Keywords

Human Resources Practices; Commitment HRM Practices; Positive Employee Attitudes; Organizational Performance.

Introduction

Globalization, competition, and depletion of resources are inflicting increasing pressure on corporations to optimize resources and account for its optimal utilization. Hence, different domains of management such as human resource, finance, marketing, and strategy have developed principles, models, and good practices to explain the link between these functions and organizational performance. Empirical studies have examined the linked between human resource practices and organizational performance. Specifically, these studies have investigated two dominant types of HRM practices namely high-performance work practices (Arthur, 1994; Huselid, 1995) and High commitment HRM practices (Gollan and Davis,1999). The high-performance work systems (HPWS) take inspiration from the scientific management with focus on increasing performance through control system, performance related pay and competency development. As far as the high commitment HRM practices are concerned, they take inspiration from the human relations movement with focus on the development of psychological wellbeing of employees. Thus, the role of human resource management is to develop competencies and employee commitment.

This study is interested in examining the link between commitment HRM management and organizational performance. Specifically, this study investigates the role of core commitment HRM practices in organizational performance. A review of the literature is indicating that studies have used different measures for commitment HRM practices with overlapping items appearing across the bundles. In a critique, Latorre et al (2016) note that the commitment HRM practices are overlapping to include items that appear in high performance work system. So, this study aims at identifying HRM practices that improve employee’s morale and improve his wellbeing. Thus, the rational question posed by this study is, will core commitment HRM practices impact organizational performance? Will they impact employee psychological wellbeing in developing country? Employee performance in developing countries is assumed to be linked to total rewards. So, this study is interested in identifying and examining the relevance of core commitment HRM practices in a developing context. To win the war on talent, firms must be able to give the best treatments to their employees (Pfeffer, 2001). According to Guest (2002), commitment HRM is anchored around employee relations and organizational culture. It creates an enabling working climate where employees are not only happy to work but to be associated with a firm. This study is important as it contribute to research by proposing a new bundle of core but non-overlapping commitment HRM practices.

Also, this study examines the mediating role of employee psychological state in the relations between core commitment human resource practices and organizational performance. The role of commitment HRM practices is to first win the heart and soul of employees. It is employee motivation, satisfaction and commitment that affect the business bottom line. Despite the growing body of evidence showing positive effects of commitment HRM practices on organizational performance, there is less evidence evaluating the mediating role of individual employee (Gardner et al, 2012; Gould-William, 2004). Rubel et al (2018) posit that more research must explore the nexus of HRM employee attitude and organizational outcomes in service and manufacturing organizations. Also, Gardner et al (2012) reveal that almost all empirical strategic human resource work to date has ignored the mediating hypothesis. To respond to these calls, this study first identify core commitment HRM practices and secondly examine Positive Employee Attitudes as a mediating. Based on the review of the literature, this study identifies effective communication, information sharing, distributive and procedural justice, employee empowerment, employee involvement and participation, job security as the dominant commitment human resource practices. This study contributes to research by showing that non-overlapping but core commitment HRM practices improves employee psychological wellbeing and positively impact organizational performance in a developing country. To answer to the research hypotheses, Krejci and Morgan (1970) sample size determination table of is used to identify a representative sample. A convenient sampling technique is used to collect data as it was impossible for the researcher to access the employee register. The SPSS and SmartPLS. are used to analyze the collected data.

Literature Review

Commitment Human Resource Practices

The purpose of this study is to identified core commitment HRM practices and to examine their impact on organizational performance. For instance, Ichniowski and Shaw (2003) thought of alternative HRM practices that can create a conducive work environment where employees can be motivated to work and use their discretionary behavior to contribute to the success of an organization. Commitment and engagement practices are interested in developing the attitudinal aspect of the worker. They improve employee’s psychological being. Da Silva and Kailasapathy (2017) define commitment as an individual employee's cognitive, emotional, and behavioral conditions that impact employee job and organizational performance. They argue that understanding employee’s state of mind is critical for organizational survival. Siriyanum et al (2019) conceptualize employee commitment as a means of creating a workplace democracy. In his contribution, Guest (2002) states that commitment is a form of psychological contract hinged on fair treatment and trust. He emphasizes that commitment is partly draws from employee relations and organizational culture. Also, Latorre et al (2016) remark that high commitment HRM practices tend to address more employee centered issues such as work life balance, promotion of equal opportunities and policies to avoid bullying and harassment. They argue that positive psychological contract are the results of good employee relations.

