Double-Edged Sword Effect of High-Performance Work System on Employee Well-Being-Moderating Effect of Union Practice

High performance work system and transformational leadership: Revisiting and questioning their implications for health-related wellbeing

Employee wellbeing represents a profound management challenge for both leaders and HR professionals, and both transformational leadership (TL) and high performance work system (HPWS) are assumed to play important roles in tackling this challenge. However, we know little about their unique and relative importance in promoting wellbeing. To shed light on this methodologically, theoretically and practically important issue, we draw mainly on leadership substitutes theory. Based on a comprehensive mediation model we examine whether HPWS substitutes the assumed relationships between TL and employee emotional exhaustion. Our study answers to three important calls for research: to examine the joint effects of leadership and HPWS, to examine their health-related impact, and to pursue more theory contesting research in management studies. Based on data from 308 white collar employees working under 76 middle-managers in five Finnish organizations our study points to the incompleteness of previous siloed research on both TL and HPWS, sheds new light on their relationships with wellbeing, and suggests ways to develop both TL and HPWS theory, thus providing important guidance for future research on their effects.

Impact of union practices on labor relations in China: Institutional trust as a moderator

The particularities of Chinese union practices in the private sector and their impacts on the labor relations climate have raised much controversy. This paper presents the findings of a study that analyzed data from 926 enterprises in Chongqing, China, through the lens of institutional trust. The study was designed to examine the influence of union practices on the labor relations climate at the enterprise level. Particular attention was paid to the possible moderator effect that both employee and management trust in unions had on the labor relations climate. We found that employee–union trust positively moderated the impact of union practice on the labor relations climate. However, if management–union trust exceeded employee–union trust, management–union trust weakened the moderator effect of employee–union trust. In other words, management–union trust negatively moderated employee–union trust. This article is organized as follows. In section “Introduction,” we introduce the institutions Chinese unions operate in, especially regarding disputes over the effects on the labor relations climate. In section ‘Theory and hypotheses,” we review the literature and develop the hypotheses. In section “Materials and methods”, we describe the data and method, and in section “Results,” we present the results of the model. Finally, in section “Discussion,” we discuss the implications for China’s union development and note the limitations of the study.

Does high-performance work system bring job satisfaction? Exploring the non-linear effect of high-performance work system using the ‘too much of a good thing’ theory

We examine the relationship between high-performance work system (HPWS) and job satisfaction, drawing on the ‘too much of a good thing’ theory, to establish whether a non-linear relationship can explain conflicts in previous findings. Moreover, we extend the study by exploring the mediating role of work overload and the moderating role of person–organization fit (P–O fit). Based on a cross-sectional data set of 220 employees and a longitudinal data set of 373 employees from organizations in China, the empirical findings show an inverted U-shaped relationship between HPWS and job satisfaction. Results also indicate that the relationship between HPWS and job satisfaction is fully mediated by work overload, and that P–O fit negatively moderates HPWS-work overload and HPWS-job satisfaction relationships. These results shed new light on how HPWS impacts employee outcomes and practical implications for managers are discussed.

Research on the Coupling Mechanism of the Trade Union and Human Resource Management in China

With the reform of trade unions in China, there has been a noticeable interaction in recent years between trade unions and human resource management in the workplace. However, we do not have a proper concept to describe such a phenomenon. Therefore, based on reviewing the current literature involving trade unions and human resource management in China, this study aims to describe the interactive relation between union's practices and enterprises' human resource management by exploring the definition, characteristics, and formation mechanism. This study defines the relationship between the trade unions and human resource management as a coupling relationship where the trade unions and human resource management continually promote and restrain each other as two relatively independent systems in the enterprise. This relationship possesses three dual characteristics, namely reciprocity vs. restraint, integrity vs. independence, and stability vs. dynamism. And there are three sequential stages for trade unions and human resource management to form such a relation, interaction, consensus, and adjustment. This study provides further insight into the relationship between trade unions and human resource management in the workplace and attempts a proximately complete description of the relationship. The study also offers a direction for trade unions and enterprises to establish high-quality cooperation with each other which is mutually beneficial for enterprises' development and employees' wellbeing.

Analysis of factors affecting medical personnel seeking employment at primary health care institutions: developing human resources for primary health care

Background

The serious shortage of human resources for primary health care (PHC) is a common issue in health reforms worldwide. China has proposed that it is an effective way to encourage and guide qualified medical personnel to work in primary health care institutions (PHCIs). However, few studies have been conducted on the willingness and influencing factors of medical personnel to seek employment at PHCIs.

Methods

Based on implicit theory and lexical approach, pre-investigation was conducted to collect the items that influence the medical personnel to seek employment at PHCIs from the perspective of guided objects. Through a three-phase investigation of 1160 doctors in 29 public hospitals in 9 cities, the items were categorized, and a structural equation model was established and verified to explore the interrelationship of influencing factors.

Results

A total of 6 factors were rotated, including Sense of Gain (SG), Internal Organization Development (IOD), Remuneration and Development (RD), Condition of the City Where the PHCI Is Located (CCPL), Job Responsibilities (JR) and Family Support (FS). The results of the model showed that IOD, RD, JR and FS had a significantly positive effect on the SG. In addition, the FS, RD and JR significantly mediated the relationship between the internal and external environment of PHCIs and SG. The values of the fit index indicated an acceptable-fitting model.

Conclusion

Family, remuneration, individual development, and job responsibility are closely related to the willingness of medical personnel to seek employment at PHCIs, and the internal and external environment of PHCIs is also an important factor. Therefore, the development of PHC providers can be promoted by paying attention to the family members of medical personnel, establishing a reasonable remuneration system, providing suitable development opportunities, arranging work rationally and improving the internal construction of PHCIs.