The human resource management (HRM) literature has focused on examining the relationship between HRM practices, which are considered as a system, and organisational performance (Huselid, 1995) from a macro perspective. However, the literature does not clearly address how HRM practices affect performance outcomes (Den Hartog, Boon, Verburg & Croon, 2013). To this end, researchers have increasingly adopted a micro perspective to disentangle the mechanisms through which this relationship is established (Kehoe & Wright, 2013; Nishii, Lepak, & Schneider, 2008). From this micro viewpoint, employees’ reactions (attitudinal and behavioural responses) to HRM practices have been analysed (Baluch, Salge, & Piening, 2013; Katou & Budhwar, 2010; Nishii et al., 2008) and are seen as the means through which this relationship is established. It transpires that employees’ reactions play an essential role in explaining this relationship, and consequently some authors emphasise the need to include employees’ perceptions in HRM research (Bowen & Ostroff, 2004; Kehoe & Wright, 2013; Nishii & Wright, 2008; Van De Voorde & Beijer, 2015).

Chang (2005) defines employees’ perceptions of HRM practices as the expression of the beliefs an employee experiences about these practices in an organisation. Although employee reactions and perceptions are seen to be central in clarifying the mediating mechanism in the HRM practiceeperformance relationship, this relevance is not evident in empirical research (Nishii & Wright, 2008; Wood, 2009, pp. 55e74). Following the above arguments, this paper focuses on employees’ perceptions of HRM practices as more proximal predictors of individual attitudes and behaviours (Khilji & Wang, 2006; Nishii et al., 2008). Analysing employees’ perceptions provides a framework for studying how employees experience or perceive the high-performance work systems (HPWSs) implemented by managers and how the former influences individual attitudes and behaviours (Alfes, Shantz, Truss, & Soane, 2013).

The research presented here focuses on innovative behaviour (IB) as a particular kind of individual behaviour, which is of great significance to organisational effectiveness, efficacy and survival (Scott & Bruce, 1994; West, Hirst, Richter, & Shipton, 2004). Employees’ IB refers to the ability of individuals to generate new ideas and viewpoints, which are subsequently transformed into innovation. Bearing in mind that the creation of innovation lies in ideas and how individuals develop them, an analysis of the aspects that facilitate IB becomes critical. In this regard, some studies have focused on the influence of factors, such as the role of supervisor support (Dysvik, Kuvaas, & Buch, 2014; Janssen, 2005; Yuan & Woodman, 2010), work characteristics (Farr & Ford, 1990, pp.