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131 Chapter 5 IMPACT OF HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES ON EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOUR: A PATH ANALYSIS There is growing evidence that HR practices are related to Organizational Performance though weakly in some cases, but little empirical attention has been paid to exploring the path through which these practices impact organizational outcomes, such as productivity and profitability. HR models are mostly based on a common underlying assumption that HR practices affect Organizational Performance through HR outcomes, like changes in their work related attitudes and behaviours which determine the extent of usage of their skills and abilities by the employees for the benefit of the organization (Wright et al., 1994; Guest, 1999; Wright and Nishii, 2004; Macky and Boxall, 2007). In terms of achieving improved Organizational Performance the important employee outcomes including Perceived Organizational Support, Affective Commitment, Organizational Trust and Organizational Citizenship Behaviour are regarded as positive outcomes (Guest, 1999; Hoque, 1999; Eisenberger et al., 2001). The researchers in the past included one or more of these employee outcomes as part of their evaluation of the effects of HR practice on the basis that individual skills and abilities will not on their own add value to an organization. Rather, it is employees’ behaviour and attitudes that ultimately determine the extent to which they are prepared to put their abilities to use within the organization (Park et al., 2003). The present study has examined the causal chain of relationships among POS, AC, Organizational Trust and Discretionary Behavior, incorporating all in a single model. Discretionary Behavior has been conceptualized as a core element of employee performance (Rotundo and Sackett, 2002), which is influenced by individual attitude and dispositional variables rather than directly by an employee's knowledge, skills and abilities (Organ and Ryan, 1995; Konovsky and Organ, 1996). When supervisors treat employees fairly, social exchange and the reciprocity norms dictate that employees
Transcript
  • 131

    Chapter 5

    IMPACT OF HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES ON EMPLOYEEATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOUR: A PATH ANALYSIS

    There is growing evidence that HR practices are related to Organizational

    Performance though weakly in some cases, but little empirical attention has been paid

    to exploring the path through which these practices impact organizational outcomes,

    such as productivity and profitability. HR models are mostly based on a common

    underlying assumption that HR practices affect Organizational Performance through

    HR outcomes, like changes in their work related attitudes and behaviours which

    determine the extent of usage of their skills and abilities by the employees for the

    benefit of the organization (Wright et al., 1994; Guest, 1999; Wright and Nishii, 2004;

    Macky and Boxall, 2007). In terms of achieving improved Organizational Performance

    the important employee outcomes including Perceived Organizational Support,

    Affective Commitment, Organizational Trust and Organizational Citizenship

    Behaviour are regarded as positive outcomes (Guest, 1999; Hoque, 1999; Eisenberger

    et al., 2001). The researchers in the past included one or more of these employee

    outcomes as part of their evaluation of the effects of HR practice on the basis that

    individual skills and abilities will not on their own add value to an organization.

    Rather, it is employees’ behaviour and attitudes that ultimately determine the extent to

    which they are prepared to put their abilities to use within the organization (Park et al.,

    2003). The present study has examined the causal chain of relationships among POS,

    AC, Organizational Trust and Discretionary Behavior, incorporating all in a single

    model.

    Discretionary Behavior has been conceptualized as a core element of employee

    performance (Rotundo and Sackett, 2002), which is influenced by individual attitude

    and dispositional variables rather than directly by an employee's knowledge, skills and

    abilities (Organ and Ryan, 1995; Konovsky and Organ, 1996). When supervisors treat

    employees fairly, social exchange and the reciprocity norms dictate that employees

  • 132

    also reciprocate. Organ (1988) proposes that Discretionary Behavior may be one likely

    avenue for employee reciprocation. Compared to economic exchange relationships

    which are more short term in nature, social exchange relationships tend to involve the

    exchange of socio-emotional benefits which are long term in nature (Blau, 1964;

    Organ, 1988; Cropanzano et al., 2001). These are associated with close emotional

    attachment, informal, personal and more transparent obligations. When individuals

    form social exchange relationships with their working organizations, they tend to

    demonstrate improved job performance, enhanced discretionary behavior and weaker

    turnover intentions (Wayne et al., 1997; Hendrix et al., 1998).

