High performance work systems, employee well-being, and job involvement: an empirical study

Purpose – Given the importance of high performance work systems (HPWS) with respect to firm competitive advantage, this paper holds that the contribution of HPWS toward the desired outcomes for organizations may depend significantly on employee job involvement. Underpinning the argument of happy workers being productive, the purpose of this paper is to propose the critical mediator of employee well-being to explain the hypothesized multilevel relationship between HPWS and job involvement. Design/methodology/approach – The authors distributed questionnaires to the target participants. Data collected from 451 employees and 50 HR managers/professionals of 50 firms in the three major industrial categories of manufacturing, finance, and service in Taiwan. Findings – This study identifies the significance of employee well-being by incorporating the theories of planned behavior and positive psychology and provides empirical evidence for the cross-level influence of HPWS on employee well-being and job involvement. Originality/value – This study incorporates the perspective of positive psychology as an important addition to research on SHRM and performance by highlighting employee well-being as a key mediator of SHRM and job involvement.