Do HR practices facilitate innovative work behaviour? Empirical evidence from higher education institutes

BACKGROUND: Nothing we do is more important than hiring and developing people. At the end of the day, you bet on people, not on strategies,” Lawrence Bossily. OBJECTIVE: Drawing on the above quote, this study investigates the role of High-performance work practices (HPWP) in fostering innovative work behaviour (IWB) of service sector employees. METHODOLOGY: Data collected by structured questionnaires were analysed through the structural equation modelling technique. RESULTS: Findings showed that selection and training & development play a significant role in fostering innovative work behaviour. Moreover, self-efficacy proved to be a significant mediator in the mechanism of HPWP-IWB. CONCLUSION: The finding of the study underpins the reciprocity perspective of the social exchange theory (SET). Additionally, the study also endorses that human resources are not a thing companies do. It is the thing that runs businesses.