    The literature on Discretionary Behavior reveals that this dimension of

    performance is influenced by several workplace attitudes, notably Commitment

    (Meyer et al., 2002), Organizational Support (Rhoades and Eisenberger, 2002) and

    Organizational Trust (Tyler, 2003). Although the relevance of these psychological

    states has been widely recognized, the role of HRM practices in these mediating

    mechanisms has not been properly explored. Guzzo et al., (1994) studied the influence

    of HRM practices on employees’ intention to quit by testing the mediating role of

    Organizational Commitment and perception of Organizational Support. Wayne et al.,

    (1997) evaluated the effect of HRM practices on ‘in-role and extra-role performance’

    by examining the mediating roles of organizational support and quality of the leader-

    member exchange (LMX). Meyer and Smith (2000) studied the effect of HRM

    practices on Organizational Commitment and the mediating role of procedural justice

    and Organizational Support, whereas, Allen et al., (2003) evaluated the effect of HRM

    practices on ‘turnover’ and the mediating role of commitment and organizational

    support. Whitener (2001) explored the influence of organizational support on

    organizational commitment, the intermediate role of trust and the moderating role of

    HRM practices. Gould-Williams (2003) assessed the direct influence of HRM

    practices on various HRM performance indicators (effort, intention to stay) and the

    intermediate role of organizational commitment, satisfaction, and trust. Pare and

    Tremblay (2007) examined the effect of HRM practices on ‘intention to quit’ and the

    intermediate role of justice, organizational commitment and extra-role behaviors. The

  • 133

    literature illustrates that the effect of HRM practices on employee attitudes and extra-

    role behaviors is attracting growing attention (Zellars and Tepper, 2003; Gould-

    Williams, 2007). However, the influence of HRM practices on Extra-role behaviors

    has not been yet investigated with a model, where Organizational Commitment, Trust,

    and Organizational Support are the mediating variables. The present study attempted

    to examine the relationship of HR practices with Extra-role behaviors with

    Organizational Commitment, Trust, and Organizational Support acting as intermediary

    variables. Before testing the final model which includes all the intermediate variables,

    causality was determined between variables on the basis of theoretical justification and

    empirical support. Here, only the significant relationships are reported.

    HR PRACTICES, AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT AND

    DISCRETIONARY BEHAVIOR

    As discussed in previous chapter, the firms employ a well defined system of

    HR practices through which they motivate their employees to engage in Discretionary

    Behavior that ultimately contributes to the achievement of firms’ goals. Affective

    Commitment has been found to be one of the significant antecedents of Discretionary

    Behavior (Van Dyne et al., 1995; Organ and Ryan, 1995; Bolino et al., 2004).

    According to Appelbaum et al., (2000) committed workers not only identify

    psychologically with their employer and feel stronger attachment to the organization,

    they are also more likely to expend discretionary efforts towards achieving

    organizational ends. Wright et al.,(2003) have very rightly apprehended that the

    employees who are committed to their organizations on one hand can be expected to

    show less counterproductive behaviour than those less committed and on the other

    hand to get engaged in a greater amount of positive extra-role behaviour and better

    quality in-role behaviour. Thus, it seems reasonable to hypothesize that progressive

    HR practices might serve to improve Discretionary behavior by improving

    Organizational Commitment.

    Correlations among all the intermediary variables are presented in Table 5.1.

    The highest correlation coefficient (r = 0.732; p

  • 134

    Organizational Trust, which indicate a possible problem of multicollinearity between

    the two variables. This has been discussed later in the section dealing with testing

    relationship between HR practices, POS and Trust.

    Table 5.2 depicts the results of mediation effect of Affective Commitment

    between Human Resource practices and Discretionary Behavior. In the first step the

    Discretionary Behavior was regressed upon HRM practices and it has been found that

    the HR practices explained about 9.9 percent of the variance in DB (p

  • 135

    Table 5.2: Impact of HR practices on DB through AC

    Variables Step 1(DB) Step 2 (AC) Step 3 (DB) Step 4 (DB)

