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How line-manager leadership styles and employee-perceived HRM practices contribute to employee performance: a configurational perspective

2023; Emerald Publishing Limited; Volume: 44; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1108/lodj-04-2022-0202

1472-5347

Liu Bolong, Zhisong Cui, Chilombo Namwinga Nanyangwe,

Management and Organizational Studies

Purpose This paper aims to carry out a study on the combined effects of leadership styles and human resource management (HRM) practices on employee performance. Based on configurational theory, this study integrates task-oriented leadership, relations-oriented leadership, change-oriented leadership and human resource hygiene practices (HRHPs) and human resource motivation practices (HRMPs) to detect distinct configurations of leadership styles and HRM practices that may lead to high and not-high employee performance. Design/methodology/approach Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was adopted to identify the configurations of conditions associated with the outcome, with data obtained from 108 employees and 32 line-managers in China through structured interview and questionnaire survey. Findings The results show that there are five sufficient configurations for the presence of high employee performance and three for performance's absence. Relation-oriented leadership, HRMPs and enterprise property are more important conditions to employee performance than others. Furthermore, no single condition constitutes a necessary condition for causing the high or not-high employee performance. Originality/value Compared to previous studies that mainly focused on linear relationships, this study applies the fsQCA method to explore how matching different leadership styles and HRM practices could bring about high and not-high employee performance, which provides evidence for the three propositions of “multiple conjunctural causation,” “equifinality” and “asymmetry.”