Conjunctural causality and “multiple effects” in High Performance Work Systems

A large body of literature highlights the key-role of Human Resource Management (HRM) in improving organizational performances. Nevertheless, many questions arise on these “strategic” linkages and some shortcomings remain to be filled. First, a lack of theory that supports the Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) tends to disguise the underlying causal mechanisms between high performance work systems (HPWSs) and organizational performances. Second, the complexity relating to the existence of complementarities in the new forms of work organization poses some methodological issues, with particular regard to find support for the configurational approach in SHRM. Finally, the effects of HPWS are not unequivocal on workers–related outcomes, contributing to make enough unclear those underlying causal mechanisms. Through a systematic review of the existing literature, this study aims to identify the most relevant deficiencies in HPWS research. By analyzing the current debates, we reveal an interesting key to interpret them as highly interrelated challenges and we propose the use of set-theoretic methods to fill them. Overall, this article suggests some future paths of research to be devoted, both empirically and theoretically, to configurations and complementarities in the new work organizations.