High‐Performance Work Practices and Job Satisfaction: Gender's Moderating Role

• Date: 01 June 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12348
• Published date: 01 June 2019

High-Performance Work Practices and Job

Satisfaction: Gender’s Moderating Role

KARLA BRINCK,

1

SINA OTTEN

1

and SVEN HAUFF

2

1

University of Hamburg,HBS Hamburg Business School, Chair for Human Resource Management, Moorweidenstraße 18,

20148, Hamburg

2

Helmut Schmidt University, Chair of Labor, Human Resources and Organization, Holstenhofweg 85, 22043, Hamburg

Toget a more nuanced picture of the effectsof high-performancework practices (HPWPs), thispaper analyzes how

gender moderatesthe relationships between HPWPs and job satisfaction. HPWPs are theoretically linkedto gender

concepts,followed by an empirical analysis of whetherthese HPWPs have differenteffects on job satisfaction for men

and women. The results of the theoretical analysis highlight that HPWPs are primarily oriented to the male gender

concept. The empirical analysis is based on data from the European Working Condition Survey for Germany

(N = 1,044). The results show that gender partially acts as a moderator in the relationships between HPWPs and

job satisfaction. The study contributes to the literature by providing deeper and differentiated insights into the

relationships between HPWPs and job satisfaction by providing a comprehensive theoretical framework for how

HPWPs can affect men and women differently and by empirically analyzing the extents of these relationships.

Keywords: High performance work practices (HPWP); job satisfaction; gender stereotypes; job attributes

Introduction

A number of studies in strategic human resource

management(HRM) state that organizationalperformance

is substantially supported by high-performance work

practices (HPWPs) (Huselid, 1995; Appelbaum et al.,

2000; Combs et al., 2006; Saridakis et al., 2017; Jiang

and Messersmith, 2 018). Recently, an incr easing number

of studies have addressed employee outcomes (e.g., job

satisfaction, commitment, and turnover) in order to

better understand the relationships between HPWPs and

organizational performance (e.g., Van de Voorde et al.,

2012; Jiang et al., 2012b; Van de Voorde and Beijer,

2015; Ogbonnaya et al., 2017; Hauff et al., 2018;

Ogbonnaya and Messersmith, 2018; Zhang et al., 2018).

Despite the fact that there have been comprehensive

studies about HPWPs’effects on employee outcomes, it

is unclear whether employees perceive these HRM

practices in different ways depending on their individual

characteristics. Research has shown that both the

relevance and the effects of work and employment

conditions differ between employee groups (Konrad

et al., 2000a; Drabe et al., 2015). Thus, perceptions of

HPWPs and the relationships between HPWPs and

employee outcomes may be moderated by individual

characteristics.

To date, this issue has been largely neglected within

strategic HRM research. Notable exceptions are Bashir

et al. (2011) and Qiao et al. (2009). Bashir et al. (2011)

analyzed the relationships between HPWPs and job

satisfaction for a Pakistani sample and found that tenure

and rank moderate these relationships. Qiao et al.(2009)

analyzed a Chinese sample and found that gender and

marital status moderate the relationships between HPWPs

and organizational commitment. While both studies have

provided valuable insights, they also have limitations.

Both studies were conducted in non-Western cultures

and therefore do not allow direct conclusions about the

Western context(Hauff et al., 2015). Further, both studies

used an aggregated measure to conceptualize HPWPs

from a systems perspective. Such an approach reveals

the overall effect of HPWPs, but does not consider

differences regarding specific HPWPs (Hauff, 2019).

However, individual characteristics may impact on

perceptions of specific HPWPs that influence the

strengths and even the directions of the relationships

between these HPWPs and employee outcomes. Thus,

individual-level differences in HPWPs’effects still

represent a major research gap.

Correspondence: Karla Brinck, University of Hamburg, HBS Hamburg

Business School, Chair for Human Resource Management,

Moorweidenstraße 18, 20148 Hamburg. E-mail karla.louise.brinck@uni-

hamburg.de

European Management Review, Vol. 16, 333–345, (2019)

DOI: 10.1111/emre.12348

©2019 European Academy of Management