To build a thriving workforce: unpacking the relationship between well-being-oriented human resource management and work outcomes

Amid recent chaos and uncertainties, organizations must build and nurture a thriving workforce that is sustainable and self-generative. We address this call by investigating the impact of well-being-oriented human resource management (WBHRM) on employee outcomes. Using self-determination theory (SDT) as our theoretical anchor, we propose that WBHRM enhances job satisfaction and helping behavior through the sequential mediating impacts of work need satisfaction and thriving at work. To emphasize the context-specific nature of WBHRM, we further propose that human resource management (HRM) system strength, as a core organizational climate, is a relevant boundary condition; the stronger the HRM system, the greater the relationships between WBHRM and thriving. Our three-wave and multisource data collected from 316 employee-manager responses in Eastern China supported the chain-mediating roles played by need satisfaction and thriving in the relationships between WBHRM and job satisfaction and helping behavior, as well as the moderating effect of HRM system strength. We encourage organizations to design and implement WBHRM to create sustainable workplaces and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).