How Does Human Resource Management Influence Organizational Outcomes? A Meta-analytic Investigation of Mediating Mechanisms

Drawing on the ability-motivation-opportunity model, this meta-analysis examined the effects of three dimensions of HR systems—skills-enhancing, motivation-enhancing, and opportunity-enhancing—on proximal organizational outcomes (human capital and motivation) and distal organizational outcomes (voluntary turnover, operational outcomes, and financial outcomes). The results indicate that skill-enhancing practices were more positively related to human capital and less positively related to employee motivation than motivation-enhancing practices and opportunity-enhancing practices. Moreover, the three dimensions of HR systems were related to financial outcomes both directly and indirectly by influencing human capital and employee motivation as well as voluntary turnover and operational outcomes in sequence.