High performance work systems and employee performance: the roles of employee well-being and workplace friendship

Promoting a thriving and productive workforce is a core task for human resource development (HRD) researchers and practitioners. Drawing on the job demands-resources model, this study aims to provide a balanced view of how high performance work systems (HPWSs) influence employee performance through different aspects of employee well-being. Data were collected from 346 employees through a three-wave survey in China. Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses. The results reveal that HPWSs positively predict employee performance through psychological empowerment and negatively predict employee performance through emotional exhaustion. Workplace friendship minimises the positive effect of HPWSs on emotional exhaustion and attenuates the indirect effect of HPWSs on employee performance via emotional exhaustion. This study challenges the prevailing idea that HPWSs can always improve employee performance. It informs HRD researchers and practitioners to dialectically assess the impact of HPWSs and include workplace friendship as an intervention measure to reduce the detrimental outcomes of HPWSs and better promote employee development.