The impact of different components of HRM strength on employee burnout: a two-wave study

Purpose Most prior studies treated human resource management (HRM) strength as a whole, while neglecting the dynamic interactions between distinct components (consensus, consistency and distinctiveness). The authors lack a deep understanding of how different components operate together to influence burnout. To address these gaps, this study aims to adopt signaling theory to investigate the interactions among different components and their impacts on employee burnout. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected time-lagged data from 231 full-time employees in manufacturing firms in Suzhou, China. The authors used the PROCESS Model 6 and hierarchical multiple regression to analyze the data. Findings This study found that HRM system consensus and consistency mitigate employee burnout, whereas HRM distinctiveness is not significantly related to burnout. Furthermore, the authors revealed that HRM system consistency (rather than distinctiveness) mediated the relationship between consensus and burnout. Moreover, the authors found the sequential mediating effects of HRM system distinctiveness and consistency on the association between consensus and burnout. Practical implications Considering that employees’ well-being problems may be debilitating and overwhelming during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is particularly ethical and timely for managers to direct attention to the role of HRM system strength in addressing employee burnout. Originality/value This study advances the HRM system literature by teasing out the interactions between the three pivotal components of HRM strength. Our study is among the first to empirically investigate the internal relationships between the meta-features of the HRM system and employee burnout. In doing so, the authors develop a more nuanced understanding of the collective nature of a strong HRM system that conveys a shared message about HRM to promote well-being.