High performance work systems and technological intensity of the environment

Abstract

The paper examines the moderating effect that the technological intensity of the environment in which the firm operates exerts in the High Performance Work Systems (HPWS) - firm's operational performance relationship. We study this potential moderating effect in a sample of 593 Spanish manufacturing firms divided in two sub-samples of high (n1=301) and low (n2=292) technology firms. The results show that HPWS (positively) influence firm operational performance in the case of high-tech firms, while no effect is observed for low-tech firms.

Technological intensity; human resources; operational performance