Putting employee involvement in context: a cross-level model examining job satisfaction and absenteeism in high-involvement work systems

Abstract

The current study examines how high-involvement work systems (HIWS) influence employee responses to involvement initiatives. While existing research has linked HIWS to individual attitudes, we predict that an organization's HIWS moderate the relationship between employee involvement and job satisfaction and absenteeism. Using multilevel data (8454 employees from 1429 workplaces), we found that employee involvement and HIWS are positively related to employee job satisfaction. Additionally, the results support a cross-level interaction: at high levels of HIWS, employee involvement is negatively related to absenteeism, whereas at low levels of HIWS, the negative relationship is weaker. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Keywords:

• absenteeism
• employee involvement
• high-involvement work systems
• multilevel research
• organizational context

Notes

1. See Wood and Wall (2007) for an excellent discussion of the distinction between enrichment and voice in the HR literature.

2. Although other aspects of the discrete context could be related to HIWS, we focus on the dimensions identified by Johns (2006) which are considered most relevant to an involvement context.