Unlocking the “black box” between employee perceptions of HRM and service quality for customers: Comparing engagement theory, social exchange theory, and climate theory to predict service quality for front-line employees at an HR SSC

This study contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms through which human resource management (HRM) systems are linked with behavioral outcomes and service quality for customers. Drawing on self-determination theory and motivation quality, a comparison was made between the explanatory power of three theories frequently used in literature to explain the HRM-performance link at the employee level: engagement theory, social exchange theory, and climate theory. For each of these theories, the most important employee attitude was selected and argued to be a mediator in the relationship between employee perceptions of HRM intensity and behavioral outcomes (self-reported task performance and organizational citizenship behavior) and service quality for customers. As such, work engagement, affective organizational commitment, and a climate for service were selected, respectively. Survey data was collected from 415 customers and 68 employees of a human resource shared service center (HR SSC) in the Netherlands, which was subsequently analyzed using multilevel anaysis.