Human resource management and employee well‐being: towards a new analytic framework

The mutual gains model suggests that HRM should benefit both individuals and organisations. However, the dominant models within HRM theory and research continue to focus largely on ways to improve performance, with employee concerns very much a secondary consideration. Furthermore, pressures at work and in society more widely are creating an increasing threat to employee well‐being. If employee concerns and the threats to well‐being are to be taken seriously, a different analytic framework for HRM is required. The article sets out an alternative approach to HRM that gives priority to practices designed to enhance well‐being and a positive employment relationship, proposing that both elements are essential. Evidence is presented to support the choice of practices and to argue that these also hold the potential to improve both individual and organisational performance. It therefore offers a different path to mutual gains. The research and policy implications of this approach are discussed.     

How the impact of HR practices on employee well‐being and performance changes with age

With changing retirement ages and an aging workforce, interest is growing on the potential contribution of relevant bundles of HR practices in eliciting well‐being and performance among aging workers. Drawing on theories on lifespan development and self‐regulation, we distinguished two bundles of HR practices: development HR practices that help individual workers reach higher levels of functioning (e.g. training), and maintenance HR practices that help individual workers maintain their current levels of functioning in the face of new challenges (e.g. performance appraisal). Further, based on lifespan theories, we expected and found that the association between development HR practices and well‐being (i.e. job satisfaction, organisational commitment and organisational fairness) weakens, and that the associations between maintenance HR practices and well‐being, and between development HR practices and employee performance, strengthen with age. In addition, a third bundle of ‘job enrichment’ HR practices emerged that elicited higher job performance among aging workers.     

Balancing tensions: Buffering the impact of organisational restructuring and downsizing on employee well‐being

This study examines the impact of employee experiences of restructuring and downsizing on well‐being. The job demands‐resources model was used to develop hypotheses related to job demands in the form of work intensity and job resources in the form of consultation. The job demands‐resources model allows for direct incorporation of employee perceptions and does not assume a singular, predetermined consequence of HRM practices. Hypotheses were tested via structural equation modelling on a nationally representative sample of over 5,110 employees from the Republic of Ireland in 2009. The findings indicate that work intensity serves as a conduit through which experiences of restructuring and downsizing negatively impact employee well‐being. Notably, consultation served as a buffer, diminishing the extent of this negative experience. The findings illuminate the complex pathways that shape how restructuring and downsizing are perceived by employees and the consequences for well‐being. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of these findings.     

Exploring possible trade‐offs between organisational performance and employee well‐being: The role of teamwork practices

There is growing evidence linking teamwork practices to performance outcomes. However, critics have raised concerns that such outcomes are achieved at the expense of increased job demands and stress among workers. Using large data from a representative sample of British workplaces (N = 4,311 workers in 664 workplaces), this study explores the pattern of relationships between teamwork practices, organisational performance, and employee well‐being. The study draws on a mutual gains model linking teamwork practices to organisational performance via affective commitment, and a conflicting outcomes model associated with high job demands and job‐related anxiety. The study also examines an interactive outcomes model that integrates the mutual gains and conflicting outcomes models. The study reports evidence that the performance gains of teamwork practices may actually come at the cost of increased job demands and job‐related anxiety. Nevertheless, these adverse outcomes tend to weaken at higher levels of affective commitment.     

Green indoor and outdoor environment as nature‐based solution and its role in increasing customer/employee mental health,well‐being,and loyalty

The present study was an empirical endeavor to explore the effect of nature‐based solutions (NBS) on the customer and employee loyalty generation process by considering the role of mental health and well‐being in the hotel industry. A quantitative approach was employed. A survey methodology with a convenience sampling technique was used to collect the data. A total of 303 responses and 301 responses for customer and employee groups, respectively, were used for data analysis. Our results of the structural analysis indicated that green indoor and outdoor environment as NBS helps customers and employees improve mental health perception, emotional well‐being, and loyalty. In addition, the prominent role of emotional well‐being in building customer loyalty and of mental health perception in building employee loyalty was uncovered. The developed conceptual frameworks for customers and employees contained a satisfactory ability in predicting loyalty. Mental health perception and emotional well‐being were mediators. Moreover, the relationship strength among study variables differed between customer and employee groups. Overall, our findings significantly increased our understanding of NBS and its critical role in the hotel industry.     

Work–family conflict,family satisfaction and employee well‐being: a comparative study of Australian and Indian social workers

Work‐to‐family conflict and family‐to‐work conflict have been widely investigated as antecedents of well‐being in various employee groups. However, these studies have largely been performed in Western countries, and only a few studies have investigated the phenomenon using both Western and non‐Western samples. The present study contributes to the literature by investigating work–family conflict experiences of social workers in Australia and India. More specifically, it explores the impact of work‐to‐family conflict and family‐to‐work conflict on well‐being and the mediating role of family satisfaction in this relationship. Our findings reveal the direct negative effects of work‐to‐family conflict on well‐being and family satisfaction in both groups and of family‐to‐work conflict on well‐being of Indian social workers. There is evidence that family satisfaction mediates work–family conflict and well‐being relationships in both samples. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings for HRM policies in social service agencies of both countries.     

