HRM systems, practices, and employee commitment: The role of employee gender

Despite decades of studies on high-involvement human resource management (HRM) systems, questions remain of whether high-involvement HRM systems can increase the commitment of socially disadvantaged demographic groups. This study contributes to the growing body of research on the cross-level effect of HRM systems and practices on employee affective commitment by considering the moderating role of gender. Integrating social exchange theory with gender role theory, this paper proposes that gender responses to HRM practices can be different. The hypotheses were tested using data from 104 small and medium-sized retail enterprises and 6,320 employees from Spain. The findings suggest that a high-involvement HRM system can promote the affective commitment of socially disadvantaged demographic groups like women