Procedure and sample
Work units were identified through a network of master students in HR studies as part of
their thesis project, under close supervision of the authors. Multiple studies have collected
data via this procedure, among others, El Akremi et al. (2010) and Spell and Arnold (2007).
The work units needed to comprise a distinguishable collection of employees with a line
manager involved in the enactment of HPWS practices. Preferably all employees in a work
unit were surveyed; in case not all employees could be surveyed in the work unit, the
manager was instructed to select a sample of employees in the work unit that should
include only employees working in the primary process of that specific work unit.
Both surveys (for the employees and their line manager) needed to be sent out at the same
time.
After deletion of work units with fewer than three employee responses or with no returned
line manager questionnaire, the sample consists of 1,065 employees working in 150 units (the
150 units are nested within 73 organisations). The average number of employee questionnaires
per unit was seven; the average response rate in a unit was 47 per cent, and the overall response
rate was 24 per cent. Almost 60 per cent of the managers was male, and their average age was
43 years [standard deviation (SD) = 8.24]. The majority of the manager sample holds at least a
bachelor’s degree (more than 80 per cent). The median number of years within the organisation
is 10 (SD = 10.22). In the employee sample, almost 60 per cent of the respondents was female,
and the average age of the respondents was 37 years (SD = 11.27). Nearly 50 per cent of the
respondents hold at least a bachelor’s degree, and the median number of years within the
organisation was 5 (SD = 8.56). About 54 per cent of the units were in the profit sector and about
46 percent of the units in the non-profit sector.