Employee participation as a moderator on the high performance work systems and the perception of quality of care relationship in a large regional Australian health service

This article investigates the moderation effects of participation in decision making on the relationship between HPWS and the perception of quality of care. Survey responses were collected in March 2008 of 541 hospital managers, administrators and various groups of clinicians in a large regional Australian health service. Findings demonstrated that the positive relationship between HPWS and perceptions of the quality of patient care will increase with increasing levels of staff participation in decision making within their unit. These findings illustrate that by implementing HPWS and encouraging employee participation across different hierarchical work units, there is the potential to positively impact patient outcomes.