Are Unions Friends or Foes of High-Performance Work Systems?

Abstract

Do unions facilitate or hamper the effectiveness of high-performance work systems (HPWS)? Despite the long-standing interest among labor and human resource scholars on this matter, relevant studies are limited and dated. This research investigates whether and how the interplay between HPWS and unions affects both organizational performance and employee well-being outcomes. The authors argue while unions may attenuate the HPWS effects on organizational performance due to decreased performance climate, the overall impacts of unions are likely beneficial, as they facilitate cooperative climate that contributes to organizational performance and enhances employee well-being, which positively affects longer term organizational outcomes. Analyzing longitudinal data with 934 observations from 287 South Korean firms, the authors show that unions indeed facilitate the positive effects of HPWS on organizational performance and employee well-being, mediated by enhanced cooperative climate. They did not find statistically meaningful evidence that unions mitigate HPWS' effects on performance climate and subsequent organizational performance.