Linking high-performance work systems to affective commitment, job satisfaction, and career satisfaction: Thriving as a mediator and wasta as a moderator

Abstract

This study examines how high-performance work systems (HPWSs) are related to Saudi employees’ work and career outcomes. Drawing on the socially embedded model of thriving, we propose a model that includes the mediating role of thriving at work and the moderating role played by wasta in the relationship between HPWS and the employee outcomes of affective commitment, job satisfaction, and career satisfaction. To test the conceptual model, we collected data from 187 healthcare workers across Saudi Arabian hospitals at three time points. Our findings reveal that HPWSs positively affect employees’ thriving at work, which in turn enhances their work and career outcomes. Our study also demonstrates that wasta is a boundary condition that buffers the strength of the effect of HPWSs on thriving and the indirect effects of HPWSs on employees’ work and career outcomes via thriving. This study extends current theoretical knowledge of how and when HPWSs can exert a more positive influence on employee outcomes. In practice, these findings will inform managers of better approaches to leveraging HPWSs and individual cultural values to enhance employee outcomes.