Human resources management practice, job satisfaction and affective organisational commitment relationships: The effects of ethnic similarity and difference

Orientation: The study explored how ethnicity affects the expected relationships among human resources management practice (HRMP), job satisfaction and affective organisational commitment.Research purpose: To establish how ethnicity affects the interpretation of organisationally provided HRMP, and how this interpretation affects the relationships among the study variables.Motivation for the study: Interest has moved from HRMP outcomes to how employees attribute meaning to existing HRMP. Hence, there is a need to study the variables that affect the attribution process and their effects on the effectiveness of HRMP.Research approach/design and method: The study was quantitative and utilised cross-sectional research design. Participants consisted of 450 employees from eight organisations in Nigeria.Main findings: Results indicated that HRMP is positively related to job satisfaction and organisational commitment, and ethnicity is negatively related to job satisfaction and organisational commitment. Ethnicity moderated the relationships among HRMP, job satisfaction and organisational commitment.Practical/managerial implications: Ethnicity affected the relationships among HRMP, job satisfaction and affective organisational commitment; hence, organisations may not be deriving the full anticipated benefits of HRMP. It was suggested that organisations should train managers to adopt positive behaviours that would enhance the management of ethnic diversity and reduce the negative effects of ethnicity.Contribution/value-add: Ethnic similarity has cultural significance in Nigeria and is known to affect managers’ and employees’ behaviour and the sharing of organisational benefits in the workplace. However, studies involving its role in HRMP attribution process are lacking. Hence, this study makes a valuable contribution to how ethnicity affects attribution in HRMP studies.