    Selection and Staffing 0.178** 0.229** -- --

    PerformanceAppraisal

    -- 0.206** -- --

    Training andDevelopment

    0.195** 0.192** -- 0.197**

    Work Life Balance -- 0.146** -- --

    Affective Commitment -- -- 0.294** 0.205**

    Adj. R2 0.099 0.341 0.083 0.110

    F - Ratio 17.771** 32.506** 28.641** 19.868**

    N 306 306 306 306

    Table 5.3: Other Relevant Statistics

    Variables Standardizedcoefficients (β)

    t - values Tolerance Collinearitystatistics- VIF

    Training and Development 0.197 3.299 0.815 1.227

    Affective Commitment 0.205 3.429 0.815 1.227

    In the third step, Affective Commitment explained approximately eight percent of

    the variance in DB, and it was found that the regression coefficient of Affective

    Commitment was significant (β = 0.294, t = 5.352; p

  • 136

    be the significant predictors of Discretionary Behavior, whereas Selection and Staffing,

    Performance Appraisal and Work Life Balance practices became insignificant (Table

    5.3). The results indicated that Affective Commitment had a significant partial mediating

    effect on the relationship between HRM practices and Discretionary Behavior. The direct

    and indirect relationship between HR practices and Discretionary Behavior through

    Affective Commitment is shown in Figure 5(i).

    Figure 5(i): AC as a mediator between HR Practices and DB.

    As shown in figure 5(i) the dotted arrow from Selection and Staffing to

    Affective Commitment indicates insignificant relationship between the two. For all

    other significant links respective regression coefficients have been given showing a

    direct as well as indirect relationship between Training and Development and

    Discretionary Behavior. The results of previous researches have shown Training and

    Development to be significantly related to Organizational Commitment (Chang, 1999;

    Dockel et al., 2006) and Extra- role Behaviors to be the results of the Organizational

    Commitment (Foote et al., 2005). Training and Development aims to enhance KSAs,

    i.e. Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes of the workforce that are necessary to perform

    the tasks effectively. Training has also been found to affect the psychological state of

    the employees by making them feel that the organization is concerned about them and

    their commitment level increases (Chang, 1999) and Organizational Commitment

    results into Extra-role Behaviors (Noor, 2009). Results of the present study

    0.195**

    0.178**Selectionand Staffing

    AffectiveCommitment

    DiscretionaryBehavior

    0.197**

    .205**

    Training andDevelopment

  • 137

    empirically support these theoretical arguments in favour of Organizational

    Commitment acting as significant mediator in the relationship between HR practices

    and Discretionary Behaviour.

    HR PRACTICES, TRUST AND AFFECTIVE COMMITMENT

    Appelbaum et al., (2000) observed that in case of steel and medical

    electronics’ workers, the High Performance Work Practices associated with providing

    employees with opportunities to participate in decision making, led to increased

    Organizational Commitment which was due to increased Trust in management and

    intrinsic rewards, but no such relationship existed in case of apparel workers. Finally,

    drawing on social exchange theory, Whitener (2001) used cross-level hierarchical

    linear modeling to show that employee Commitment and Trust in management were

    stronger when employees believed that their managers were more supportive and

    committed to them. These perceptions were partially influenced by the HR practices

    used by firms, thus suggesting that HR practices can change employee attitudes. Trust

    in management was also found partially mediating the observed relationship between

    Perceived Organizational Support and an employee’s Commitment to his/her

    organization. The work of Whitener (2001) and Appelbaum et al., (2000) suggest that

    Trust in management may have an important mediating role between the employee

    experience of labour management practices associated with High Performance Work

    System (HPWSs) and other attitudinal responses to these practices. Appelbaum et al.,

    (2000) found that HPWSs enhanced employees’ trust in managers for all three

    industries they studied and this largely explained the effects that participation

    opportunities resulting from implementing HPWSs had on Organizational

    Commitment. Other studies outside the HPWS framework have also shown that the

    level of Trust workers show in their management is consistently and positively

    correlated with Organizational Commitment (e.g. Gopinath and Becker, 2000; Pearce,

    1994).

