Journal Menu
Related Events
Journal of Social, Management and Tourism Letter
JSMTL 2025, 20 pages - Article ID: JSMTL-2505072112963
Reconceptualizing High-Performance Work Practices as a Family-Resemblance Composite
a School of Management Sciences, The Federal Polytechnic Damaturu, Damaturu, Nigeria / Department of Business Administration, Iconic Open University, Sokoto, Nigeria
b Faculty of Social and Management Sciences, Yobe State University, Damaturu, Nigeria
ABSTRACT
Purpose: This paper addresses the persistent construct proliferation, definitional ambiguity, and measurement inconsistency surrounding High-Performance Work Practices (HPWPs) by proposing a more coherent conceptualization. Methodology: A conceptual theory-building approach is adopted, integrating HPWP scholarship with construct theory, family-resemblance concepts, and measurement theory. Findings: The paper argues that HPWP scholarship is constrained by an implicit essentialist assumption that a universally valid bundle of practices exists. It reconceptualizes HPWPs as a family-resemblance composite comprising mutually reinforcing HR practices that share overlapping performance-enhancing characteristics without requiring any practice to be universally present. This perspective accommodates multiple valid configurations while aligning conceptualization with composite and configurational measurement. Originality/value: The paper identifies essentialist thinking as the source of conceptual fragmentation, introduces a family-resemblance composite conceptualization, and provides a coherent foundation for construct definition, measurement, and cumulative theory development in strategic human resource management. Practical implications: The framework supports context-sensitive HR system design and encourages measurement approaches consistent with the constitutive nature of HPWPs.
High-Performance Work Practices; Family-Resemblance Concepts; Composite Constructs; High-Performance Work Systems; Strategic Human Resource Management.