Employee engagement and its importance to HPWPs (High Performance Work Practices), employee outcome relationship in the Nigerian hotel sector

Numerous human resource practices have been developed to improve employee job engagement, and one particular practice (HPWPs) has received great attention and academic critiques.HPWPs (High Performance Work Practices) is a combination of distinct but interconnected Human Resource Management practices, designed to structure the HRM system and enhance employee engagement by stimulating creative performance. Despite its popularity, scholars’ debate on how Employee Job Engagement (EJE) strengthens the relationship between HPWPs and employee outcomes still remains unclear. Based on the AMO framework and social exchange theory, the current research conducted a qualitative study to respond to the aforementioned knowledge gap, analysing how and why employee engagement is imperative for strengthening the relationship between HPWPs and employee outcomes within the hotel sector. Nigerian hotel sector has contributed to the domestic economy significantly and, more recently, many hotels have begun to adopt HPWPs in their personnel management. Following this trend, data collection was conducted via semi-structured interviews in Nigeria, in which hotel employees from different ranks of position were recruited. Findings revealed that when employees feel more engaged with their jobs, they are more likely to support HPWPs, recognising its importance and demonstrating creative performance. The relationship between HPWPs, employee job engagement and employee outcome are also strengthened by managers' trust in employee’s capability and appreciation for work done. Overall, the current research contributed to literature and theoretical development, by offering unique insights from a developing country context (Nigerian hotel sector) and clarifying the complexity of HPWPs, employee job engagement and employee creative performance relationship. A new framework was also developed from the research findings to help managers apply HPWPs in their employee performance management policies and practices