Do high-performance work systems harm employees’ health? An investigation of service-oriented HPWS in the Chinese healthcare sector

Previous research on the 'dark side' of high-performance work systems (HPWS) has generally recognized HPWS as a job demand and suggested that it induces a series of health problems to employees. However, so far, less attention has been paid to the remedies that alleviate this negative effect. In this study, we investigate whether and how employees' personal and job resources help them refrain from health impairment due to service-oriented HPWS (SHPWS) in the healthcare service setting. Specifically, drawing on the job demands-resources model, we propose that core self-evaluations (CSE) and servant leadership (SL), representing personal and job resources, respectively, could buffer the health-impairment process of SHPWS due to strain. The results of a two-wave study of 223 healthcare employees in China generally support our hypotheses. For employees with a lower CSE or with leaders who demonstrate less SL, SHPWS increases their strain, which ultimately leads to mental and physical health problems. In contrast, for employees with a higher CSE or with leaders who demonstrate higher SL, the impact of SHPWS on strain and health is nonsignificant. We find no three-way interaction of SHPWS, CSE and SL on employees' strain or health.