A Meta‐Analysis of Antecedents of High‐Performance Work System Use: The Role of Firms’ Strategic and Institutional Environmental Forces

ABSTRACT Strategic human resource management (HRM) scholars have extensively examined the impact of a high‐performance work system (HPWS) on firm performance outcomes and the conditions that influence this relationship. However, the factors that affect how intensively a firm uses an HPWS remain less understood. Building on Wright and McMahan's (1992) model of strategic HRM, this meta‐analytic study examines the relationships of firm strategic (e.g., business strategy) and institutional environmental forces (e.g., environmental dynamism) on firms’ HPWS use. Additionally, we examine the relative importance of the two sets of forces in determining a firm's HPWS use while accounting for the correlations among the various factors. Our findings across various types of studies/samples suggest that (a) firms’ strategic forces are substantially more influential than institutional environmental forces as antecedents of a firm's HPWS use; (b) factors in the firm resources and capacities domain are relatively more important than those in the business strategy domain; and (c) a differentiation strategy, firm size, past performance, and firm capital intensity are, on average, the most important determinants among all forces. Lastly, we examine whether and how rating sources, HPWS operationalization, and the level of analysis influence the antecedent—HPWS relationships.