Stimulating achievements: The mediating effect of employee commitment between high-performance work practices and employee engagement

Abstract

Drawing on the social exchange paradigm, this study evaluated the mediating effects of employee commitment (EC) in the relationship between high-performance work practices (HPWP) and employee engagement (EE) in Nigeria. The study used the social exchange theory and this paradigm has been previously used in the works of Blau (1964), Gouldner (1960), and Settoon et al. (1996). The study adopts a cross-sectional survey research design via questionnaire administration. Three employee engagement (vigor, dedication and absorption) and employee commitment (affective, normative and continuance) dimensions, and six high-performance work practices (employee selection process, motivational compensation, job and work design, participative decision-making, information sharing, and training/development) were employed. Data collected from one hundred and sixty-eight employees in selected ministries in Delta State were analyzed via structural equation modeling (SEM). Results showed that engagement positively affects high-performance work practices. The result also indicated that employee commitment mediated the influence of high-performance work practices on employee engagement. The results further suggest that affective commitment does not mediate the link between vigor and high-performance work practices. Notably, the theoretical and managerial inferences have been methodically discussed in this paper.