Service-oriented high-performance work practices as predictors of retail employees’ work engagement and service climate perceptions

Abstract

Using survey data collected from 781 frontline employees of a South African retailer, this study investigated the degree to which employees’ perceptions of six service-oriented high-performance work practices (HPWPs) – staffing, training, financial compensation, non-financial rewards, involvement, and empowerment – predict their work engagement and service climate perceptions. It was found that employees’ perceptions of involvement, training and staffing predicted their service climate perceptions, while only training was a statistically significant predictor of employees’ work engagement. The study contributes to the limited research on the relationship between individual service-oriented HPWPs and these two crucial employee outcomes.