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Innovation-enhancing HRM, employee promotive voice and perceived organizational performance: a multilevel moderated serial mediation analysis

Mingqiong Mike Zhang (Department of Management, Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University, Caulfield East, Australia)
Jiuhua Cherrie Zhu (Department of Management, Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University, Caulfield East, Australia)
Helen De Cieri (Department of Management, Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University, Caulfield East, Australia)
Nicola McNeil (Department of Management and Marketing, La Trobe Business School, La Trobe University, Bundoora Campus, Melbourne, Australia)
Kaixin Zhang (School of Management and Governance, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia)

Personnel Review

ISSN: 0048-3486

Article publication date: 22 April 2024

44

Abstract

Purpose

In a complex, ever-changing, and turbulent business world, encouraging employees to express their improvement-oriented novel ideas through voice behavior is crucial for organizations to survive and thrive. Understanding how to foster employee promotive voice at work is a significant issue for both researchers and managers. This study explores how to foster employee promotive voice through specific HRM practices and positive employee attitudes. It also examines the effect of employee promotive voice on perceived organizational performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This study employed a time-lagged multisource survey design. Data were collected from 215 executives, 790 supervisors, and 1,004 employees in 113 firms, and analyzed utilizing a multilevel moderated serial mediation model.

Findings

The findings of this study revealed that promotive voice was significantly related to perceived organizational performance. Innovation-enhancing HRM was positively associated with employee promotive voice. The HRM-voice relationship was partially mediated by employee job satisfaction. Power distance orientation was found to significantly moderate the relationship between innovation-enhancing HRM and employee job satisfaction at the firm level. Our findings showed that innovation-enhancing HRM policies may fail to foster promotive voice if they do not enhance employee job satisfaction.

Originality/value

This study challenges some taken-for-granted assumptions in the literature such as any high performance HRM bundles (e.g. HPWS) can foster employee promotive voice, and the effects of HRM are direct and even unconditional on organizational outcomes. It emphasizes the need to avoid potential unintended effects of HRM on employee voice and the importance of contextualizing voice research.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the financial support from the Australian Research Council (No: LP110200526) and our colleagues, Professors Peter Dowling and Zhenxiong Chen, and Dr. Tracey Shea, who were involved in the project and contributed to the design of questionnaires.

Citation

Zhang, M.M., Zhu, J.C., De Cieri, H., McNeil, N. and Zhang, K. (2024), "Innovation-enhancing HRM, employee promotive voice and perceived organizational performance: a multilevel moderated serial mediation analysis", Personnel Review, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-02-2023-0136

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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