Theoretically, writers have presented and revised different conceptual models to
capture theHR–performance causal chain (Dyer and Reeves 1995; Paauwe and Richardson
1997; Wright and Nishii 2004; Purcell and Kinnie 2007). Most of the researchers have
pointed out the importance of the mediation and intervention of employee-related factors.
This is in line with Guest’s (1987) framework. Empirically, writers have begun to examine the mediating role of employee-related variables, such as employee commitment, the
psychological contract and ability in the HR–performance linkage. This research has
reported some positive evidence. However, this research is piecemeal and fragmented, and
only a limited number have used a comparatively wide range of factors to construct an
extensive and integrative framework of employee outcomes, and then examined their
mediating effect (Katou and Budhwar 2006, 2010). Similarly, in the context of China,
although researchers have reported some positive evidence of the relationship between
high-performance work systems (HPWS) and performance (Bjorkman and Fan 2002;
Zhang 2006; Li, Qian, Liao and Chu 2008) and some mediators have been proved valid
(Wei and Lau 2005; Zhang and Agarwal 2009; Gong, Chang and Cheung 2010), it is still
premature to conclude that the general efficiency of HPWS has been established (Kim,
Wright and Su 2010).