High-performance work systems, organizational commitment, and the role of demographic features in the People's Republic of China

Abstract

The present study is an attempt to overcome methodological deficiencies in strategic human resource management research that is restricted to organizational-level analysis regarding the absence or presence of a certain HR practice, the use of single-respondent data, and the views of HR managers or decision makers. We adopted a multiple-respondent strategy as the foundation for studying employee-centered high-performance work systems (HPWS). Because HPWS have gained popularity among multinational, private, and state-owned enterprises in China, we investigated Chinese employees' experiences with HPWS and tested the impact of HPWS on their organizational commitment. Several demographic variables were also explored in order to develop an employee-centered perspective. Survey results based upon 1,176 responses in 6 manufacturing firms in 2 Chinese cities revealed that organizational commitment correlates with a higher perception of existence of HPWS. The demographic characteristics of age, marital status, and education, but not gender, correlated significantly with organizational commitment. However, gender and marital status were found to moderate the relationship between perceptions of the existence of HPWS and organizational commitment, in that male and unmarried Chinese employees were significantly more affected by the existence of HR practices than female and married employees. Managerial and research implications of these findings are discussed.

Keywords:

• China
• demographic
• employees
• high-performance work systems
• human resource management
• manufacturing
• organizational commitment
• work-related attitudes