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High-performance work systems and school effectiveness: the case of Malaysian secondary schools

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Abstract

This study focuses on the impact of high-performance work systems on the outcomes of organizational effectiveness with the mediating roles of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. In light of the importance of human resource activities in achieving organizational effectiveness, we argue that higher employees’ decision-making capabilities directly and indirectly empower organizational effectiveness. The reward system indirectly diminishes organizational effectiveness through the mediating effect of organizational commitment. We test these arguments using a sample of 332 Malaysian secondary school teachers. Provisions of secondary school infrastructure and material support alone will be meaningless without effective high-performance work systems and management capable of generating quality teaching and learning. The results identify the critical characteristics of high-performance work systems to realize school effectiveness.

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Acknowledgments

The authors appreciate financial support received from the University of Malaya [RG156/12/SBS]. Our special thanks go to the Editor and two anonymous reviewers for the constructive comments. Their suggestions have substantially improved the quality of this paper. The second author would like to thank the University of Malaya for funding his doctoral studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Administrative Studies and Politics , Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Parisa Maroufkhani & Ali Bin Boerhannoeddin

  2. Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Mohammad Nourani

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  1. Parisa Maroufkhani
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Correspondence to Mohammad Nourani.

Appendices

Appendix 1

See Table 7.

Table 7 Pattern matrix
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Appendix 2

See Table 8.

Table 8 Validity and reliability in CMB
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Appendix 3

See Fig. 2.

Fig. 2
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Structural model including all paths

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Maroufkhani, P., Nourani, M. & Boerhannoeddin, A.B. High-performance work systems and school effectiveness: the case of Malaysian secondary schools. Asia Pacific Educ. Rev. 16, 461–475 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-015-9389-2

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