Employee coverage of high-performance work systems in Spain: a comparative analysis before and during economic retrenchment

The aim of this paper is to provide the first comprehensive study of high-performance work systems (HPWS) in the Spanish private sector. Based on a representative sample at national level of 9,086 salaried employees, drawn from the Quality of Life at Work Survey, we build three HRM bundles following the ability-motivation-opportunity framework. Results derived from performing logit regressions allow establishing that the size of the organisation has a positive effect on the probability of workers being affected by HPWS. Regarding the activity sector, the positive association is found for the manufacturing and services industries. As for the job and personal characteristics, HPWS primarily affect highly qualified workers and holders of well-paid, high quality jobs. Additionally, we find that, while lower quality jobs are being massively destroyed during the economic crisis, higher quality jobs under HPWS are being created throughout the period 2006-2010.