East African Journal of Business and Economics

This study assesses the mediating role of future time perspective in the relationship between high-performance work systems and innovative work behaviours of employees in Tanzania’s banking sector. Drawing from AMO theory, social exchange theory


INTRODUCTION
Embarking on a rapidly changing business environment and technological advancement, the banking industry needs innovation for its sustainability in the business. The utilisation of knowledge, skills, abilities, opportunities and innovative behaviour of employees are required for banks to perform better in the new competitive environment (Beltrán-Martín et al., 2017;Brockner et al., 2006;Min et al., 2019;Tracey et al., 2016).
The distant literature has indicated positive and significant effects of High-performance work systems on employees' outcomes such as innovative work behaviours (Fu et al., 2015;Mihail et al., 2013;Yang et al., 2018). However, few studies have tried to empirically and theoretically indicate the underlying processes for the eventual mechanisms through which high-performance work systems enhance employee outcomes (Korff et al., 2017).
This current study demonstrates that highperformance work systems do not work by themselves in enhancing employees' outcomes. For the HPWS to facilitate individual outcomes in an organisation, previous studies have indicated that HPWS provide foundations for such outcomes to happen Min et al., 2019;Shah & Ishfaq Khan, 2019;Veenendaal & Bondarouk, n.d.). By using the multilevel approach and drawing from social exchange theory, the current study elaborates that employees perceive HPWS as beneficial to them and hence based on their evaluations of the future prospects, choose to do what they have to do for themselves and for the organisation. The paper therefore investigates the mediating role of future time perspective in the relationship between high-performance work systems and innovative work behaviour in the banking sector in Tanzania In terms of geographical positioning, most of the HPWS employees' outcomes research has been mostly conducted in western settings, mainly Europe and USA. For instance, Korff et al. (2016) conducted a study on HRM and employee outcomes, including 15 organisations and 913 participants in German and Austria.
However, very few studies have linked HPWS and employees' outcomes in an African context, more specifically on testing the mediating role of future time perspective of employees in the relationship between HPWS and innovative work behaviour in the workplace. Future Time Perspective as a mediating variable in this study explains the mechanism which underlies how HPWS have effects on individuals in an organisation in a Tanzanian context. The current research proposes FTP as a mediating variable in the relationship between HPWS and Innovative Work Behaviours in the banking sector in Tanzania. Future time perspective is defined as a flexible, cognitive, and motivational construct conceptualised as an individual's subjective sense of future time (Carstensen, 2006), which captures at least two views: "future as a time of opportunities and future as a time of limitations." This paper is structured as follows, in the next section the recent works on the HPWS -employees' outcome links are reviewed and propose the hypotheses to guide the research. The research methods part provides information on sampling procedures, measurement of key variables, and analysis strategy, which is followed by the part which describes the data analysis and presentation of results. Lastly, the academic contribution, the practical implications of the study are discussed. A short conclusion is provided.

Key Concepts
High-performance work systems: Scholars have no agreement on what could be the universal definition of HPWS (Boxall & Macky, 2009;Fu et al., 2015;Huang et al., 2018;Tang et al., 2017). However, HPWS can be explained as a bundle of human resources practices which are set for the purpose of enhancing the knowledge, skills, and ability of employees at a workplace for higher work productivity (Boxall & MacKy, 2009;García-Chas et al., 2019;Jyoti & Rani, 2017). HPWS is characterised by a selection of talented staffing, training, mentorship, staff development, performance management, and better incentives (Boxall & MacKy, 2009;Messersmith et al., 2018;Mihail et al., 2013;Tang et al., 2017).