Different practices have been examined in the extant literature. For example, Guthrie et al (2002) measure employee commitment through a combination of twelve HRM practices consisting of internal promotions, performance management, skill-based pay, group-based pay, employee stock ownership, cross-training, training focused on future skill requirements, employee participatory programs, information sharing, attitude surveys, and teamworking. Farndale et al (2011) measure commitment human resource practices by using appraisal frequency, outcomes of appraisal, training opportunities, targets, extent of personal involvement in target setting, and personal choice overpay and benefits. Moreover, Boxall and Macky (2014) view commitment HRM practices as the quality of communication, hearing employee voice, linking reward to performance, quality training and development opportunities. Furthermore, Rubel et al (2018) assess the link between commitment human resource management practices and service behavior using participation, training and development, performance appraisal, compensation, and internal career opportunity. Also, Gollan and Davis (1999) state that effective communication and consultation strategies are high involvement practices which enhance organizational effectiveness and productivity.

Meyer and Smith (2009) report that employee perception of organizational support and procedural justice mediate the relationships between human resource practices and employee commitment. In a cross-industry study, Latorre et al (2016) assessed employee commitment using a sample of 835 respondents, they found that commitment HRM practices are associated with employee performance and perceived organizational support mediates the relationships. Besides, Siriyanum et al (2019) measure employee commitment using employee participation, incentives, and skills development practices. They examine the role these practices on supply chain integration. Findings show that an increase in commitment practices lead to an increase in supply chain integration. They conclude that workplace democracy has a positive effect on supply chain integration. Furthermore, Farndale et al (2011) study employee perceived commitment through employee perceived fairness in performance management and managerial trust. The results reveal that the level of employee trust is a significant moderator in the relationships. The findings also indicate that commitment HRM practices are positively associated with employee commitment and mediated through organizational trust.

In another development, Boxall and Macky (2014) explore the linkage between involvement HRM practices and employee wellbeing. Findings reveal that assigning more jobs to employees can lead to extra employee fatigue, stress, and work life imbalance. The findings also indicate involvement practices are linked to greater employee satisfaction and better work–life balance and have no relationship with fatigue and stress. Guerrero and Didier (2007) study the link between commitment HRM practices and firm's performance in France. The findings show that empowerment is the highest contributor to firm performance, training, development, and communication contribute significantly. However, the study concludes that compensation has no effect on firm performance. Boon and Kalshoven (2014) assessed employee perceived organizational commitment by asking them to rate statements from five practices existing in their workplace; there were job design, recruitment and selection, training and development, performance appraisal, and compensation. They examine flexibility and employee work-life balance practices and how they impact employee commitment. The findings reveal that employees with high job demands and least organizational support, fail to appreciate these policies and thereby experience low commitment levels.

In a cross-country study, Huo et al (2015) examine the specific effects of three dimensions of high-involvement HRM practices – employee skills, incentives, and participation on Supply Chain Integration. The findings show that employee participation, including problem-solving groups and feedback systems, is positively related to supply chain integration. They confirm that involvement practices improve employee behaviors and create a shared value for that matter harmonious working environment which employers leverage on to improve organizational performance. This study identifies effective communication, information sharing, distributive and procedural justice, employee empowerment, employee involvement and participation, job security as core commitment and non-overlapping HRM practices. Based on the above literature, we postulate that:

H1: Commitment human resource management practices (CHRMPs) positively impact organizations performance (OP).

