Family-friendly human resource management practices and employee performance: explaining the mediating role of psychological empowerment

Abstract

Modern-day scholars acknowledge that women play a critical role in organizations. However, there still needs to be more data about the contribution of family-friendly HRM to the psychological empowerment of female employees and their superior performance. Therefore, this study investigates how family-friendly human resource management (HRM) practices enhance female employees' performance directly and via psychological empowerment, using the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory. Applying partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM), suggested hypotheses were tested on data collected from 121 respondents. Findings confirm that family-friendly HRM practices positively affect female employees' performance. Findings also confirmed the significant mediating role of psychological empowerment between family-friendly HRM practices and female employees' performance. The study provides evidence to policymakers that organizations may promote female employees' psychological empowerment and performance through family-friendly HRM practices. The study also contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 5 by providing evidence that organizations may achieve gender equality in the workplace by implementing family-friendly HRM practices.