Employees' HR attributions count: the effects of high-performance work systems on employees' thriving at work and emotional exhaustion
ISSN: 0048-3486
Article publication date: 3 July 2023
Issue publication date: 28 May 2024
Abstract
Purpose
Although prior research has documented substantive knowledge of the benefits of high-performance work systems (HPWS), results regarding both sides of HPWS are inconsistent. To reconcile these inconsistencies, the authors identified two specific HR attributions—employee well-being HR attribution and performance HR attribution, and examined their roles in the relationship between team-level HPWS and employees' thriving at work and emotional exhaustion.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors collected multi-source data from 36 team leaders and 181 individuals. Given the nested nature of the data, the authors used Mplus 7.4 to conduct multilevel structural equation modeling for hypothesis testing.
Findings
The results showed that team-level HPWS and employee well-being HR attribution interact to affect psychological availability, which subsequently promotes thriving at work. However, team-level HPWS and employee performance HR attribution do not interact to influence role overload/psychological availability; team-level HPWS and employee well-being HR attribution do not interact to affect role overload.
Originality/value
Current literature has overlooked identifying key contingencies for both sides of HPWS effects on employee outcomes. Therefore, this study developed a mediated moderation model and incorporated HR attributions to explore two distinct pathways by which HPWS affects employees' thriving at work and emotional exhaustion. The present study helps to reconcile the inconsistent findings regarding the HPWS double-edged sword nature. In addition, the authors focused on HPWS at the team level, which is also underexplored in the existing HPWS research.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 72202032, 71832007, 72272032, 71972139, 72262010), Jiangsu Planned Projects for Postdoctoral Research Funds (2021K609C).
Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
Citation
Cao, M., Zhao, S., Chen, J. and Lv, H. (2024), "Employees' HR attributions count: the effects of high-performance work systems on employees' thriving at work and emotional exhaustion", Personnel Review, Vol. 53 No. 4, pp. 835-856. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-09-2021-0632
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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