Fits,misfits and interactions: learning at work,job satisfaction and job‐related well‐being

The resource‐based view (RBV) of the firm has focused attention on the importance of aligning employees' needs with the requirements of the jobs they do. This article focuses on how these needs and requirements interact in terms of learning. It does so in two ways. First, it develops new survey instruments to capture the learning demands of jobs and the learning dispositions of workers and uses them for the first time in a survey of 2,810 employees. Second, it examines how these person and job characteristics correlate with specific aspects of job satisfaction and job‐related well‐being. The results show that although learning alignment is associated with high levels of satisfaction and well‐being, not all learning misalignments are associated with the reverse.     

Managerial coaching and subordinates' workplace well‐being: A moderated mediation study

Taking a self‐categorisation perspective, we predict that managerial coaching affects subordinates' workplace well‐being through perceived insider status and that Chinese traditionality moderates this indirect effect. To test these hypotheses, we designed a three‐stage research method to collect data from 276 subordinates in a large state‐owned enterprise located in Shanghai, China. Results indicated that (a) managerial coaching was positively related to subordinates' workplace well‐being; (b) perceived insider status mediated the linkage between managerial coaching and subordinates' workplace well‐being; and (c) Chinese traditionality moderated the indirect relationship between managerial coaching and subordinates' workplace well‐being via perceived insider status, such that the indirect effect was stronger for subordinates with low rather than high Chinese traditionality. This study sheds new light on the intervening process (i.e., perceived insider status) that explains how managerial coaching influences subordinates' workplace well‐being. The findings also extend the current literature by adding a substantive moderator (i.e., Chinese traditionality) to explain when and why subordinates increase their well‐being when faced with managerial coaching.     

Emotional intelligence,job satisfaction,well‐being and engagement: explaining organisational commitment and turnover intentions in policing

This study examines the effect of emotional intelligence upon the job satisfaction, well‐being and engagement of police officers in explaining their organisational commitment and turnover intentions. Survey responses from 193 police officers in Australia were analysed using partial least squares path modelling. As predicted, emotional intelligence leads to job satisfaction and well‐being, with positive path relationships leading to employee engagement and organisational commitment, thereby affecting turnover intentions. Organisational commitment was found to partially mediate the causal relationship between employee engagement and turnover intentions. The findings of this research have important theoretical and practical implications for police officer retention.     

Income distribution and well‐being: what can we learn from subjective data?

Abstract. How does the income of others affect my own welfare? This survey of the empirical literature stresses the contribution of subjective data to the understanding of this issue, with an attempt to disentangle direct effects (preference interdependence) from indirect informational effects. It shows that perceived mobility is central to the link between other people's income and individual satisfaction, as it determines individual opportunities and risks. Agents also appreciate the egalitarian nature of mobility itself, so that individual welfare depends on dynamic inequality rather than static income distribution. These studies illustrate how subjective data can bring information on aspects of utility and social interactions that are beyond the scope of the method based on action‐revealed preferences.     

Speaking up: employee voice and attitudes to unions in a non‐union US multinational firm

We examine employees' experiences of exercising voice in a large non‐union US multinational plant. We find that a majority of those who took action to address a problem reported an unsatisfactory outcome and that experiencing problems at work and taking action are associated with more positive employee attitudes to unions.     

The link between perceived HRM practices,performance and well‐being: the moderating effect of trust in the employer

The present study examines the interaction between perceived HRM practices and trust in the employer on employee performance and well‐being. Specifically, the study tests whether trust in the employer moderates the relationships between perceptions of HRM practices and task performance (as rated by employees’ supervisors), organisational citizenship behaviour, turnover intentions and employee well‐being. Support was found for the majority of the hypotheses using data from 613 employees and their line managers in a service sector organisation in the UK. Trust in the employer moderates the relationships between perceived HRM practices and task performance, turnover intentions and individual well‐being, but not organisational citizenship behaviour. Implications of the findings for organisations and future research are discussed.     

The meanings and purpose of employee voice

In this paper we present and assess an analytical framework for examining the different ‘meanings, purposes and practices’ of employee voice. The data were collected from eighteen organizations in England, Scotland and Ireland. Managers defined voice very much in terms of the perceived contribution to efficiency and tended to downplay notions of rights; however, the linkages between voice and performance outcomes remain problematic. Overall, employee voice is best understood as a complex and uneven set of meanings and purposes with a dialectic shaped by external regulation, on the one hand, and internal management choice, on the other. The evidence suggests that the degree to which voice practices are embedded in an organization is much more important than reporting the extent of any particular individual or collective schemes for employee voice.     

