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…