Examining high-performance work practices in academia: role of administrative workload and support staff

Purpose: The study aims to explore the effectiveness of performance-oriented practices like high-performance work practices (HPWPs) in higher education (HE), given its explicit focus on performance these days. Design/methodology/approach: The study uses hierarchical linear modeling using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS 22.0) to test the hypotheses. An intertwined framework of the ability–motivation–opportunity (AMO) model and the job demand-resources (JD-R) model was proposed. The study considered strategic hiring, recognition and participatory decision-making as ability, motivation and opportunity-enhancing practices respectively. Further, the study addressed the impact of institutional level moderators, like administrative workload (AWL) and support staff (SS). Findings: The findings based on the responses of 385 faculties and 443 students from 36 Indian institutes, indicated that HPWPs enhanced the education performance (EP) of HE institutes. Further, results revealed that both AWL and SS had differential effects on the relationship between HPWPs and EP. Contrary to authors’ expectations, SS showed a negative effect of the relationship between HPWPs and EP. Research limitations/implications: The increased AWL was debilitating the beneficial effects HPWPs. The negative interaction effect of SS sheds light on the hidden issues surrounding SS in HE institutes. Based on findings, the study offered important theoretical and practical implications. Originality/value: To the best of authors’ knowledge, the impact of innovative human resource (HR) practices in academia remains relatively under-researched, and the current study is an attempt to fill this void.