Editorial introduction: progressing our understanding of the mediating variables linking HRM, employee well‐being and organisational performance

• Author: Jaap Paauwe,James P. Guthrie,Peter Boxall
• Date: 01 April 2016
• Published date: 01 April 2016
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12104

Editorial introduction: progressing our

understanding of the mediating variables linking

HRM, employee well-being and organisational

performance

Peter Boxall, Management and International Business, The Universityof Auckland

James P. Guthrie, School of Business, University of Kansas

Jaap Paauwe, Schoolof Social and Behavioral Sciences,Tilburg University

Human Resource Management Journal, Vol 26,no 2, 2016, pages 103–111

Contact: Peter Boxall,Management and InternationalBusiness, Universityof Auckland, Private Bag

92019, Auckland1142, New Zealand. E-mail: p.boxall@auckland.ac.nz

HRM is an opaque, complex and fragile process in organisational life: a proverbial

‘black box’(Purcell et al., 2003; Wright and Gardner, 2004). Over the last 20years,

researchers have been trying to throw light on the question of how key variables are

connected in ‘the murkychain of links between HR goals and performance outcomes’(Boxall

et al., 2011: 1508). At stake here is a range of mediating processes and interactions, including

intra-management processes (such as the interplay between senior managers, specialist

managers and line managers in HRM); management-employee processes, entailing

connections and disconnections between HR policies and practices; relationships between line

managers and theirdirect reports and strategiesadvanced by employees as they crafttheir jobs

or resist management actions. The web of relationshipsincludes those between individuals at

work and those within and across collectives such as teams, workforces and organisations. It

extends outwards as employees interact with customers, unions and others. In networks of

organisations, it involves a complex web of shifting coalitions with suppliers and contractors

(Marchington et al., 2005). As Peccei et al. (2013: 37) note, ‘this picture is further complicated

by a multitude of contextual and contingency factors’that influence the relationships among

HRM, employee well-being and organisationalperformance.

There is no doubt that a large proportion of researchers in HRM are tackling some aspect

of this complex story but how well are we doing? Can we identif y key lines of enquiry in

the ‘black box’to better focus our efforts? What methods would enhance the quality of

our work? This special issue on ‘understanding mediating variables and their outcomes in

HRM’was not based on a narrow call for papers on a tightly defined topic, which is the

more typical approach. Our call was broader and more ambitious, challenging researchers

to show us what they could do to improve the critical review and integration of theories

of mediation in HRM, to advance our understanding of one or more important theories, to

improve the methods we deploy (quantitative and/or qualitative) and to advance our

analysis of the cost–benefits for the parties involved.

Mediators matter because they are the theoretical bridges that account for why some

outcomes can be expected and not others when particular approaches are taken in HRM. As

various r eviews ha ve noted (e.g.Boselieet al., 2005; Paauwe, 2009), the mediating links from

HRM to organisational performance have been a major focus for some time. A basic, but

helpful, structure for organising this body of research has emerged through the AMO

HUMAN RESOURCEMANAGEMENT JOURNAL, VOL26, NO 2, 2016 103

©2016 John Wiley& Sons Ltd.

Pleasecite this articlein press as: Boxall, P., Guthrie,J.P. and Paauwe,J. (2016) ‘Editorialintroduction: progressingour understandingof the mediating

variableslinking HRM,employee well-beingand organisationalperformance’.HumanResource ManagementJournal 26: 2, 103–111

doi: 10.1111/1748-8583.12104

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