The HRM-performance relationship revisited. Inspirational motivation, participative decision making and happiness at work (HAW)
| Pages | 626-642 |
| Published date | 07 August 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-12-2016-0245 |
| Date | 07 August 2017 |
| Author | Andres Salas-Vallina,Rafael Fernandez |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
The HRM-performance
relationship revisited
Inspirational motivation, participative
decision making and happiness at work (HAW)
Andres Salas-Vallina
ESIC Business and Marketing School, Madrid, Spain, and
Rafael Fernandez
Department of Business Management, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between inspirational leadership,
participative decision making (PDM) and happiness at work (HAW).
Design/methodology/approach –The sampling frame consists of medical specialists in allergy of Spanish
public hospitals (n¼167). The authors used structural equation modelling to verify if the relationship
between inspirational leadership and HAW is mediated by PDM.
Findings –Results suggest that PDM fully mediates the relationship between inspirational leadership and
HAW. Thus, PDM plays an essential role in explaining how inspirational leader behaviours.
Research limitations/implications –The authors put forward a cross-sectional research, which does not
guarantee similar results in the future. Future longitudinal studies may reveal further effects of inspirational
motivation and PDM beyond HAW. Also the authors focussed on a specific population of medical specialists
working in public allergy units. Future research might consider longitudinal analysis and other populations.
Practical implications –This research provides evidence of the direct and positive effect of inspirational
leadership on HAW. However, fostering inspirational leadership is not sufficient on its own to foment HAW,
and should be complemented by applying other organisational factors such as PDM.
Originality/value –In recent years, some stud ies have put forward different conc eptual models to explain
the gap in the relations hip between human resource manageme nt and performance, considering the ef fect
of mediating variabl es. This study proposes a theoretical model tha t attempts to develop this human
resource “black box”by empirically validatin g a conceptual proposal t hat links inspiration al leadership,
PDM and HAW.
Keywords Human resource management, Inspirational leadership, Happiness at work,
Participative decision making
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Traditionally, much of the literature in the area of human resource management (HRM) has
focussed on the relationship between human resource (HR) practices and firm performance
(Wright and Boswell, 2002). However, the link between HRM and performance is a rather one-
sided perspective that ignores the human side of HR. The human factor is the key resource of
HRM, yet research has tended to neglect the impact of HR systems on the quality of employees’
working lives and their well-being. The real challenge is to understand how different working
conditions affect human resources. Researchers have recently begun to con sider the effect of
diverse variables on employee attitudes (Walumbwa et al., 2005; Bailey et al., 2015), such as
happiness at work (HAW) (Fisher, 2010). According to Hills and Argyle (2001), happiness is a
multidimensional construct which involves emotional and cognitive factors. Although research
on how HR practices improve job satisfaction through participative decision making (PDM)
has received considerable attention, there is a surprising lack of research about this
relationship in health care. Only a few studies centring on nursing have explored the effect of
PDM on attitudes such as job satisfaction (Shwaihet and Nasaif, 2015). Far more striking is the
fact that few studies explore the relationship of HRM and positive attitudes in the field of
Employee Relations
Vol. 39 No. 5, 2017
pp. 626-642
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-12-2016-0245
Received 22 December 2016
Revised 9 May 2017
Accepted 25 May 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
626
ER
39,5
medical specialists. Medical specialists are a particularly pertinent population to study, as they
are knowledge-intensive workers. Knowledge-intensive jobs require autonomy and extensive
communication (Alvesson, 2004), and these aspects are promoted by PDM. Our research is
framed in the area of medical specialists working in allergy units, who place considerable value
on professional independence and a supportive attitude from their superiors (Chivato Pérez
et al., 2011). However, allergy units are completely overloaded with patients entailing work-
related physical and mental strain for doctors. It is essential that allergists achieve good quality
of life in their profession, namely, HAW, as the qu ality of life of many people depends to a
large extent on the care these doctors provide. In addition, achieving suitable levels of HAW
could improve the physical and mental health of medical specialists, which could be considered
as an end in itself.
One of the firstscholars to study positive attitudes was Seligman (1993), whoidentified the
need for more detailed studies into positive human strengths, in contrast to the negative
aspects of human psychology (burnout, lack of motivation, lack of communication). More
recently, concepts such as engagement (Schaufeli et al., 2002) and well-being (Hills and Argyle,
2001) have been understood as forms of happiness and literature has begun to show an
increasing interest in HAW (Salas-Vallina et al., 2017), understood as happy feelings towards
the job itself, the job’s characteristics and the organisationas a whole (Fisher, 2010). However,
research into how HRM and positive attitudes work is limited and sometimes presents
inconsistent findings. Despite people being a source of competitive advantage (Pfeffer, 1994),
with HRM playinga central role in developing this competitive advantage (Wrightet al., 2003),
researchers still demand theories about how HRM and performance are linked (Paauwe, 2009).
In addition, a better understanding of mediating variables on the HRM-performance
relationship is alsorequired. This existing gap is knownas the “black box”(Boselie et al., 2005).
Different conceptual models (Becker et al.,1997;Purcellet al., 2003; Wright and Nishii, 2006)
aim to unmaskthe HRM-performanceconnection, considering theeffect of mediating variables.
The aim of this paper is to explore the HRM-performance relationship by verifying the
effect of a mediating variable. In particular, we examine the impact of inspirational
leadership on an attitudinal outcome, namely, HAW, and the mediating role of certain
conditions that facilitate PDM. This introduction is followed by a brief review of the
theoretical background in which we present our research hypotheses. Second, we explain
the methodology followed in this research. We then present the results and close by
highlighting the implications and limits of our study and proposals for future research.
2. Theoretical background
2.1 HAW
Past academic research reveals the importance of quality of life in the workplace for
individuals and organisations (Fisher, 2010; Wright et al., 2012). For example, job
satisfaction reduces absenteeism (Meyer et al., 2002) and improves job performance
(Weiss and Cropanzano, 1996). A positive mood at work improves job effectiveness,
cooperation (Harrison et al., 2006), creativity and results (Baas et al., 2008). However,
Fisher (2010) evidenced an important gap in the study of positive attitudes. She revealed the
lack of a sufficiently explanatory measure of positive attitudes, and suggested HAW needed
to be defined and measured. She understood HAW as “happy feelings towards the job itself,
the job characteristics and the organisation as a whole”, and Salas-Vallina et al. (2017)
conceptualised HAW by offering a new measurement scale for it. HAW is an attitudinal
broad-based concept that measures employees’quality of life at work. This is the reason
why we focus on HAW, and not on engagement, involvement, job satisfaction or other
concepts related to HAW.
It was Paauwe (2009) who identified two perspectives to examine the link between HRM
and performance outcomes. These were a clear connection between HRM and performance,
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HRM-
performance
relationship
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