The effects of human resource attributions on employee outcomes during organizational change

We applied the emerging process-based approach of strategic human resource (HR) management research by investigating the relationship between 2 types of HR attributions (i.e., commitment-focused and control-focused HR attributions) and 2 key employee outcomes (i.e., turnover intention and task performance) in an organizational change context. Based on a social exchange framework, perceived organizational support (POS) was introduced as a key mediator. Based on a sample of 350 professional workers, we found that commitment-focused HR attributions were positively related to POS and that control-focused HR attributions were negatively related to POS. In addition, POS mediated the relationships among commitment- focused HR attributions and the 2 employee outcome variables of turnover intention and task performance as well as the relationships among control-focused HR attributions and the 2 employee outcome variables. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.