Innovative work behaviour:
Innovative work behaviour is defined as the ability of individuals to initiate and to intentionally create, introduce and apply new and useful ideas in a workplace with the purpose of benefiting the work role, improving the performance and productivity of the organisation (Sanz-Valle & Jiménez-Jiménez, 2018). Innovative work behaviour facilitates the exchange of knowledge and skills among employees and in turn fosters the generation of new knowledge or skill. Innovative work behaviours are very important for organisational innovation. (Abstein & Spieth, 2014;Amankwaa et al., 2019;Bos-Nehles et al., 2017;Husin et al., 2021) Future time perspective: Future time perspective is defined as a flexible, cognitive, and motivational construct conceptualised as an individual's subjective sense of future time (Carstensen, 2006), which captures at least two views: "future as a time of opportunities and future as a time of limitations". Lewis (1939) defined future time perspective as the totality of an individual viewing his future psychologically as well as his psychological past as it exists in the present time. According to Lewis, the way an individual perceives his or her future has an influence on how he/she behaves in the present time.

High-performance Work System and Innovative Work Behaviour
High-performance work systems are designed as a collection of HR bundles which are important in fostering efficiency and work productivity of employees at a workplace through training, selective staffing, better remuneration, job autonomy, and performance management (Fu et al., 2015;Huang et al., 2018).
Previous empirical studies have found that HPWS is linked positively to the IWB of employees in a workplace (Fu et al., 2015;Husin et al., 2021). In examining the HPWS -IWB link, most of the researchers make use of the Ability -Motivation and Opportunity (AMO) framework (Fu et al., 2015;Sanz-Valle & Jiménez-Jiménez, 2018). This framework suggests that the effective utilisation of the HPWS enhances the improvement of knowledge, skills, and abilities of employees in the working place; the improvement of knowledge, skills, and abilities motivates employees to use their expertise to innovate (Abstein & Spieth, 2014;Amankwaa et al., 2019).
High-performance work systems begin with a philosophy and some core values that emphasise treating employees as the centre focus of the competitive advantage of an organisation Tracey et al., 2016). HPWS are hence a combined and separate HR practice in an organisation that influences management to treat employees with respect, dignity, and invest intensively in their carrier growth and development to enhance some behaviours and attitudes that are key and important towards achieving organisational goals.
Reflecting from ability the motivation and opportunity model (AMO), it is indicated that HPWS influence the shared perceptions of employees about their work environment motivating hence some discretionary behaviours that are beyond those described in their job descriptions and contribute to the organisational performance (Beltrán-Martín et al., 2017;Boxall & Macky, 2009;Mihail et al., 2013). HPWS are therefore associated with the innovative work behaviours of employees in the working environment.
Drawing from the theoretical and empirical studies, evidence has been established that there is a positive relationship between HPWS and IWB in an organisation. For instance, a systematic literature of 27 articles from peer-reviewed articles which were conducted by Bos-Nehles et al. (2017) provides evidence of the effect of HPWS on IWB in the workplace. Fu et al. (2014) collected quantitative data from 195 managing partners, HR managers, and experienced Partners from 120 Irish accounting firmsthe results indicated strong evidence of the impact of HPWS on IWB.
In the Spanish context, Sanz-Valle and Jiménez-Jiménez (2017) conducted research using a sample from 225 Spanish manufacturing companies; their results provided strong support on the impact of high-performance work systems on both innovative work behaviour of employees and product innovation in an organisation.
A study by Yasir and Majid (2018) with data collected from 786 nurses and 114 doctors in public hospitals in Pakistan is another evidence of HPWS affecting the IWB of employees in the working place. Hence, an association between HPWS and IWB has been established both theoretically and empirically.
Aligned with the previously reviewed literature, the current study hypothesises that the utilisation of HPWS in an organisation is positively linked to the IWB of employees. Carstensen (2006) defines future time perspective as both a motivational and cognitive construct dealing with the subjective sense of future time and what is going to happen when the future arrives. The concept of FTP plays an important role in the way employees in the organisation perceive their wellbeing and organisational performance; this is because FTP involves itself in the individual's interpretation of his or future goals as reflected in the present tasks in the organisation (Henry et al., 2017;Kooij et al., 2018;Korff et al., 2017).

