Using the lens of human and social capital to clarify HR practices' influence on individual and organisational performance

Abstract

This paper aims to explore potential mediation mechanisms between two core sources of intellectual capital, human (HC) and social (SC), and a set of human resources (HR) practices as a part of purported high-performance work systems to explain perceived individual and organisational performance. The data for this study were collected from 225 employees sampled from 75 organisations in different economic sectors. The theoretical research model and hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling. The results support the mediating role of HC and SC on the HR practices system's effects on perceived individual and organisational performance, and their distinct influence on the different performance criteria. Moreover, the findings provide additional evidence regarding the mechanisms linking human resource management (HRM) and performance, which is useful in consolidating and expanding our understanding of the 'black box' perspective.