The mediating role of employee performance in the relationship between human resource management (HRM) practices and police service effectiveness

PurposeThe efficiency of each of an organization’s individual workers determines its effectiveness. The study aims to explore the relationship between human resource management (HRM) practices and organizational effectiveness with employee performance as a mediating variable.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 800 police officers in the Greater Accra and Tema regions. The data were supported by the hypothesized relationship. Construct reliability and validity was established through confirmatory factor analysis. The proposed model and hypotheses were evaluated using structural equation modeling.FindingsThe results show that career planning and employee performance were significantly related. Self-managed teams and employee performance were shown to be nonsignificantly related. Similarly, performance management and employee performance were shown to be nonsignificantly related. Employee performance significantly influenced organizational effectiveness. The results further indicate that employee performance mediates the relationship between HRM practices and organizational effectiveness.Research limitations/implicationsThe generalizability of the findings will be constrained due to the research’s police service focus and cross-sectional data.Practical implicationsThe study’s findings will serve as valuable pointers for the police administration in the adoption, design and implementation of well-articulated and proactive HRM practices to improve the abilities, skills, knowledge and motivation of officer’s to inordinately enhance the effectiveness of the service.Originality/valueBy evidencing empirically that employee performance mediates the relationship between HRM practice and organizational effectiveness, the study extends the literature.