High-performance Work Systems and Future Time Perspectives
In the working scenario, FTP has also been termed an occupational future time perspective. This is due to the fact that FTP is seen as the way employees perceive remaining time at work and hence remaining opportunities which are associated with the remaining time at employment (Carstensen, 2006;Korff et al., 2017). FTP has a double nature to individuals in the working place, feeling about life and feeling about the future. Some scholars such as Kuppelwieser and Sarstedt (2014) reconceptualised it with three dimensions: focus on opportunities, focus on life, and focus on time.
Cate and John (2007) described FTP as individuals' perception of how much time they have for future opportunities. Individuals with positive assessments of life and the future can focus on setting goals, developing plans, and evaluating sets of options to follow in their remaining lifetime.
Based on the social exchange theory, in supporting the concept of high-performance work systems on organisational and employee outcomes, social exchange theory describes the significance of HPWS in motivating employees to align themselves with institutional goals and working towards the success of such goals (Korff et al., 2017). Specifically, social exchange theory explains that the interaction and exchanges between the organisation and the employees generate the feeling of obligation to reciprocate (Blau, 1964).
HPWS play key roles to employees as they supply them with HR practices which are beneficial and motivate workers to reciprocate with good attitudes. Previous studies have categorised resources linked to social exchange theory into six classes, status, money, goods, information, services, and affiliation (Korff et al., 2017). However, in organisational studies, the six classes seem to be collapsing into two categories of economic and social-emotional outcomes.
HPWS is a social and emotional resource, providing employees' needs for self-esteem, need for affiliation, and need for emotional support (Carstensen, 2006). This is to suggest that HPWS not only provide some economic exchanges to employees but necessarily provides some social exchanges that facilitate employees to pursue some significant and fundamental psychological goals in the organisation (Korff et al., 2017).
According to socio-emotional selectivity theory, the motivation of individuals in an organisation to attain some psychological goals will shift as a consequence of declining resources due to situations both related and unrelated to age, which are an indication of an individual's sense of future time (Carstensen, 2006). However, the social motivation of individuals in an organisation can be reinforced by social-emotional resources supplied by HPWS. For instance, HPWS will provide individuals in an organisation with social and emotional resources such as information, status, affiliation, and participation programs which improve the perception of employees about his or her future time in the organisation (Andre et al., 2018;Kooij et al., 2018;Korff et al., 2017).
Previous studies have indicated that HPWS affect FTP (Elrehail et al., 2022); for example, evidence from the literature indicates that HPWS is also linked to employees' well-being and happiness and hence reduces anxiety. Some components of HPWS such as training and development, transparency, communication, job security, empowerment, autonomy, and information sharing are key in enhancing an individual's positive psychology and hence stimulating future time life evaluations.
Aligned with the previous studies, the current study hypothesises that the utilisation of HPWS in an organisation is positively linked to FTP

The Mediating Role of FTP in the HPWS, IWBlink
The discussed hypotheses above have highlighted the linkages between HPWS and IWB. Implicitly, the discussion proposes that HPWS affect IWB through FTP. That is to say, the utilisation of HPWS promotes the employees' positive perception about their future in the organisation which in turn will promote IWB. Therefore, this current study proposes that FTP plays a mediating role in the relationship between HPWS and IWB.

Sample and Procedures
This is a survey-basedstudy. The sample that was used for the purpose of this study was drawn from the banking sector in Tanzania. Various banks in Mwanza city, which is the second largest city in the country, were asked to participate. The researcher explained the objectives, scope, and implications of the study. Seventeen banks consented to participate and respond to the survey questionnaires.
A total of 372 participants from the 17 banks in Mwanza city participated in the study. The 372 participants include 152 of those working as directors and managers (The company level) and 220 employees working as normal employees in the banks (The individual level). Overall, the response rate (weighted) was 63 per cent. This was captured by computing an average for each response rate of every company.

