Abstract

Introduction

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Abstract

Introduction: This study investigated the extent to which five human resource management (HRM) practices—systematic selection, extensive training, performance appraisal, high relative compensation, and empowerment—simultaneously predicted later organizational-level injury rates. Methods: Specifically, the association between these HRM practices (assessed via on-site audits by independent observers) with organizational injury rates collected by a national regulatory agency one and two years later were modeled. Results: Results from 49 single-site UK organizations indicated that, after controlling for industry-level risk, organization size, and the other four HRM practices, only empowerment predicted lower subsequent organizational-level injury rates. Practical Applications: Findings from the current study have important implications for the design of HRM systems and for organizational-level policies and practices associated with better employee safety.

Introduction

The last three decades have seen considerable research interest in the effects of human resource management (HRM) systems on employee outcomes (e.g., Arthur, 1994, Becker and Huselid, 1998, Beijer et al., 2021, Boon et al., 2019, Delery and Doty, 1996, Huselid, 1995, MacDuffie, 1995, Toh et al., 2008, West et al., 2006, Youndt et al., 1996). A range of labels, such as ‘high involvement management’ (e.g., Forth & Millward, 2004), ‘high commitment management’ (e.g., Wood & de Menezes, 1998), and ‘high performance work systems’ (e.g., Huselid, 1995, Liao et al., 2009) have been used to describe various sets of organizational practices that aim to involve employees, generate employee commitment towards their work and the organization, and ultimately improve organizational performance.

Organizational practices that comprise HRM systems are “the specific methods and procedures that the organization adopts to implement the organization’s principles and policies” (Posthuma, Campion, Masimova, & Campion, 2013, p. 1189). HRM systems comprise ‘bundles’ of these organizational practices that have complementary effects (Ogbonnaya, Daniels, Tregaskis, & Van Veldhoven, 2013), with each bundle of practices preferably “creating synergistic effects in which certain practices reinforce one another to increase organizational efficiency and effectiveness” (Posthuma et al., 2013, 1185). Many studies have focused on how these HRM systems are measured and how they affect performance (for reviews, see Boon et al., 2019, Godard, 2004, Wall and Wood, 2005, Wright et al., 2005). Most of these studies tend to concentrate on conventional financial and labor performance indices, to the neglect of more employee-centered criteria such as occupational health and safety (Delery and Gupta, 2016, Godard, 2004, Shaw and Delery, 2003).