The nexus between HRM, employee engagement and organizational performance of federal public service organizations in Ethiopia

The study of HRM and Performance of public service is an extremely relevant theme. Although studies on the HRM-performance link have been well documented, the results were inconclusive. Besides, previous studies have paid little attention to the public service from developing country's context. Drawing on the AMO Model and SET, the present study examined the effect of HRM System on Employee Engagement and Organizational Performance. Likewise, this study tested the intervening effect of Employee Engagement in the HRM-performance link. Using a sample of federal employees (n [Formula: see text] 340) in government organizations, we tested the hypothesized three-factor model using SEM. The finding of the study shows that there is a positive and significant relationship between HRM, Employee Engagement and Organization Performance. Besides, employee engagement partially mediated the link between HRM and Performance. Concerning the effect of the individual HR practices, the present study revealed a positive and differing effect of HR practices on both engagement and performance although the magnitude effect is smaller than, the combined effect of the HR practices together. Moreover, Autonomy was identified as an important driver of both engagement and performance. This result contributes to the HRM-performance debate. As a final point, the present study incorporates conclusions, implication and future research direction.