Measures
High-performance work systems (HPWS) are measured by 20 items being drawn from HR practices that include compensations, staffing, the selection process of employees, communication channels, participation of employees in decisionmaking, and training and development of employees in the working environment. The measure has been used in the studies of Lepak and Snell (1999), Datta et al. (2005), and Boxall et al. (2016). The internal consistency of FTP achieved the reliability of alpha 0.843 Future time perspectives (FTP) are the key variable on the employee level; it also plays a mediator role in assessing the relationship between HPWS and IWB of employees in the banking sector in Tanzania. The assessment of FTP was done using the scale which was first used by Lang and Carstensen (2002) and was further tested by Cate and John (2007). Previously, this scale was used for the prediction of some work-related attitudes and behaviours like employee motivation and the mediating role of FTP in a working environment (Kooij et al., 2014). The FTP measure used in this study has also been used in testing psychological contracts (Bal et al., 2010) as well as decisionmaking efficacy (Jung et al., 2015). Sample items are "My future is filled with possibilities, "I expect that I will set many new goals in the future," and "I have the sense that time is running out" (reverse coded). The internal consistency of FTP achieved the reliability of alpha 0.715 Innovative work behaviours (IWB) were tested using the nine items measure used by Jansens (2001). He used these measure items when studying innovative work behaviour in an organisation. The sample questions used in the measure items are, 'how often do you perform these innovative work behaviours at your workplace?' Items included (a) creating new ideas for difficult issues, (b) generating original solutions for problems, and (c) mobilising support for innovative ideas. The internal consistency of the IWB achieved the reliability of alpha 0.743

Analytical Strategy
The current research design constitutes the multilevel model. The study used hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) to test the hypotheses. HLM allows a researcher to conduct group mean analyses that make proper adjustments for group size differences and account for independence among individuals.
The current study has used HLM to test the direct and indirect effects of HPWS on FTP and IWB. In examining the mediation, the analysis followed the procedure suggested by Zhang et al. (2009), who adopted Baron and Kenny's (1986) for mediation analysis to hierarchical level modelling. According to Baron and Kenny, three criteria are key for full mediation analysis. First, the independent variable (HPWS in this case) has to be related to the mediator variable (FTP in this case). Secondly, the mediator variable (FTP) needs to be linked to the dependent variable (IWB). Lastly, the positive and significant association between the independent and dependent variables should no longer be significant if controlled for. However, if the coefficient between HPWS and IWB remains significant but is reduced substantially after the introduction of FTP in the regression equation, there is evidence for partial mediation.
In the current study, HPWS constitute the company level as level -2. The mediator variable (FTP) and the dependent variable (IWB) are referred to as level -1 (Individual or employees level).
For the decomposing of the between individual variance and between company level variance, FTP was group centred on the employees' level in the regression equation. All other variables such as control variables and company-level variables such as HPWS were grand mean centred.

Descriptive Statistics and Correlation Analysis
The descriptive statistics of this research indicate that, of those who responded to the survey questionnaires, 58% of the respondents were females, while 42% of the respondents were males. Most of those who responded to the questionnaires were aged between 20 to 50 years. Further, the findings of this study have shown that 80% of those who attended the questionnaires have an undergraduate degree.
The descriptive statistics and correlations indicate a few relations to note. First, there is a negative relation between FTP and the age of employees in Tanzania's banking sector, correlated at -0.173*. This confirms the results that have been previously reported in past studies, that as age diminishes, the FTP also diminishes (Henry et al., 2017;Kooij et al., 2018;Korff et al., 2017). Second, the correlation analysis indicates that there is a positive and significant relationship between FTP and IWB at 0.05 level (2-tailed). The details of the correlation results are shown in Table 1 below.  (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

Hypotheses Testing
To test the hypotheses, the regression analysis was conducted in HLM with HPWS predicting FTP. The hypotheses predicted that HPWS would be positively related to FTP and IWB, FTP would be positively related to IWB, and lastly, FTP would be mediating the relationship between HPWS and IWB.
East African Journal of Business and Economics, Volume 6, Issue 1, 2023  Table 2 below indicates the evidence that HPWS significantly predict FTP. The HLM regression results prove that in the banking sector in Tanzania, a 1% increase in HPWS has a positive and significant effect on FTP by 43%. Significantly the level of impact has also been indicated by the value of P on the regression analysis. The HLM proves this significant association between HPWS and FTP by a P-value of <0.001 which is a very strong demonstration of the effect of HPWS on FTP.

