Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the potential mediators that operate in the black box between high-performance work systems (HPWS) and employee outcomes. Design/methodology/approach The relationships the authors developed were assessed via data obtained from a time-lagged sample of customer-contact employees and their direct supervisors in the Romanian hotel industry. The study employed bias-corrected bootstrapping analysis to gauge the mediating effects. Findings The findings reveal that psychological capital mediates the impact of HPWS on work engagement. As hypothesized, both psychological capital and work engagement mediate the impact of HPWS on quitting intentions, creative performance and extra-role performance. In short, the findings underscore both psychological capital and work engagement as the two mediators that operate in the black box between HPWS and the aforesaid employee outcomes. In addition, the empirical data support the impact of work engagement in the intermediate linkage between psychological capital and these outcomes. Originality/value The study enhances current knowledge on HPWS by examining the potential mediators between HPWS and motivational outcomes and job outcomes.
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