Positive Employee Attitudes

The aim of this study is also to investigate the mediating role of employee positive attitudes in the relationships between commitment HRM practices and organizational performance. Before investigating the role of employee attitudes on organizational productivity, one must understand the theories that underpin attitude formation. Studies have explained attitudes formation through the lenses of attribution theory. The first proponent of this psychological theory is Heider (1946). Other researchers popularized this theory (Jones et al, 1972, Weiner, 1974). They developed a theoretical framework that has become a major research paradigm in social psychology. Attribution theory assumes that people determine what they do and why they do it. They make causal inferences by assigning causes to behavior or events. According to Heider and Weiner (2002) attribution theory explains an outcome in terms of success or failure by determining the causes of the outcome. They advocate the use of impression management to redirect the attribution to the advantage of a firm. In a related study Harvey and Martinko (2014) argue that attribution has two sides to the coin which are internal and external dimensions that influence an individual psychological being. This psychological state of employee is referred to as attitudes.

Tugan (2017) defines positive employee attitudes as an individual expression of generosity, support and excitement exhibited openly at the workplace. Attitudes can be positive or negative. Avey et al (2011) conceptualize positive attitudes as an employee satisfaction, loyalty to his firm, well-being, and work performance. Studies have reported the link between employee attitudes and organizational performance. Also, Lai et al (2017) examine the relationships between HRM practices, employee attitudes and organizational performance. The findings of British Workplace Employee Survey data reveal that HRM practices positively and significantly impact both financial and firm’s productivity. The results also show that employee attitudes moderate the relationships between HRM practices and organizational performance. Also, Zare (2012) argues that employee attitudes are key determinant in organizational performance. He studies the role of organizational support and found that when employee positively perceive the support they get, they exhibit positive attitudes which positively impact organizational performance.

Furthermore, Ajmal et al (2015) investigate the impact of both intrinsic and extrinsic reward on employee attitudes. Their findings indicate that positive employee attitudes are developed by investing in both intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. In their contribution, Nishii et al (2008) investigated the relationships between HR practices, employee attitudes and customer satisfaction. They found that when employee positively perceived the HRM practices, they affect their attitudes which significantly relate to customer satisfaction. According to Shore and Wayne (1993) organizational commitment causes an employee feeling of obligation to his employer which affects his work attitudes and organizational performance. In a related study, Bartel et al (2011) analyze an opinion survey of a major US bank using common managerial practices. Though, the findings show that the practices affect employee attitudes which impact bank performance. They observed that employee satisfaction is not equal across the 193 branches of the bank. They conclude that there might be other localized determinants of employee attitudes to look out for. Based on the above literature, we propose that:

H2: Positive employee attitudes (PEA) mediates the relationships between Commitment HRM and organizational performance (OP).

Organizational Performance

For today's organization, the issues of performance measurement have become more important than before. There are increasing pressures from shareholders and other stakeholders who demand accountability on how resources are utilized. There have been increasing calls for HRM managers to demonstrate the effectiveness of HRM practices (Schuler and Jackson, 2005). Becker and Gerhart (1996) explain that in measuring an organizational effectiveness, context specific variables must be considered. They propose returns on investment, profits, organizational survival, productivity, cycle time and customer complaints. Rezaei et al (2014) discuss that performance and productivity are related but are not the same. They explain that performance indicates the difference between the actual and the set objectives and expressed in quantitative or qualitative terms. Whereas productivity measures the ratio of an input to output. They conceptualized productivity in terms of motivation, creativity, innovation, cost reduction, quality improvement of activities, work time reduction, job satisfaction and human resource spirit. They conclude that productivity relates to a series of activities planned to improve programs and effective use of resources.