  • 138

    Trust develops when the actions of others are expected to be beneficial or at

    least not harmful to one’s own interests (Robinson, 1996). As Whitener (2001)

    observed, Trust in management reflects the belief that managers are competent and

    that their actions in seeking to attain organizational goals will ultimately prove

    beneficial to employees. The trustworthiness of managers therefore comprises three

    factors: their perceived ability, benevolence and integrity (Mayer and Davis, 1999;

    Mayer et al., 1995). Management’s adoption of High Performance Work Practices

    should lead to increased trust to the extent that such actions are seen by employees as

    demonstrating managerial competence, reduce their perceptions of vulnerability or

    threat, and are otherwise seen to be in the worker’s interests. Guest (1999) suggested

    that greater use of high-commitment HR practices was associated with higher levels

    of perceived fairness in how employees have been treated, stronger beliefs that

    management delivered on promises, stronger feeling of job security, and higher levels

    of Trust in management. Brockner and Siegel (1996) also observed that

    organizational policies perceived by employees as procedurally and structurally fair

    increased Trust, while the lack of such perceived fairness reduced Trust. It could

    therefore be theorized that High Performance HR practices termed as ‘Progressive HR

    practices’ in this study act to improve employee trust in their management which in

    turn, influences employee commitment to their organization.

    Table 5.4 reports the results of mediation of Organizational Trust between

    Human Resource practices and Affective Commitment. In the first step, the Affective

    Commitment was regressed upon HRM practices and these were found to explain

    about 34 percent of the variance in Affective Commitment (p

  • 139

    Table 5.4: Impact of HR practices on Affective Commitment (AC) throughOrganizational Trust

    Variables Step 1

    AC

    Step 2

    Trust

    Step 3

    AC

    Step 4

    AC

    Selection and Staffing 0.229** -- -- 0.167**

    Career Development -- 0.183** -- --

    Compensation -- 0.275** -- --

    PerformanceAppraisal

    0.206** -- -- 0.132*

    Supervisory Support -- 0.430** -- --

    Training andDevelopment

    0.192** -- -- 0.179**

    Work Life Balance 0.146** -- -- 0.149**

    Organizational Trust -- -- 0.448** 0.163**

    Adj. R2 0.341 0.568 0.198 0.340

    F - Ratio 32.506** 134.393** 75.892** 32.389**

    N 305 305 305 305

    **p≤0.01, *p≤0.05

    p

  • 140

    Table 5.5: Other Relevant Statistics

    Variables Standardizedcoefficients (β)

    t - values Tolerance Collinearitystatistics- VIF

    Selection and Staffing 0.167 2.764 0.597 1.834

    Performance Appraisal 0.132 1.951 0.476 2.101

    Training and Development 0.179 3.048 0.628 1.593

    Work Life Balance 0.149 2.663 0.695 1.439

    Organizational Trust 0.163 2.580 0.545 1.834

    Selection and Staffing (β = 0.167, t = 2.764; p

  • 141

    Figure 5(ii): Organizational Trust as a mediator between HR Practices and AC.

    0.132**

    0.192*

    0.206**

    0.146*

    0.229**

    0.149**

    Selection andStaffing

    Training andDevelopment

    Work Life Balance

    Organizational Trust AffectiveCommitment

    0.179**

    0.167**

    0.163*

    PerformanceAppraisal

  • 142

    HR PRACTICES, TRUST AND DISCRETIONARY BEHAVIOR

    Trust is globally viewed as a social expectation that has to do with peoples’

    perception of the integrity/honesty, caring, and competence of an individual or system

    that is verified by experience. Trust is essential in developing mutually dependent

    relationships and is based upon repetitive actions that yield constant results (Fairholm,

    1994). Trust has been associated with the willingness to take a chance on behalf of the

    organization without fearing exploitation (Eddy, 1981). According to Mayer, et al.,

    (1995) trust is the willingness of a party to be vulnerable to the actions of another party

    based on expectations that the other will perform a particular action important to the

    trustor, irrespective of the ability to monitor or control that other party. McAllister (1995)

    defines Organizational Trust as reliability among the employees in terms of each one’s

    discourses, acts and decisions. Being honest and concerned for the welfare of others is the

    core of Trust. This does not mean that the interests of others always come before the

    needs of the organization as a whole; however, it does require an understanding of the

    impact of one’s actions on others. Belief in management, assurance about the thoughts of

    the colleagues, honesty and positive expectations are common components among

    various constructs of Organizational Trust used by various researchers (Yilmaz and

    Atalay, 2009).