The implications of direct participation for organisational commitment,job satisfaction and affective psychological well‐being: a longitudinal analysis

The article examines the implications of direct participation for employees' organisational commitment, job satisfaction and affective psychological well‐being. It focuses on both task discretion and organisational participation. Applying fixed effect models to nationally representative longitudinal data, the study provides a more rigorous assessment of the conflicting claims for the effects of participation that have hitherto been based primarily on cross‐sectional evidence. Further, it tests a range of mechanisms by which direct participation leads to improved employee outcomes. Contrary to the critical literature, it shows that even after controlling for unobserved individual heterogeneity, both forms of direct participation have positive effects for employees' organisational commitment and well‐being. The effects of task discretion are primarily direct, reflecting the intrinsic importance of personal control over the job task; in contrast, those of organisational participation derive to a greater extent from its indirect effect on the quality of working conditions.     

Towards an integration of employee voice and silence

There is a growing interest in conceptualising employee voice across various theoretical disciplines - including Human Resource Management (HRM), Organizational Behaviour (OB), Industrial Relations (IR) and Labour Process (LP) – which approach the phenomena from diverse ontological anchor points. However, few consider the antithesis of voice, employee silence. This paper aims to advance a conceptual framework of voice and silence based on the inter-disciplinary integration of OB, IR and LP perspectives. Such an integrated approach may offer scholars, policy advocates and HR audiences a more reflective understanding of the social and psychological antecedents of employee voice and silence. The framework advances a critical pluralist view of employee silence by drawing on the concept of ‘structured antagonism’, which has been neglected in HRM and OB studies. A suggested future research agenda is outlined to help better integrate diverse approaches on employee voice and silence.     

Positive effects of cognitive conflict and employee voice

Conflict is usually viewed as undesirable and negative. Recent empirical work, however, has documented several positive outcomes from conflict. Benefits range from better problem solving and understanding to higher employee efforts. Since allowing employees voice in organizations raises cognitive conflict levels, one expects attendant benefits. However, conflict also leads to bad feelings and threatens those with a stake in the status quo. Thus, programmed conflict is needed. Two examples include a Devil's Advocate Decision Program and the use of outside auditors. These processes are intended to require conflict in organizational decisions.     

Work enrichment and employee voice in human resource management-performance studies

Studies assessing the link between human resource management and performance were spawned by the high commitment or high involvement models. We show that work enrichment and employee voice were central to these models, yet as resource-based theory was increasingly used to justify the association of such models with high performance the seeds for a diminishing role for employee involvement were set. We then assess the associated empirical work, and show how employee involvement is neglected in favour of alternative emphases on skills and knowledge, labour flexibility and extrinsic motivation. It is proposed that future work should abandon the dominant approach of testing a single null hypothesis and instead examine competing models of the HRM–performance relationship.     

The cross‐cultural study of LMX and individual employee voice: The moderating role of conflict avoidance

This article examines the role of national culture, measured by conflict avoidance, on the relationship between leader–member exchange (LMX) and individual employee voice. Using data collected from automotive industry employees in the United States and Korea, the findings show that conflict avoidance is negatively related to employee voice and also moderates the relationship between LMX and employee voice in the Korean sample. In particular, the relationship between LMX and voice becomes less positive when conflict avoidance is high. On the other hand, conflict avoidance does not have a direct effect on employee voice as well as an interactive effect with LMX on employee voice in the U.S. sample. This study, therefore, highlights the importance of the national culture in the comparative study of employee voice.     

Individual employee voice: renegotiation and performance management in public services

Periodically, the ‘zone of acceptance’ within which management may use its authority to direct employees' work needs to be adapted to the changing needs of organizations. This paper focuses especially on the non-codified elements of employees' work, such as those commonly the subject of ‘psychological contracts’, and considers the role of individual employee voice in the process of adaptation, and how it relates to more familiar forms of collective employee voice. It is argued that the process can be analysed as a form of integrative bargaining, and applies the framework from Walton and McKersie. Employee voice enters into this process by virtue of consideration of the respective goals and preferences of both parties. The element of employee voice may be very weak when new work goals and priorities are imposed unilaterally by management, and they may be strong when full consideration is given to the changing needs of both parties. Two examples from work on performance management in the public services are used to illustrate these processes. The paper concludes with a discussion of the ways in which collective employee voice may help to reinforce individual-level integrative negotiation. The paper seeks to contribute to the recent work on why employers choose employee voice mechanisms by broadening the range of policies that should be taken into account, and in particular looking at the potential of performance management as one such form.