The efficacy of high performance work practices in the Middle East: evidence from Algerian firms

Abstract

Although there is developing evidence on the effectiveness of global HRM best practices in emerging and developing economies, little is known about the efficacy of those practices in the Middle East. This study examines the impact of high performance work practices (HPWP) on both employee and organisational outcomes in Algerian firms. The results of a firm-level survey show that while HPWP are positively associated with employee work attitudes and motivations, this effect is not converted into organisational-level outcomes. The results are discussed and implications for future research are offered.

Keywords::

• Algeria
• high performance work practices
• HRM
• Middle East
• performance

Notes

^1. Initially, the sampling frame was drawn from the Annuaire des Entreprises Algerienne that contains 6904 large firms. The names and addresses of these companies were obtained from the same source. A random sample of 300 companies was drawn from this list and questionnaires were sent to HRM managers within these companies. After one reminder, only two responses were obtained. We were then obliged to use personal contacts to induce a higher response rate.

^2. However, for robustness, we repeated all the computations using oblique rotation (oblimin) instead of varimax. The results are essentially unchanged, and are available from the authors upon request.

^3. We thank a referee for bringing this to our attention.

^4. To stay within the word limit, we decided not to report the results in the paper. The results are available from authors upon request.