Unlocking the black box of HPWPs-performance relationship in Vietnamese higher education context: the case of Ho Chi Minh City’s universities

Resting on social exchange theory and the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity framework, this research examined the causal relationships between high- performance work practices, climate for engagement, job engagement, and job performance in the context of Vietnamese higher education. A multiphase, multisource data collection method was applied to 394 pairs of full-time academic staff and their line managers or supervisors working for 14 public and private universities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Using SEM and MSEM to analyze the data, the research pinpointed that of the three dimensions of high-performance work practices, ability-enhancing and opportunity-enhancing practices had significant and positive influences on Vietnamese university academic staff’s job engagement. Climate for engagement was a crucial mediator in the influences of ability-enhancing and motivation-enhancing practices on Vietnamese university academic staff’s job engagement. As their job engagement increased, it led to an improvement in their job performance. These significant findings explain how high-performance work practices promote Vietnamese university academic staff’s job performance.