High-involvement HRM practices and innovative work behavior among production-line workers: mediating role of employee's functional flexibility

Purpose Following "AMO" framework and resource-based theory (RBT), the current study empirically examines the relationships between high-involvement human resource management (HI HRM) practices, employee functional flexibility (FF) and innovative work behavior (IWB). Furthermore, the mediating effect of FF has also been tested. Design/methodology/approach Descriptive statistics, correlation, hierarchical regression analysis, baron and Kenny, PROCESS Macro and Sobel Test approach were used on a sample of 894 employees of manufacturing concerns. Findings Findings revealed a direct effect of HI HRM practices on FF and IWB. In addition, the results confirm that FF positively mediates between HI HRM practices and IWB. Furthermore, three dimensions of HI HRM practices, i.e. ability-enhancing (AE), motivation-enhancing (ME) and opportunity-enhancing (OE) HRM practices also predicted FF and IWB. Originality/value Although the empirical evidence is well established that HI HRM practices have a substantial contribution for organizational performance, however, there is lack of studies that empirically examine the associations among HI HRM practices, employee's competencies and behaviors, as well as the mechanism through which HI HRM practices affect work related innovative behavior. Finally, in distinguishing from the past studies, this study explores HI HRM practices as an important predictor of FF in addressing the IWB.