What predicts the adoption of High Performance Work Systems? Evidence from the Survey of Australian Leadership

Event Date: 3 April 2017

Speaker: Bill Harley, Professor of Management, The University of Melbourne

Time: 4pm-5pm

Location: Strathclyde Business School, Cathedral wing, CW4.06b


There is an abundance of empirical evidence linking HR practices associated with 'high performance work systems' (HPWS) to a variety of employee and organisational outcomes. Overall, the evidence suggests that the outcomes are positive. In spite of this, it appears that most organisations adopt such practices in a limited and piecemeal way. It appears that many scholars have assumed that if practices are effective, management will adopt them, and thus have not explored the reasons why organisations adopt, or do not adopt, them. This paper analyses data from the recent Survey of Australian Leadership (SAL). The SAL is the first comprehensive workplace level study of Australian industry conducted since the 1995 Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey (AWIRS) and provides a unique picture of workplace characteristics, practices and outcomes in Australia. The paper explores the role of a variety of contextual and organisational features in predicting the adoption of HPWS and provides some preliminary theoretical explanations.

Published: 22 February 2017