]. Though AET does not mention specific workplace features and work events that might trigger affective responses, studies support the positive relationship between employees' perceptions regarding organizational practices and affective reactions [25,26]. In this study, organizations signal their concerns about employee well-being and tend to build long-term relationships based on HPWS.…”

“…In this study, organizations signal their concerns about employee well-being and tend to build long-term relationships based on HPWS. The concerns are assumed to bring positive affective reactions and cognitive judgment (e.g., job satisfaction) to the workplace [25,26]. Therefore, this study investigates employee job satisfaction (i.e., attitudes) influenced by both the cognitively evaluated work environment (i.e., HPWS) and by affective states experienced from work events (i.e., work intensification and job discretion) [21,27].…”

“…Employees perceive higher degrees of control over when and how they organize and schedule their tasks as helping them to deal with the demands of their job and this leads to less mental strain [29,30]. Based on AET, work environment characteristics affect the occurrence of some events, and these events engender employee affective responses [21,26]. Job discretion in this study is taken as an important aspect of HPWS that may influence affective experiences of employees due to participative decision-making and a greater degree of control over work schedules [4,7].…”

“…Based on AET, workplace events may cause different affective states (i.e., positive or negative) that impact on employee attitudes [21,26]. Studies show that affective states are related to how employees think and feel about their workplace (i.e., work attitudes) [21,34].…”