Also, Guest (2002) argues that HRM objectives must be set around measures of employee commitment, flexibility, and quality. He justifies that organizational performance can be achieved through quality, flexibility, and commitment of employees. Moreover, Combs et al (2006) measures performance using productivity, retention, accounting returns, growth, and market returns. They recorded commonly used measures and grouped them into six. There are accounting returns which are the most frequently studied (35%), followed by productivity (32%), retention (23%), multidimensional (22%), growth (16%), and market returns (8%). Shaw et al (2013) examine voluntary turnover or quit rates. Song et al (2020) choose team creativity and explain that team creativity plays an increasingly key role in organizational performance. Kilroy et al (2020) select employee wellbeing through depersonalization, exhaustion, burnout, and psychological detachment. Tseng and Lee (2009) conceptualize organizational performance by turnover, productivity, corporate financial performance, perceived market performance, employee performance, innovation, and employee relations. Ahmad and Schroeder (2002) argue that organizational performance measures include operational performance measures such as unit cost, quality, delivery, flexibility, and speed of new product introduction and an intangible performance measure are organizational commitment. Aguta and Balcioglu (2015) explain that HR outcomes are measured by job satisfaction, employee retention and organizational commitment. The below table presents types of performance and their indicators (Table 1).

Table 1 Summary of Literature on Organizational Performance.
S.No	Types	Indicators	Related literature
1	Financial	Shareholder Returns, Profits, Return on Investment, Cost Reduction, Work Time Reduction, Growth Rate, Market Returns, Employee Retention Rate, Turnover or Quit Rate, Absence Rate, Accident Rate and Return on Assets (ROA).	Shaw et al (2016), Becker and Gerhart (1996), Gardner et al (2012), Comb et al (2006), Rezaei et al (2014).
2	Non-financial	Organizational Survival, Productivity, Customer Complaints, Motivation, Creativity, Innovation, Quality Process Improvement, Job Satisfaction and Conducive Organizational Climate	Becker and Gerhart (1996), Rezaei et al (2014) and Comb et al (2006).
Source: literature review of this study

Based on the review of the literature and the underpinning theory, this study identified three main constructs and used to develop a conceptual model that explains the phenomenon under observation. Adom et al (2018) state that the conceptual framework outlines the key constructs of a study. Bordage (2009) refers to a conceptual framework as a reflection of a researcher’s thinking about a problem, it can emanate from theories, models, or best practices. The commitment HRM practices is used as an independent variable, positive employee attitudes as a mediating variable and organizational performance as a dependent variable. This study assumes that the impact of the independent variable on the dependent variable is not constant but depends on a third variable which is the mediating variable. This mediating variable interposes itself between the 2 variables by interfering on the causal effect. The below figure illustrates the conceptual model of this study (Figure 1).

Based on this study model, the following hypotheses are formulated:

1. Commitment HRM practices positively impact organizational performance.

2. Positive employee attitudes mediate the relationships between HRM practices and organizational performance.

Methodological Approach

The methodology section answers two main questions; how is the study data collected? How is it analyzed? It is an approach to the design of a research work. This section also looks at the research paradigm, the research design, area, study population and sampling procedure. It ends with the questionnaire design. The philosophical assumption of this study is the positivism. Creswell (2009) states that it is important for a researcher to clarify his philosophical assumption as it helps in understanding why he/she choses either a qualitative, quantitative or a mixed method. The reason for adopting this approach emanates from the nature of this study, which is testing of hypotheses, checking relationships between variables, and examining a larger sample size. He notes that when research has a larger sample size, examines relationships, explores theories and an observable phenomenon, it is ideal for a positivist approach. A quantitative approach is employed to gather data from the sampled population. The context of this study is in Ghana, a west African nation. Two SMEs firms constitute the population and employees, and their managers are the units of analysis.

This study employs convenient sampling technique. The choice of this technique is due to the inability of the researcher to assess employee records or file directories that can enable him to randomly select the study participants. According to Etikan et al (2016), convenient sampling has been dominant in quantitative studies. They further explained that it is useful when randomization is impossible. The research uses survey questionnaires to collect primary data to test the study hypotheses. Data on three (3) variables namely commitment HRM practices, positive employee attitudes and organizational performance are collected. They are assessed using 5 points Likert scale measurement, ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). A krejcie and Morgan (1970) sample size determination table is used to select a sample of 327 respondents out of a total population of 2,270 employees. A convenient sampling technique is used to administer the questionnaires over a period of one month. A response rate of 266 respondents (n=266; representing 81.34%) is achieved. This means that 61 respondents (n=61; representing 18.65%) questionnaires are unanswered or incomplete to be meaningful for inclusion in this study data.