    Organizations aiming to portray themselves to be employee friendly try to

    identify ways to develop the required attitudes. Gould-Williams (2003) identified ways to

    develop and enhance trust among employees and reported that bundle of HR practices

    including employment security, selective hiring, team-working, performance-related pay,

    training and development, egalitarianism and information sharing consistently predicted

    change in systems and interpersonal trust. Tzafrir and Gur (2007) investigated the impact

    of HRM practices on perceived service quality through employees’ trust in their

    managers. Except training out of the five dimensions of HRM practices studied by them

    the other four practices including leadership and supervision, promotion and career

    development, compensation, and feedback and recognition have been found to be

    significantly related to trust in managers. The practices like supervision, promotion,

  • 143

    career development, compensation and recognition recorded as significant predictors of

    trust were also perceived by employees as indicators of organizational care and support.

    The linkage between Trust in organization and OCB has been primarily examined

    by Konovsky and Pugh (1994) and Wong et al., (2004). According to Konovsky and

    Pugh (1994), trust is a manifestation of social exchange, and social exchange accounts for

    OCB by encouraging employees to behave in ways that are not strictly mandated by their

    employers. The employees with higher trust in their organization are believed to be likely

    to display more OCB, regardless of the types of organization (Rousseau and Parks, 1993).

    Trust is based on Social Exchange Theory (Blau, 1964) which explains how individuals

    feel about a relationship and what are the expected results from that relationship. If a

    person trusts another person he/she will expect some benefits from the relationship. Trust

    here is seen in two aspects; trust towards organization and trust towards a colleague.

    Trust towards organization is important because an employee who has high trust towards

    an organization will strive to make the organization achieve its goals (Mayer and Davis,

    1999). The employees too will work beyond their job specification in order to show their

    trust towards the organization (Settoon et al., 1996). Trust is expected to encourage

    voluntary cooperation among the workers. Hence, is considered as the key of an

    organization’s success.

    Table 5.6 reports the results of mediation of Organizational Trust between Human

    Resource practices and Discretionary behavior. In the first step the Discretionary

    Behavior was regressed upon HRM practices. It has been found that the HR practices

    explained about 9.9 percent of the variance in Discretionary Behavior (p

  • 144

    regression coefficient of Organizational Trust was observed to be significant (β = 0.268, t

    = 4.851; p

  • 145

    Figure 5(iii): Trust as a mediator between HR Practices and DB.

    0.196**

    0.178**Selection andStaffing

    OrganizationalTrust

    DiscretionaryBehavior

    0.181**

    0.192**

    Training andDevelopment

  • 146

    Table 5.7: Other Relevant Statistics

    Variables Standardizedcoefficients (β)

    t - values Tolerance Collinearitystatistics- VIF

    Training and Development 0.219 3.784 0.877 1.141

    Organizational Trust 0.192 3.313 0.877 1.141

    Because Training and Development impacts Discretionary Behavior not only

    directly but also indirectly through Organizational Trust. The direct and indirect

    relationship between HR practices and Discretionary Behavior through Organizational

    Trust is presented in Figure 5(iii). Respective regression coefficients have been given for

    all significant links showing a direct as well as indirect relationship between Training and

    Development practices and Discretionary Behavior. The dotted line indicates

    insignificant link between Selection and Staffing practices and Organizational Trust.

    Thus, only Training and Development practices can be seen as having significant direct

    relationship and indirect relationship through Organizational Trust with Discretionary

    Behaviour.

    HR PRACTICES, PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT AND

    ORGANIZATIONAL TRUST

    POS refers to the degree to which employees perceive their employer to be

    concerned with their well-being and to value their contributions to the organization

    (Eisenberger et al., 1986). Eisenberger et al., (1990) suggested that employees would

    consider positive discretionary activities by the organization that benefited them as

    evidence that the organization cared about their well being. It is argued that

    organizational rewards represent investment by the organization in the employee and are

    interpreted by the employee as indication of organizational appreciation and recognition

    and thus contribute to the development of POS (Shore and Shore, 1995; Eisenberger et

    al., 1997). Rhoades and Eisenberger (2002) suggested that providing potential career

