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Mediating and moderating variables of employee relations and sustainable organizations: a systematic literature review and future research agenda

Radha Yadav (School of Business and Management, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Bangalore, India)
Narendra Singh Chaudhary (Soil School of Business Design, Gurugram, India)
Dharmendra Kumar (Department of Management Studies, Delhi College of Technology and Management, Palwal, India)
Damini Saini (Indian Institute of Management, Raipur, India)

International Journal of Organizational Analysis

ISSN: 1934-8835

Article publication date: 22 August 2022

Issue publication date: 24 November 2023

948

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to perform a systematic literature review to organize the abundance of information on employee relations (ER) and sustainable organizations. Moreover, this study identifies the research gaps by investigating the review of ER’ mediating and moderating variables and the relationship between ER and sustainable organizations.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is based on the systematic literature review methodology involving 257 studies in the final stage. The Scopus and Google Scholar databases with search criteria “employee relations” and “employee relations and sustainable organization” were used to achieve the research objective. After applying inclusion and exclusion criteria, researchers come to the distribution of the articles based on the subthemes, geographical region, types of methods, top authors with affiliation and complete research articles based on the citation. In the final stage, this study concluded with the conceptual model comprising mediators and moderators of ER as well as the mediating and moderating variables of the relationship between ER and sustainable organizations.

Findings

The reviewed literature shows that employee relation is an optimal strategy for retaining employees via proper disclosure of human resources (HRs) and ER Index. This study included the top six publishers, namely, Emerald, Elsevier, Sage, Springer, Taylor and Francis and Wiley Online Library, to do an exhaustive review on a specific topic. The findings indicate that after COVID-19, the ER index, HR disclosures and the sustainability of ER are among the new and required paradigm shifts needed to manage a crisis impact and perform productively. The mediator and moderator variables that can improve employee–employer relationships are organizational trusts, organizational justice, perceived job satisfaction, organizational structure and firm ownership. On the other hand, variables that mediate and moderate the relationship between ER and sustainable organizations are organizational climate, organization trust, organization culture, perceived organization support, psychological empowerment, firm ownership, leadership behavior and attitude, respectively. The findings concluded that harmonious and cordial ER are pertinent in building sustainable organizations and accomplishing organizational goals.

Practical implications

The mediating and moderating variables that have been identified can be helpful for enthusiastic researchers in contributing to empirical research. Practitioners and managers can use the findings in making an effective organizational model that develops good employee–employer relationships and helps create a culture of trust and harmony. This study focuses on exploring the variables of ER, which strengthens employee–employer relationships and supports organizations to stay agile and attain sustainability to endure in the future.

Originality/value

This study insights on the specific mediating and moderating variables of ER and sustainable organizations. Till date, studies exploring constructs of ER and sustainable organizations are still in deficit. Better employee relation reflects and leads to a more resilient organization. Future researchers should explore the connection between pandemics and ER which is done insufficiently in the present time.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their valuable suggestions and comments. Furthermore, the authors would like to thank the editorial board of the journal.

Citation

Yadav, R., Chaudhary, N.S., Kumar, D. and Saini, D. (2023), "Mediating and moderating variables of employee relations and sustainable organizations: a systematic literature review and future research agenda", International Journal of Organizational Analysis, Vol. 31 No. 7, pp. 3023-3050. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOA-12-2021-3091

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

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