The effect of HRM attributions on emotional exhaustion and the mediating roles of job involvement and work overload

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12096
• Author: Amanda Shantz,Catherine Bailey,Lilith Arevshatian,Kerstin Alfes
• Date: 01 April 2016
• Published date: 01 April 2016

The effect of HRM attributions on emotional

exhaustion and the mediating roles of job

involvement and work overload

Amanda Shantz,IÉSEG School of Management, LEM-CNRS (UMR-9221), Paris

Lilith Arevshatian, Departmentof Management, Kingston Business School, Kingston

University

Kerstin Alfes, ESCP Europe Wirtschaftshochschule Berlinand Department of Human

Resource Studies,Tilburg University

Catherine Bailey, Department of Business and Management, University of Sussex

Human Resource Management Journal, Vol 26,no 2, 2016, pages 172–191

Although some research suggests that perceptions of HRM practices are associated with lower levels of

employee well-being, otherresearch shows just the opposite. In the presentstudy, we attempt toreconcile these

discrepant findings by incorporating the role of HRM attributions. Our model posits that when employees

perceive that their organisation’s HRM practices are intended to improve their job performance, they

experience higher levels of job involvement, which leads to lower levels of emotional exhaustion. Conversely,

when employees believe that their organisation’s HRM practices are intended to reduce organisational costs,

they experiencework overload, which translates into higher levels of emotional exhaustion. Parallelmediation

analyses of surveydata collected from employees of a construction and consultancy organisation at two time

periods (n= 180) supported thistheoretical model.

Contact: Amanda Shantz, IÉSEG School of Management, LEM-CNRS (UMR-9221), 1 Parvis de la

Défense, Paris 92044, France. Email: a.shantz@ieseg.fr

Keywords: attributions of HRM practices; emotional exhaustion; job involvement; workoverload

INTRODUCTION

The relationship between employee perceptions of HRM practices and employee well-

being remains elusive. Although some research suggests that perceptions of HRM

practices are associated with improved employee health and well-being (e.g. Harley

et al., 2007; Alfeset al., 2012), other studies have revealedthat they lead to higher levels of strain

and emotional exhaustion (e.g. Sprigg and Jackson, 2006; Jensen et al., 2013). These mixed

findings might be explained by the different HRM practices that were measured, different

measurements of the same HRM practices or the manner in which HRM practices were

implemented (Purcell, 1999; Boxall and Macky, 2009). We add to this body of literature by

examining an alternative explanation for the mixed findings. Specifically, we examine, for the

first time,the extent to which employeeattributions of the organisation’sintent in implementing

HRM practices helps to explain the relationship between perceptions of HRM and well-being.

HRM attribution theory posits that employees respond to HRM practices based on the

attributions they make about the organisation’s purpose in implementing HRM practices

(Nishii et al., 2008). Unlike prior research on perceptions of HRM that have relied on either

employees’descriptions (i.e. does a formal appraisal system exist in my organisation?;

e.g. Wright et al., 2005) or evaluations of HRM practices (i.e. is the performance appraisal fair

Pleasecitethis article inpress as: Shantz,A., Arevshatian,L., Alfes,K. and Bailey,C. (2016) ‘The effectof HRM attributionson emotionalexhaustionand the

mediatingroles of job involvementand work overload’.HumanResource ManagementJournal 26:2, 172–191

172 HUMAN RESOURCEMANAGEMENT JOURNAL, VOL26, NO 2, 2016

©2016 John Wiley& Sons Ltd.

doi: 10.1111/1748-8583.12096

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and accurate?; e.g.Al fes et al., 2012), HRM attributiontheory stipulates that the effect of HRM

practices is determined by the beliefs that employees hold regarding why the HRM practices

were implemented in the first place (i.e. why does my organisation use performance

appraisals?; Nishii et al., 2008), even though the attributions may differ from the actual or

intended organisational or HRM strategy.

We investigate two discrete attributions: (1) HRM-performance attributions refer to

employees’belief that the underlying purpose of HRM practices is to maximise employee

performance; and (2) HRM-cost attributions refer to employees’belief that the underlying

purpose of HRMpractices is to reduce organisationalcosts (Nishii et al., 2008).We propose that

when employees attribute HRM practices as primarily intended to support their job

performance (HRM-performance attributions), emotional exhaustion decreases. Conversely,

when employees attribute HRM practices aspredominantly aimed at reducing organisational

costs (HRM-cost attributions), emotional exhaustion increases. The first contribution of the

present study is the use of HRM attribution theory in examining the relationship between

perceptions of HRM practices and emotional exhaustion. This study is not only the first to

integrate HRM attributiontheory and employee well-being but we also address a call to focus

on the effectof HRM practices on indicatorsof employee well-being(Moore, 2000; Guest, 2002).

Our second contribution lies in the identification of the mediating processes by which the two

attributions of HRM practices lead to emotional exhaustion. Understanding mediating variables

is important; Whetten (1989) argued that an essential step in theory building is identifying and

examining the underlying mechanism(s) that explain a given relationship. This allows for a richer

theoretical evaluation and discussion of why attributions of HRM are important in

understanding emotional exhaustion. In our theoretical model, we leverage conservation of

resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll, 1989) to suggest that the indirect relationship between HRM-

performance attributions and emotional exhaustion operates via job involvement, defined as

one’s psychological identification with work (Lodahl and Kejner, 1965). Conversely, our

theoretical model predicts that the indirect effectofHRM-costattributionsonemotional

exhaustion functions through work overload, defined as one’sbeliefthatthereareinsufficient

resources with which to perform the job (Beehr et al., 1976). Figure 1 depicts our theoretical model.

We further extend previous findings by using a cross-lagged design. Indeed, conflicting

findings with regard to the HRM–employee well-being relationship might be partially due to

methodologicalconsiderations (Alfes et al., 2012).As the approach in the present study gathers

data across two time points, it reduces concerns related to the ‘third variable problem’and

transient mood states (Cook and Campbell, 1979).

Perceptions of HRMpractices and employee well-being

There is a philosophicaldivide in the field of HRM that is rooted in two opposingperspectives

on the role of management vis-à-vis employees (Vande Voorde et al., 2012). Unitarist scholars

argue that organisational goals and employee interests are aligned and that what is good for

the organisation is good for the employee. Some research on employee perceptions of high-

performance work systems supports this premise and shows that HRM bundles increase

positive attitudinal and behavioural outcomes, including job satisfaction and performance

(e.g. Macky and Boxall, 2007; Alfes et al., 2012; Piening et al.,2013), although there is variation

within (e.g. Kinnie et al., 2005; Kooij et al., 2010) and across (e.g. Piening et al., 2014) contexts.

Moreover, these bundles are associated with higher levels of well-being (Alfes et al., 2012)

and lower levels of stress and emotional exhaustion (Kalmi and Kauhanen, 2008). Research

that has examined individual HRM practices has likewise shown a positive influence of some

Amanda Shantz,Lilith Arevshatian, KerstinAlfes and Catherine Bailey

HUMAN RESOURCEMANAGEMENT JOURNAL, VOL26, NO 2, 2016 173

©2016 John Wiley& Sons Ltd.