  • 147

    opportunities, such as promotions may imply a high level of concern for employees and

    the recognition of their contributions by the organization. Since these organizational

    actions go beyond what is mandated by company policy or employment contract,

    employees are likely to view them as discretionary treatment by the organization that are

    indicative of organizational caring and support (Shore and Shore, 1995; Eisenberger et

    al., 1997). According to Wayne et al., (1997) developmental experiences and promotions

    both have significant positive impact on employees’ perceptions of organizational

    support. It is also believed that the level of supervisory support has a positive relationship

    with POS (Wayne et al., 1997; Rhoades et al., 2001; Rhoades and Eisenberger, 2002) and

    POS has been found mediating the relationship between these variables and

    Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Affective Commitment (Wayne et al., 1997).

    Eisenberger et al., (1990) suggested that POS may be vital for determining, if any

    attitudes or behaviors benefiting the organization, like Affective Commitment or

    Citizenship Behaviors, emerge from the employment relationship. Annamalai et al.,

    (2010) also examined the mediation effects of POS in the relationship between

    organizational justice and teacher’s trust in the organization but found no such effects.

    Riggle (2007) has shown that trust in the organization is positively influenced by the

    employee’s perception of organizational support. Employees may perceive an

    organization’s concern about their well-being as a benevolence evidence of the

    organization’s trustworthiness (Chen et al., 2005). The more the employee views the

    organization to be supportive of their efforts and value their contribution, the more trust

    an employee will have in the organization (Tremblay et al., 2010).

    Only a few researchers (like Whitener, 2001; Riggle, 2007; Annamalai et al.,

    2010; Tremblay et al., 2010) have examined the support–trust relationship and their

    findings show mixed results. The present study attempted to extend the existing research

    and by seeking empirical support for mediation of POS in the relationship between HR

    practices and Organizational Trust , believing that behaviors related to Organizational

    Support (e.g. Promotions, Compensation, Career Development efforts) appear to be

    interpreted by employees as mark of respect and consideration on the part of their

  • 148

    employer, which in turn appears to increase their Trust in and the quality of their

    relationship with the latter (Eisenberger et al., 1990; 2001).

    Table 5.1 reports the correlation coefficients among intermediary variables. It can

    be noticed that the highest correlation (r=0.732, p

  • 149

    Table 5.8: Impact of HR practices on Trust through Perceived OrganizationalSupport (POS)

    Variables Step 1(Trust)

    Step 2(POS)

    Step 3(Trust)

    Step 4(Trust)

    PerformanceAppraisal

    0.178** 0.275** -- --

    Selection and Staffing 0.117* 0.149** -- --

    Career Development 0.176** -- -- 0.181**

    Compensation 0.167** 0.130* -- 0.181**

    Supervisory Support 0.310** 0.377** -- 0.204**

    POS -- -- 0.741** 0.381**

    Adj R2 0.602 0.594 0.548 0.645

    F - Ratio 89.767** 108.402* 356.744** 134.561**

    *N=295

    4.741; p

  • 150

    Table 5.9: Other Relevant Statistics

    Variables Standardizedcoefficients (β)

    t - values Tolerance Collinearitystatistics- VIF

    Career Development 0.181** 3.539 2.163 0.462

    Compensation 0.181** 3.789 1.898 0.527

    Supervisory Support 0.204** 4.111 2.044 0.489

    POS 0.381** 7.177 2.332 0.429

    **p ≤0.01, *p≤0.05

    POS in the regression equation and the regression coefficients of other significant

    predictors also diminished as well (Table 5.9).

    The results indicate that POS has a significant partial mediating effect on the

    relationship between HR practices and Organizational Trust. It indicates that

    Performance Appraisal practices and Selection and Staffing have been able to build

    Organizational Trust among employees but these are not being perceived as supportive at

    individual level. The results suggest that an organization’s investment in employee

    Career Development should demonstrate to employees, the organizational effort and

    support being offered to assist employees to expand their skills for employability. Liu

    (2004) has revealed how ERG theory given by Alderfer (1972) helps in guiding the

    organizations to employ HR practices to prove support for employees in order to develop

    positive employee attitudes and behaviors. The theory holds that individuals attempt to

    satisfy three levels of needs in organizations; existence, relatedness and growth.

