The role of HRM practices, procedural justice, organizational support and trust in organizational commitment and in-role and extra-role performance

Taking the social exchange perspective, we examine the process (black box) linking human resource practices and organizational commitment and superior rating performance. Using procedural justice, organizational support and trust, as relational exchange mechanisms, we evaluate which such complex psychological states mediate the relationship between HRM practices and performance. On the basis of a sample of 1,219 employees from a Canadian hospital, our results indicate that HRM practices can stimulate greater in-role and extra-role performance if they are perceived as signs of support and procedural justice. Consequently, we find that that the sole implementation of HRM practices, however innovative they may be, does not suffice to improve behavioral performance. Our study thus contributes to a better understanding of the ‘black box’ phenomenon that links HRM practices to organizational performance indices. Because of the number of psychological states studied, our research enriches knowledge of the social exchange mechanisms.