Proud of my organization: conceptualizing the relationships between high-performance HR practices, leadership support, organizational pride, identification and innovative work behaviour

Purpose This study aims to investigate the effect of high-performance HR practices (HPHRP) on the innovative work behaviour (IWB) of employees. Drawing on social exchange theory, when employees perceive their exchange relationship in terms of HPHRP and leadership support as fair, we hypothesize that employees will demonstrate greater IWB. However, drawing on social identity theory, we hypothesize that when the attitude of employees towards their employer with best employer practices is favourable, the impact of HPHRP mediated by organizational pride and organizational identification, has a greater impact on employee IWB. Design/methodology/approach Survey research was used to empirically validate the study involving employees ( n = 370) who belong to the best employer brands in India. The data was analysed using Process Macro Models 7 for moderated mediation and Model 6 for serial mediation using bootstrapping procedures. Findings The results suggest that perceived leadership support moderated the indirect effect of HPHRP on IWB through organizational pride. Again, organizational pride and identification partially and serially mediated the impact of HPHRP on IWB. Research limitations/implications Organizations must invest in HPHRP, with supportive leadership practices that can foster an emotional attitude of pride and a cognitive attitude of organizational identification to be an employer of choice resulting in employees’ IWB. Originality/value The study investigating the mediating impact of the emotional and cognitive attitudes of pride and organizational identification has not been previously explored, in the relationship between HPHRP and IWB, from a social identity perspective.