HPWS and Team Performance: The Roles of Team Reflexivity and Outcome Interdependence

Abstract

Although there has been much attention given to unraveling the black box of the HPWS-performance relationship, little is known about the ways in which HPWS exerts influence on team process. Also unknown is the role of context in explicating how the implementation of HPWS leads to desirable outcomes. In response to these issues, we first attempt to clarify the meaning of team-level HPWS. Drawing on the input-process-output (IPO) framework, we go on to suggest team reflexivity as a critical transformational phase in which a specific set of HR practices (i.e., reflexivity-enhancing HPWS) manifests itself into subsequent team outcomes. Then, we employ outcome interdependence as a situational factor that facilitates a team rendering itself more reflexive over strategy formulation and planning. Regression analysis of team-level data (n=151) gathered from a Korean cosmetics company confirm that reflexivity-enhancing HPWS is indeed positively related to team reflexivity that, in turn, boost team performance. The results also suggest that work groups become more reflexive when a team member's reward is contingent upon collective outcomes. Implications and limitations of our current study are discussed and future research directions provided respectively.