Exploring perceived motivation-enhancing HR practices and employee–supervisor relationship quality on affective commitment in public hospitals: a multi-level perspective

Purpose This study aims to examine the impact of supervisors’ perceptions of motivation-enhancing HR practices and the employee–supervisor relationship quality, on employees’ affective commitment through the mediating role of employees’ perceptions of motivation-enhancing HR practices. Moreover, the study investigates whether the employee–supervisor relationship quality moderates the relationship between supervisors’ and employees’ perceptions of motivation-enhancing HR practices. Design/methodology/approach The study draws on survey data from 542 employees and 38 supervisors in two large teaching tertiary public hospitals in Pakistan. Multilevel analysis in Mplus was carried out to test the hypothesized model. Findings Employee perceptions of motivation-enhancing HR practices mediate the relationship between supervisor perceptions of these practices and affective commitment and also between the employee-supervisor relationship quality and affective commitment. The moderating role of the employee–supervisor relationship quality was not supported. Practical implications This study suggests that to enhance employee affective commitment, the organization has two key priority areas of relevance: the organization can (1) invest in motivation-enhancing HR practices such as appraisal, promotion and compensation and (2) foster a positive employee-supervisor relationship. Both of these strategies influence the outcome of affective commitment through their role in stimulating positive employees’ perceptions of these motivation-enhancing HR practices. Originality/value The present study enriches our understanding of the antecedents (and their boundary conditions) of employee perceptions of HR practices.