High-performance work systems and manager creativity behaviours: what role do contextual factors play?

Purpose - High-performance work systems (HPWSs) are linked to performance, but few studies explore creativity behaviours (CBs). The present study includes job satisfaction as a mediator, and firm size and competitive rivalry as moderators to better understand the context. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected using a sample of 310 New Zealand managers. Data analysis was a moderated mediation analysis in structural equation modelling using Mplus. Findings - The authors find HPWSs are directly related to CBs and job satisfaction, with job satisfaction fully mediating HPWS effects. Two-way moderation effects show managers in small firms report the highest CBs with high HPWSs, and a significant moderated mediation effect is found with firm size, showing a strong positive indirect effect from HPWS, which diminishes as firm size increases. Practical implications - HPWSs hold the key to providing managers with opportunities for enhancing their CBs. Exploring the distinct bundles of HPWSs in the present study provides avenues for firms to understand and expand their influence on managers. Originality/value - The findings of firm size as a boundary condition provides unique insights that aid our understanding of the effectiveness of HPWSs on CBs, and how small-sized New Zealand firms might extract better advantages from HPWSs. A major contribution is testing external firm factors (size and the business environment) to understand what roles they may play on managers’ creativity.