Reducing day‐level emotional exhaustion: The complementary role of high involvement work systems and engaging leadership

• Published date: 01 November 2023
• Author: Steven Kilroy,Na Fu,Janine Bosak,Richard Hayes,Wilmar Schaufeli
• Date: 01 November 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12482

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1Trinity Business School, Trinity College

Dublin, The University of Dublin, Dublin,

Ireland

2Trinity College Dublin, the University of

Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

3DCU Business School, Dublin City University,

Dublin, Ireland

4Damastown Industrial Park, Dublin, Ireland

5Social, Health & Organizational Psychology,

Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands

6Work & Organizational Psychology and

Professional Learning, KU Leuven, Belgium

Correspondence

Steven Kilroy, Trinity Business School, Trinity

College Dublin, The University of Dublin,

College Green, Dublin, Ireland.

Email: kilroyst@tcd.ie

Abstract

High involvement work systems (HIWS) have been found to

be improve employee well-being. The underlying processes

through which HIWS influence employee well-being and the

conditions under which these practices work are not fully

understood. This study draws on job demands-resources

theory to address this gap by theorising two novel medi-

ators, that is, work pressure and bonding social capital, to

explain how HIWS influence emotional exhaustion. We

further proposed that engaging leadership as a proxy of

line manager implementation of HIWS would strengthen

these relationships. An integrated model is presented on

how, why, and when HIWS influence employee well-being.

Using data collected from 97 employees in a pharmaceu-

tical company via a general survey and then a diary survey

for 5 working days, this study found that HIWS alleviated

day-level emotional exhaustion through their experience of

higher day-level bonding social capital and lower day-level

work pressure and these relationships were stronger under

high level of engaging leadership.

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Reducing day-level emotional exhaustion: The

complementary role of high involvement work

systems and engaging leadership

Steven Kilroy1 | Na Fu2 | Janine Bosak3 | Richard Hayes4 |

Wilmar Schaufeli5,6

DOI: 10.1111/1748-8583.12482

Received: 16 June 2021 Revised: 29 October 2022 Accepted: 1 November 2022

Hum Resour Manag J. 2023;33:846–867.© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/hrmj

Abbreviations: CFA, Confirmatory Factor Analysis; CFI, Comparative Fit Index; CI, Confidence Interval; HIWS, High Involvement Work Systems; HR

Practices, Human Resource Practices; JD-R model, Job-Demands Resource Model; MSEM, Multilevel Structural Equation Modelling; RMSEA, root mean

square error of approximation; SD, Standard Deviation; SRMR, standardised root mean square residuals.

The authors Steven Kilroy and Na Fu have contributed equally and are joint first authors.

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1 | INTRODUCTION

Research in Strategic Human Resources Management over the past 30 years has been concerned with maximising

organizational performance and employee well-being through adopting a system of human resource management

(HRM) practices, for example, high involvement work systems (HIWS; Boxall & Macky, 2009). Whilst the empirical

evidence shows that these types of progressive HRM practices generally increase performance, the jury is out on

whether they improve (optimistic perspective) or impair (pessimistic perspective) employees' health related well-being

(Peccei et al., 2013; Peccei & Van de Voorde, 2019). Some level of consensus is emerging that HIWS seem to provide

benefits for employee well-being (Boxall et al., 2019; Boxall & Macky, 2009). However, the underlying mechanisms

involved and the conditions under which they are more or less likely to work are still not fully understood (Elorza

et al., 2022; Wood, 2020).

KILROY etaL.

KEYWORDS

bonding social capital, diary study, emotional exhaustion, engaging

leadership, high-involvement work practices, well-being, work

pressure

Practitioners notes

What is known

• High involvement work systems (HIWS) have been found to improve employee well-being.

• Job demands and resources may represent potent explanatory variables between HIWS and employee

outcomes and empirically testing the same will further open the ‘black box’ between human resource

management (HRM) and employee well-being.

• Line managers play an important role in implementing HIWS although whether (and what) leadership

styles influence the effectiveness of HIWS is not yet fully clear.

What this paper adds

• This study theorises an integrated model to investigate how, why, and when HIWS influence employee

well-being.

• This study draws on job demands-resources theory and proposes two novel mediators, that is, a job

demand (work pressure) and job resource (bonding social capital) which explain how HIWS influence

emotional exhaustion.

• Engaging leadership is found as a novel contextual factor that enhances the effectiveness of HIWS.

• This study adopts a diary study approach, which has advantages over a cross-sectional design; and

examines the cross-level (general-level HIWS and employee day-level emotional exhaustion) effect,

thereby enabling greater insights into the optimistic versus pessimistic debate in HRM.

Implications for Practitioners

• Findings suggest that for HR professionals and managers, investment in HIWS pays dividends for

improving employees' well-being.

• Organisations need to design HIWS that helps to lower work pressure and to increase the social bonding

at work to alleviate emotional exhaustion.

• Leadership development efforts should be targeted at developing engaging leaders since the positive

effects of HIWS on pertinent employee outcomes is mitigated when line managers are not engaging.