Mediation Effects of Service Performance and Concerns of Customers on High Performance Work Systems and Institutional Performance in Higher Education Institutes

The main purpose of this study was to examine the effects of high-performance work systems (HPWS) on higher education institutions performance. More precisely, this study attempts to study whether performance work systems which include but are not limited to staffing, training, involvement, performance, communication and caring practices influence employee's performance in institutions of higher learning in the Sultanate of Oman. Additionally, the study also examined the effects of mediator variables such as concern for customers and service performance on institutional performance. 530 respondents voluntarily participated in this study and were selected using a stratified sampling technique. The sample was selected from among general managers, assistant general managers or those in authority from the selected institution. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to test and confirm the result of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) whether the extracted factors fulfilled the psychometric properties and empirically could be considered as meaningful factors. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to test the complex relationship between HPWS and institutional performance. The results suggested a direct relationship between HPWS and institutional performance and indirect relationship via concerns for employees and service performance.