Pingshu Li

Team-Level High Involvement Work Practices: Investigating the Role of Knowledge Sharing and Perspective Taking

To assess potential boundary conditions in the relationship between HRM systems and team service quality, we examined both collective and individual-level capabilities as underlying mechanisms between team-level high involvement work practices (HIWPs) and team service quality. Using multi-level modelling with a sample of 397 employees in 25 work teams from five service organisations, we found that team HIWPs enhanced knowledge sharing, leading to improved team service climate. Moreover, the presence of individual perspective taking moderated the mediating effect of knowledge sharing such that perspective taking enhanced service climate beyond the value of team HIWPs. The results contribute to the HRM literature by examining the multi-level social and environmental influences on individual learning conceptualised in social cognitive theory, to identify the value of individual capabilities as moderators to knowledge sharing in the link between team HRM systems and service climate.