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Can high performance work practices and satisfaction predict job performance?An examination of the Malaysian private health-care sector

Aizzat Mohd Nasurdin (School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia)
Cheng Ling Tan (Graduate School of Business, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia)
Sabrina Naseer Khan (School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia)

International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences

ISSN: 1756-669X

Article publication date: 27 November 2020

Issue publication date: 15 December 2020

1373

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the effects of high-performance work practices (HPWPs) (participation, training and compensation) on nurses’ job performance (task and contextual) through the mediating role of job satisfaction. As nurses form the bulk of health-care professionals, their performance at work is crucial in determining patient satisfaction regarding care quality. HPWPs have been recognized as having the ability to affect employees’ work attitudes and behaviours positively. Specifically, these practices foster job performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect the survey data on 639 staff nurses working in large private hospitals in Malaysia. Data were subsequently analysed using the partial least squares method.

Findings

The findings indicate that job satisfaction serves to mediate the relationships between the three HPWPs (participation, training and compensation) and the two dimensions of job performance (task performance and contextual performance).

Research limitations/implications

First, as all variables were measured using self-reports, a common-method bias could exist (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Hence, future researchers may want to combine self-assessments and supervisory or peer assessment to improve the validity of the outcomes. Second, the cross-sectional nature of this study limits our ability to make causal inferences. Bias could happen because the study examined both exogenous and endogenous variables at the same time. Thus, a longitudinal approach taken in the future could cross-validate the current findings and provide additional support regarding the causality of the HPWPs-job performance relationship. Third, the data were collected from staff nurses working in large private hospitals in Peninsular Malaysia. Thus, one should be careful to generalize the findings to different health-care professional groups and organizations.

Practical implications

From the practical perspective, it is evident from the findings that as job satisfaction is able to enhance job performance and given the need for nurses to provide quality health-care services, private hospital authorities concerned with encouraging greater job performance among their nursing workforce need to provide adequate support to their employees. This could be achieved through the implementation of HPWPs. Perceptions of the extent of a hospital’s HPWPs in terms of participation, training and compensation, have significant and positive effects on nurses’ level of job satisfaction. Therefore, it would be worthwhile for private hospitals to encourage more opportunities for nurses to participate in decision-making regarding their work. In addition, frequent training activities will be able to enhance nurses’ knowledge, skills and abilities, resulting in greater satisfaction

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first attempt to investigate the effects of HPWPs on nurses’ job performance in the Malaysian private health-care context. As studies using Eastern samples are relatively limited, the findings from this study would serve to expand the extant literature from a cross-cultural perspective.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude to Universiti Sains Malaysia for providing the grant (1001/PPAMC/8016050) to fund this research.

Conflict of interest: No conflict of interest.

Citation

Mohd Nasurdin, A., Tan, C.L. and Naseer Khan, S. (2020), "Can high performance work practices and satisfaction predict job performance?An examination of the Malaysian private health-care sector", International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, Vol. 12 No. 4, pp. 521-540. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQSS-06-2019-0090

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited

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