HRD practices and employee engagement: a moderated mediation model with POS as mediator and affective commitment as moderator

Purpose Highly engaged employees are invaluable assets for organizations in the 21st century, as their skills contribute to success even during challenging times. This study examines the relationship between human resource development (HRD) practices and employee engagement, with perceived organizational support (POS) as a mediating variable and affective commitment as a moderating variable. Design/methodology/approach The cross-sectional data were collected from 398 bank employees (at a 95% confidence level and 5% margin of error) from 10 commercial banks. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (Smart-PLS) was employed to evaluate the proposed model and hypotheses. Construct reliability and validity were established through convergent and discriminant validity. Findings The results reveal that HRD practices, including training and development, career development and performance feedback, are significantly associated with employee engagement. Furthermore, POS partially mediates the relationship between career development and performance feedback with employee engagement, but it does not mediate the relationship between training and development and employee engagement. Additionally, affective commitment significantly moderates the relationship between POS and employee engagement. Originality/value The findings offer valuable insights for bank management and policymakers, suggesting that strategic HRD practices, combined with efforts to enhance POS—particularly when affective commitment acts as a moderator between POS and engagement—can significantly boost employee engagement.