Elucidating the relationship between high-investment HR systems and workforce engagement: The role of employee education

Abstract

Although high-investment HR systems (HIHRS) help forge a more dedicated workforce, our understanding of their effectiveness across employee profiles is imperfect. Integrating the social exchange perspective with human capital insights, this article investigates the engagement outcomes of HIHRS for employees of different education levels. Analyses on an international sample of 24,976 employees reveal, first, that HIHRS deliver greater marginal engagement outcomes at low to moderate than at moderate to high intensities, defining a concave HIHRS–engagement relationship. Additionally, they show that at low to moderate intensities, the curve rises less steeply for more (versus less) educated employees, suggesting that education lessens the marginal engagement outcomes of HIHRS. However, at moderate to high intensities, these marginal outcomes drop less steeply for more educated employees. Such findings highlight the intricacies of HIHRS as motivational tools and advise cautious use by employers.