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Employee responses to ‘high performance work system’ practices: an empirical test of the disciplined worker thesis

Author

Listed:
  • Bill Harley

    (The University of Melbourne, bharley@unimelb.edu.au)

  • Leisa Sargent

    (The University of Melbourne, lsargent@unimelb.edu.au)

  • Belinda Allen

    (Monash University, belinda.allen@monash.edu)

Abstract

This article considers the possibility that ‘high performance work system’ (HPWS) practices generate positive outcomes for employees by meeting their interests (specifically their interest in an orderly and predictable working environment). Utilising survey data on employees working in the Australian aged-care industry, statistical analysis is used to test the mediating effect of order and predictability on associations between HPWS practices and employee experience of work. The results suggest that positive outcomes arise in part because HPWS practices contribute to workplace order and predictability. In explaining this finding, the article highlights the importance of contextual factors, notably industry and employee characteristics, in shaping outcomes. The article concludes that socio-logically oriented analyses which apprehend the importance of employee interests provide a useful supplement to conventional psychologically oriented accounts of HPWS and provide a basis for continued development of labour process theory.

Suggested Citation

  • Bill Harley & Leisa Sargent & Belinda Allen, 2010. "Employee responses to ‘high performance work system’ practices: an empirical test of the disciplined worker thesis," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 24(4), pages 740-760, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:woemps:v:24:y:2010:i:4:p:740-760
    DOI: 10.1177/0950017010380638
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bill Harley & Belinda C. Allen & Leisa D. Sargent, 2007. "High Performance Work Systems and Employee Experience of Work in the Service Sector: The Case of Aged Care," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 45(3), pages 607-633, September.
    2. Jacques Bélanger & Paul Edwards, 2007. "The Conditions Promoting Compromise in the Workplace," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 45(4), pages 713-734, December.
    3. Harvie Ramsay & Dora Scholarios & Bill Harley, 2000. "Employees and High‐Performance Work Systems: Testing inside the Black Box," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 38(4), pages 501-531, December.
    4. Gallie, Duncan & White, Michael & Cheng, Yuan & Tomlinson, Mark, 1998. "Restructuring the Employment Relationship," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198294412.
    5. Paul Edwards & Jacques Bélanger & Martyn Wright, 2006. "The Bases of Compromise in the Workplace: A Theoretical Framework," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 44(1), pages 125-145, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Aqsa Akbar, Muhammad Amir Rashid, Omer Farooq, 2018. "The Relationship between High Performance Work System and Continuance Commitment to Change: An Economic Exchange Perspective," Journal of Management Sciences, Geist Science, Iqra University, Faculty of Business Administration, vol. 5(1), pages 3-17, March.
    2. Jyoti, Jeevan & Rani, Asha, 2019. "Role of burnout and mentoring between high performance work system and intention to leave: Moderated mediation model," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 166-176.

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