High-performance work practices and labour productivity: the contingent effect of family governance

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of the family governance context on the relationship between high performance work practices (HPWPs) and labour productivity. This study uses cross-sectional data from the 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Survey on 193 UK establishments. Our findings demonstrate that firms with family governance have a stronger, positive HPWPs-labour productivity relationship compared to other firms. Furthermore, firm size matters as the effect of family governance strengthens this relationship as firm size increases. This paper contributes to the research on the contextual factors that determine the effectiveness of HPWPs by highlighting the role of the family governance context including its boundary conditions on the basis of firm size.