HRM Practices and Organizational Commitment: Test of a Mediation Model

Abstract This study was conducted to examine the mechanisms involved in observed relations between human resource management (HRM) practices and employee commitment. Employees (N = 281) from several organizations completed a survey that included measures of (a) the quality of HRM practices pertaining to performance appraisal, benefits, training, and career development used in their organizations, (b) procedural justice and organizational support, and (c) affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that relations between employees' evaluations of HRM practices and their affective and normative commitment were largely mediated by perceptions of organizational support and procedural justice. These findings support previous claims that, although HRM practices can be valuable tools in the establishment and maintenance of employee commitment, their effects are neither direct nor unconditional. Resume Cette etude avait pour but d'examiner certains mecan-ismes intervenant dans le lien entre les pratiques de ges-tion des ressources humaines et l'engagement des employes. Des employes (N=281) de plusieurs organisations ont rempli un questionnaire incluant des mesures de: (a) qualite des pratiques de gestion des ressources humaines en matiere d'evaluation du rendement, de compensation, deformation et de developpement profes-sionnel, (b) justice en matiere de procedure et soutien organisationnel, et (c) engagement organisationnel affectif, continuation, et normatif. Des analyses basees sur la modelisation d'equations structurelles ont revele que les liens entre l'evaluation par les employes des pratiques de gestion des ressources humaines et leur engagement affectif et normatif etaient en grande partie mediatises par leur perception du soutien organisationnel et de justice en matiere de procedure. Ces resultats corroborent le fait que malgre l'importance des pratiques de gestion des ressources humaines dans l'etab-lissement et le maintien de l'engagement des employes, leurs effets ne sont ni directs ni inconditionnels.

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