High performance work practices, organizational performance and strategic thinking

Purpose Drawing on a number of strategic management theories, the purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between strategic thinking (in other words, systems perspective, focused intent, intelligent opportunism, thinking in time and hypothesis-driven analysis) and organizational performance. It also investigates whether the notion and content of high performance work practices, as identified in developed countries, can be used to amplify the effects of strategic thinking within the banking industry in a developing country. Design/methodology/approach Utilizing cross-sectional data obtained from commercial banks in Jordan, this paper applied structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the banking sector in a developing country. Data were collected through self-administered questionnaires. Findings According to the results, focused intent, intelligent opportunism, thinking in time and hypothesis-driven analysis have positive impacts on organizational performance, except when considered from the systems perspective. Consequently, high performance work practices were found to only moderate the relationship between focused intent, intelligent opportunism, thinking in time and organizational performance. Originality/value The authors examined the impact of strategic thinking on the organizational performance through the moderation role of high performance work practices. The results of this paper extend the existing literature by providing evidence from Jordan, a developing country outside of the western world.