Frontiers in Psychology (Apr 2018)

How Do High-Performance Work Systems Affect Individual Outcomes: A Multilevel Perspective

  • Junwei Zhang,
  • M. Naseer Akhtar,
  • P. Matthijs Bal,
  • Yajun Zhang,
  • Usman Talat

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00586
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 9

Abstract

Read online

Research on high-performance work systems (HPWS) has suggested that a potential disconnection may exist between organizational-level HPWS and employee experienced HPWS. However, few studies have identified factors that are implied within such a relationship. Using a sample of 397 employees, 84 line managers, and 21 HR executives in China, we examined whether line managers’ goal congruence can reduce the difference between organizational-level HPWS and employee experienced HPWS. Furthermore, this study also theorized and tested organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) as a mediator in the associations between employee experienced HPWS and job performance and job satisfaction. Using multilevel analyses, we found that line managers’ goal congruence strengthened the relationship between organizational-level HPWS and employee experienced HPWS, such that the relationship was significant and positive when line managers’ goal congruence was high, but a non-significant relationship when line managers’ goal congruence was low. Moreover, employee experienced HPWS indirectly affected job performance and job satisfaction through the mechanism of OBSE beyond social exchange perspective.

Keywords