The questionnaire has a total of 19 questionnaire items. The first variable is measured using 6 items; there are 1.) Reward in this company is performance-based, 2). we regularly receive information relating to company issues (major changes, company orientation, and performance). 3). This company has briefing teams in every department that discuss work related issues. 4). I can use my personal judgement to carry out my work, 5). My superior consults me in decision-making relating to my job; 6.) Yes, I believe this company has a long career policy for his employees. The second variable is measured using 5 items which are 1). I am provided with enough resources to carry out my work, 2). I like my working environment, 3). I will protect the interest of this company. 4). I get recognition for a good work done, and 5). Overall, I am happy working in this company. Finally, organizational performance is measured using 8 items. 1). I believe our customers are highly satisfied with our products and services, 2). As compared to our competitors, I believe we have better performance in the industry. 3). As compared to the industry, our employee productivity is higher than that of our competitors. 4). We have higher market share compared to competitors in the industry, 5). Employees of this company are more qualified and committed working with this company; 6). I believe we have a positive profit margin; 7) Compared to our competitors, this company is more innovative focus; 8.) This company has a steering committee that provides leadership and formulate strategies. To analyze the data, the SmartPLS version 4 is used, and both the goodness of measure and structural models are examined using techniques such as PLS algorithm and bootstrapping.

Study Results

The data collected are entered into an Excel Software and subsequently imported into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Before its analysis the data is prepared and cleaned. Rovai et al (2014) define data preparation as a process of manipulating data collected in a form that can guarantee the quality of data for statistical analysis. Data analysis will not produce any meaningful results until the data to be analyzed is of good quality (Rovai et al, 2014). To identify missing values and outliers, missing values data analysis command of SPSS is used, and it reports less than 2% of missing values which is below the threshold of 10%. So, an indication that the data is good for analysis. Also, factor analysis is one of the techniques used to examine the goodness of measurement model. According to Sekaran (2003) a goodness of measurement can be assessed through the analysis of questionnaire items. It examines the ability of each item to discriminate between the factors by loading either high or low. Factor analysis helps to determine the validity of a concept. A total of 19 questionnaire items measuring 3 variables are loaded using a SmartPLS4 Algorithm.

Moreover, reliability is a key measurement criterion. For instance, Leary (2008) describes it as a consistency and dependability of a measure. Furthermore, Sekaran (2003) notes that the reliability of a measure indicates the stability and how unbiased an instrument can be when administered in a similar condition. Cronbach Alpha test statistic is the widely used test to measure reliability (Leary, 2008). The reliability measures can range from .00 to 1; the .00 means no reliability and 1 means perfect reliability. A reliability measure of.70 indicates good reliability (Sekaran, 2003). Besides, one assumption needs to be met before one can proceed to the assessment of a structural model. Related literature has cited multicollinearity as one assumption of a structural model (Rovai et al, 214; Adam, 2015). The issue of multicollinearity occurs when two or more variables are highly correlated. This can however be problematic for to study outcomes. Ravai et al (2014) added that multicollinearity is an indication of redundant variable which needs to be identified and removed. The rule of thumb for the VIF is a value of less than 10. The below table presents the results of goodness of measures of this study (Table 2).