    Accordingly, several HR practices are important in offering support for employees to

    satisfy these needs. For instance, satisfactory pay is necessary for meeting individuals’

    physiological or existence needs, growth needs can be met by sufficient career

    development opportunities that help employees extend their potential and expand their

    capabilities. HR practices that provide social support, such as helping employees

    maintain good work and family relationships through supervisory support can be instrumental

  • 151

    Figure 5(iv): POS as a Mediator between Human Resource Practices and Organizational Trust

    0.178**

    0.117*

    0.176**

    0.310**

    0.167**

    0.204**

    Selection andStaffing

    CareerDevelopment

    Compensation

    SupervisorySupport

    PerceivedOrganizational

    Support

    Organizational Trust0.181**

    0.181**

    0.381**

    PerformanceAppraisal

  • 152

    in fulfilling employees’ need for relatedness. The results of the present study are in line

    with the existing literature. (e.g. Shore and Shore, 1995; Eisenberger et al., 1997; Wayne

    et al., 1997). Figure 5 (iv) also shows that Compensation, Career Development and

    Supervisory Support practices affect Organizational Trust directly as well as through

    POS but POS does not mediate the relationship between Performance Appraisal,

    Selection and Staffing and Organizational Trust and the same is depicted in the figure 5

    (iv) with a dotted line without a regression coefficient.

    HR PRACTICES, POS, TRUST, AC AND DB

    Earlier in this chapter different sub paths have been tested separately. This part

    deals with testing how far the selected employee attitudes namely Perceived

    Organizational Support, Affective Commitment and Organizational Trust mediate in the

    relationship between HR practices and Discretionary behaviour. Table 5.10 shows the

    results of the causal chain between HR practices and Discretionary behavior. At step 1,

    when Discretionary Behavior was regressed upon demographic variables and HR

    practices. The practices namely Selection and Staffing (β = 0.178, t = 2.811; p

  • 153

    Table 5.10: Impact of HR practices on DB through Trust and AC

    Variables Step 1DB (β)

    Step 2DB (β)

    Step 3DB (β)

    Step 4DB (β)

    Selection and staffing 0.178** 0.178** -- 0.085

    Training and development 0.195** 0.195** 0.219** 0.167**

    POS -- -0.035 -- --

    Trust -- -- 0.192** 0.140*

    Affective Commitment -- -- -- 0.156*

    R2 0.099 0.099 0.108 0.123

    F - Ratio 17.783** 17.783** 19.446** 15.159**

    N 305 -- 305 305

    Table 5.11: Other Relevant Statistics

    Variables Standardizedcoefficients (β)

    t - values Tolerance Collinearitystatistics - VIF

    Training andDevelopment

    0.167 2.725 0.770 1.298

    Trust 0.140 2.288 0.772 1.296

    Affective Commitment 0.156 2.439 0.702 1.424

    **p≤0.01, *p≤0.05

    Development influences Organizational Trust which in turn impacts Affective

    Commitment ultimately leading to significant change in employee Discretionary

    Behaviour. It can be inferred that organizations who want their employees to go

    beyond their prescribed role requirements should not consider Training to be a cost.

    Rather investment by an organization in employee Training and Development might

    be seen by employees as something that yields long term benefit instead of short term

  • 154

    Figure 5(v): Trust and AC as mediators between HR practices and DB.

    0.156*0.140*

    0.178**

    0.196**

    Selection andStaffing

    Organizational Trust DiscretionaryBehavior

    .167**

    Training andDevelopment

    AffectiveCommitment

  • 155

    gains for them. This helps in building trust among employees. With the passage of time

    cognitive evaluation of organizational efforts by employees may help to create a sense of

    belonging among them, which in turn may bring about discretionary efforts from them.

    Employees under such circumstances might not bother about time spent or hardships

    faced but only works with full zeal and zest to achieve organizational goals. This is really

    needed in today’s competitive world because discretionary behaviour which is observed

    to be important, is quite rare.

    The present study hence, used a broad-based and multi-industry sample to

    examine the extent to which the use of HPWS yields desired attitudes and behaviour in

    Indian context. The results of the present study suggest that openness is a part of Trust

    and Trust enhances Commitment, which in turn might increase Discretionary Behaviour

    and Organizational Performance.


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