High-Performance Work Systems and Well-Being: Mediating Role of Work-to-Family Interface

Abstract

Regarding the effects of High-Performance Work Systems (HPWS), we can draw two conclusions. First, existing studies on the effects of HPWS on employees’ well-being at work are scarce. Second, few studies have considered the relationships between HPWS and work-to-family interface (i.e., work-to-family enrichment, WFE; and work-to-family conflict, WFC). Only one previous study conducted on a Portuguese sample (i.e., Carvalho & Chambel, 2016 ) has examined the relationships between these concepts in a comprehensive model. Our study aims to replicate one part of Carvalho and Chambel’s model but also to extend previous work. We investigated a model of HPWS-employees’ well-being at work (i.e., job engagement and job strain) relationships by considering work-to-family interface as a mediator. We surveyed 170 employees of a Belgian company. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling and bootstrapping method. WFE partially mediates the relationships between HPWS and job engagement, whereas WFC partially mediates the relationships between HPWS and job strain. Our study, confirming the results of Carvalho and Chambel ( 2016 ), highlights the important role of HPWS in the development of employees’ well-being at work. Working in an organization where HPWS are applied leads employees to perceive more enrichment and less conflict between their work and family lives, making them more engaged in and less stressed by their work.

The Glass Ceiling for Women Managers: Antecedents and Consequences for Work-Family Interface and Well-Being at Work

“…The poor psychological and/or physical health emerging from this situation of a loss of resources negatively affects individuals’ functioning at home ( Edwards and Rothbard, 2000 ), increasing women managers’ perceptions of WFC. Women managers perceiving WFC are more strained (e.g., Babic et al, 2015 , 2019 ) due to the loss of resources in the process of juggling work and family roles ( Hobfoll, 1989 ). In a such situation of WFC, they also are more likely to plan to leave their organization (e.g., Babic et al, 2015 ) and tend to reduce their level of engagement in their work (e.g., Babic et al, 2020 ) in order to preserve and protect their remaining resources ( Hobfoll, 1989 ).…”

“…For example, in their study on firefighters in Taiwan, Wong et al (2014) found a positive relationship between WFC and job strain. In studies of employees of a Belgian hospital ( Babic et al, 2015 ) and of employees of a Belgian company ( Babic et al, 2019 ), WFC was also found to be positively related to job strain.…”

High-performance work system and knowledge hoarding: the mediating role of competitive climate and the moderating role of high-performance work system psychological contract breach

“…Researchers have found that individual outcomes mediate a dominant part of the impact of HPWS on organizational performance (Zhang and Morris, 2014). Positive individual outcomes of HPWS include work engagement (Babic et al. , 2019), affective commitment (Zhang et al.…”

Serving the customer, serving the family, and serving the employee: toward a comprehensive understanding of the effects of service-oriented high-performance work systems

“…On the other hand, this study provides a lens to understand the equivocal findings on the relationship between HPWS and work-to-family interface. Reviewing the literature, there is research reporting that HPWS is good for work-to-family experience (e.g., Babic, Stinglhamber, & Hansez, 2019;Wattoo, Zhao, & Xi, 2020), but there is also research indicating that HPWS is bad for work-to-family experience (e.g., Shih, Chiang, & Hsu, 2010;White et al, 2003). Considering two forms of work-to-family interface (i.e., WFC and WFE) and two underlying mechanisms (i.e., the motivational process and the strain process), our research indicates that SHPWS both enhances WFE through customer orientation and induces WFC through service workload.…”