Table 2 Summary of Goodness of Measures
Variables	Items	Loading	CR	AVE	VIF
Commitment HRM Practices	CHRMP 1	0.752	0.822	0.528	1.739
	CHRMP 2	0.698			1.584
	CHRMP 3	0.768			1.754
	CHRMP 4	0.683			1.604
	CHRMP 5	0.731			1.624
	CHRMP 6	0.725			1.502
Organizational Performance	OP1	0.753	0.893	0.574	2.337
	OP2	0.731			2.174
	OP3	0.839			2.695
	OP4	0.829			2.511
	OP5	0.792			2.163
	OP6	0.761			2.166
	OP7	0.72			1.958
	OP8	0.612			1.523
Positive Employee Attitudes	PEA1	0.691	0.83	0.588	2.271
	PEA2	0.777			3.101
	PEA3	0.841			3.264
	PEA4	0.761			1.764
	PEA5	0.757			1.664
Note: CR= Cronbach Alpha; AVE=Average Variance Extracted VIF=Variance Inflation Factor

The discriminant validity is assessed using the HeterotraitMonotrait ratios and Fornell Larcker criterion. The HeterotraitMonotrait ratio is used as it can provide more accurate result than the Fornell-Larcker criterion. The decision rule is that its ratio must be lower than a cut-off value of between 0.85 and 0.90 (Henseler et al; 2015). The decision rule for the Fornell-Larcker criteria is that the square root of the AVEs should be greater than the correlations of the constructs (Henseler et al, 2015). Thus, this study had acceptable convergent validity and discriminant validity in measuring the measurement model. The results of discriminant validity are presented in the below table (Table 3).

Table 3 Summary of Discriminant Validity
Heterotrait-Monotrait				Fornell-Larcker criterion
	CHRMPs	OP	PEA		CHRMPs	OP	PEA
CHRMPs				CHRMPs	0.727
OP	0.646			OP	0.569	0.757
PEA	0.578	0.53	-	PEA	0.5	0.498	0.767
Note: CHRMPs= commitment HRM practices; PEA=positive employee attitudes; OP=organizational performance.

After confirming the goodness of the measurement model, we proceed to examine the structural model of this study. Two main hypotheses are formulated. The first one is commitment human resource management practices (CHRMPs) positively impact organizational performance (OP). The second hypothesis is that positive employee attitudes (PEA) mediate the relationships between commitment HRM practices and organizational performance. Hypothesis 1 is supported (B= .568; p<.000). The positive employee psychological feeling is conceived as positive employee attitude (PEA). So, hypothesis 2 is also found to be true (B=.143; t=4.480; p<.000). The results of the structural model are presented on the below table (Table 4).

Table 4 Results of Structural Model
Relationships	Original sample (O)	Sample mean (M)	Standard deviation (STDEV)	T statistics (|O/STDEV|)	P values
CHRMPs -> OP	0.568	0.576	0.058	9.871	0
CHRMPs -> PEA -> OP	0.143	0.144	0.032	4.48	0
CHRMPs -> OP	0.426	0.432	0.07	6.066	0
Note: CHRMPs= commitment HRM practices; PEA=positive employee attitudes; OP=organizational performance.

Discussion

This study aims at investigating the role of core commitment human resource practices on organizational performance. The results indicate that core commitment HRM practices positively impact organizational performance. This finding has been corroborated in similar studies. For instance, Guerrero and Didier (2007) examine the relationships between commitment HRM practices and firm's performance in France. The findings show that commitment HRM practices positively impact organizational performance. Besides, Huo et al (2015) confirm that employee involvement practices improve employee behaviors and create a shared value that improves organizational performance. Moreover, Siriyanum et al (2019) examine the role of commitment practices on supply chain integration in Thailand. The study findings show that an increase in commitment practices lead to an increase in supply chain integration. It is time that management recognizes the role of commitment practices. These are the practices that seeks at improving employee’s morale and job satisfaction. As indicated in the literature, the practices as examined by passed studies are overlapping with other practices that have nothing to do with employee commitment. This study test practices that directly affect employee state of mind. This study argues that bundling and realigning practices such as employee participation, distributive and procedural justice, effective communication and information sharing, job security and employee recognition will go a long way to improve employee wellbeing. The bundle of core commitment practices should also be realigned to organizational long-term goal, thus creating a fit between the practices and firm’s strategy.

Also, the purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating role of positive employee behavior in the relationships between commitment human resource management practices and organizational performance. The hypothesis is supported and corroborated by existing literature. Employee level outcomes such as commitment, satisfaction, motivation have been cited as outcomes that lead to organizational performance. Some authors have remarked that neglecting the employee outcome is like leaving partly unexplained the process. For instance, Bartel et al (2011) analyze an opinion survey of a major US bank using common managerial practices. Their findings show that the practices affect employee attitudes which in turn impact bank performance. Furthermore, Lai et al (2017) examine the relationships between HRM practices, employee attitudes and organizational performance. The findings of British Workplace Employee Survey data disclose that HRM practices positively and significantly impact both financial and firm’s productivity and that positive employee attitudes mediates the relationships. Employee commitment is a key organizational capability. No matter the competencies and resources available to a firm, lacking employee commitment can make it difficult for organizational to achieve their goals. Employee commitment is a vital concept in the HRM model linking HRM practices and organizational performance. This commitment translates into positives employee attitudes and subsequently leads to harmonious business relationships for the internal but also for the external customers. This study argues that HRM practices are in two folds namely high-performance work system geared at developing employee’s competencies and commitment HRM practices geared at developing employee’s commitment. They are different but the two can be deployed to achieve greater organizational value. So, HRM managers can adopt an integrative HRM by combining the two bundles of HRM practices to have talents that are both competent and committed. They must not be overlapping, appearing either in commitment or competencies focused HRM practices. It is time we distinguish the differences between the two so that we can measure the outcomes they ought to measure. The below figure presents the structural model of the study (Figure 2).

Implications and Conclusion

This study contributes to the literature by proposing a new bundle of HRM practices. Specifically, it contributes to examining the impact of core commitment HRM practices in a developing country where commitment is perceived to be linked to total rewards. So, this study contributes to research by showing that core commitment practices impact positively employee wellbeing in a developing context. Studies have used a wider scope of practices which are overlapping. For instance, reports that commitment HRM practices are overlapping as they include items such as training and development, merit pay, recruitment and selection which are found in high performance practices. So, practices such as joint decision and problem-solving, distributed justice, effective communication, and interpersonal relationships directly affect employee psychological state. There are non-overlapping and unlike the high performance geared at developing employee competencies, these core commitment practices seek to improve employee’s behaviors. In addition, this study contributes to the literature by extending knowledge of commitment human practices in developing country. The managerial implication is that, seeking to gain better organizational performance, human resource specialists must critically gauge employee attitudes from time to time. As doing so, will enable them to spot the eruption of future employee related problems. They must also deploy a combination of the identified core commitment practices and reconfigure them into a bundle. High performance work system and commitment human resource management practices are mutually supportive, but each has a particular focus. So, top management must know the contribution of each one and when to be deployed. As doing so, will lead to optimum utilization of the human capital and to an extent positively impact the firm’s bottom line.

In conclusion, this study found that an increment in core commitment HRM practices will lead to an increase in organizational performance. Thus, this study argues that employee commitment can be gained by assembling practices aim at directly developing employee wellbeing (joint decision and problem-solving, distributed justice, effective communication, job security, fair total rewards, employee participation, etc.) and aligning them with the organizational long-term objectives. The bundle of HRM practices cumulatively emit an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects. Employee positive attitudes can create superior organizational performance. Thus, management of SMEs must invest into commitment and competencies oriented HRM strategy. Future studies seeking to repeat this study must look for a greater but randomly selected sampling. This paper also calls for continuation of examining the effect of core commitment human resources practices by considering comparative analysis. Finally, this paper calls on future studies to examine the link between both core commitment human resource and high-performance work system on organizational performance through the mediating role of employee positive attitudes.

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Received: 28-Sept-2023, Manuscript No. AEJ-23-14086; Editor assigned: 01-Oct-2023, PreQC No. AEJ-23-14086(PQ); Reviewed: 15-Oct-2023, QC No. AEJ-23-14086; Revised: 21-Oct-2023, Manuscript No. AEJ-23-14086(R); Published: 28-Oct-2023