The multilevel effect of HPWS on FTP
The summary of the model specification was as follows; Level-1 Model

The Multilevel effects of HPWS on IWB
Using HLM, the multilevel effect of HPWS on IWB was tested. HPWS were regarded as the independent variable and IWB was regarded as an outcome variable. Table 3 below illustrates that a 1% increase of HPWS in the banking sector in Tanzania has an impact on the IWB of the employees in the banking sector in Tanzania empirically by 42.7% with a P-value of <0.001. These results are clear evidence of the significant effect of HPWS as utilised by the management of the banking sector in Tanzania on the innovative work behaviours of the employees working in the banking sector in Tanzania.
The summary of the model specification was as follows; Level-1 Model Least-squares estimates of fixed effects

The Mediating Effect of FTP in the HPWS-IWB link
In testing the mediation effect of FTP in the HPWS-IWB link, again, the HLM model was used. Three stages were used in examining the mediation role of FTP in the HPWS and IWB relationship. First, the cross-level effects of HPWS on FTP were tested, and results indicated the positive and significant relationship between HPWS and FTP as indicated in Table 2 above. Second, the cross-level effect of HPWS on IWB was tested, and the findings indicated that a 1% increase in HPWS has an effect on IWB by 42.7% with a p-value of <0.001.
Third, for testing the mediation effect, FTP was introduced as an intervening variable in the HPWS and IWB model using HLM software. After the introduction of FTP in the HPWS and IWB model, the coefficient value of HPWS indicated a drop from 42.7% in the direct effect between HPWS on IWB to 25%. Baron and Kenny (1986) state that for the mediation to occur, the positive and significant association between independent and dependent variables should no longer be significant if controlled for. However, if the coefficient between HPWS and IWB remains significant but is reduced substantially after the introduction of FTP in the regression equation, there is evidence for partial mediation. In the case of the current study, the association between HPWS and IWB have remained significant, but the coefficient value of HPWS on IWB has been reduced substantially from 42.7% before the introduction of a mediator variable (FTP) in the equation to 25% after the introduction of the mediator variable in the HPWS, IWB equation.
These results hence empirically prove that FTP partially mediates the relationship between HPWS and IWB in the banking sector in Tanzania

DISCUSSION AND THEORETICAL CONTRIBUTION
Previous studies have demonstrated the importance of employees' attitudes and behaviours in enhancing the link between HPWS and organisational performance strongly (Min et al., 2019;Sanz-Valle & Jiménez-Jiménez, 2018;Yang et al., 2018). However, few studies have illustrated the underlying mechanisms and processes that foster the relationship between HPWS and innovative work behaviours.
Drawing on social exchange theory (Blau, 1964), social-emotional selectivity theory (Carstensen, 2006), and the AMO model, the current study suggests that FTP mediates the link between HPWS and IWB. The results provide evidence that HPWS have effects on FTP and IWB, and the link between HPWS and IWB is partially mediated by FTP. In other words, the utilisation of HPWS in an organisation affects how individuals perceive their future in the organisation as a turn for more opportunities and /or a time of limitations, which shapes their innovative behaviour in an organisation.
In a wider view, behaviours and attitudes facilitate how individuals adapt to the work environment. HPWS in this case function as a social-emotional resource that stimulates employees and inspires them to pursue some fundamental psychological goals such as maintaining self-esteem and selfconcept and information acquisition. The levels of such resources may cause individuals to upgrade or lower their priorities in the organisation.
HPWS provide psychological resources to individuals in an organisation, which in turn these resources motivate employees to achieve higher goals and hence have a positive perception of their future in the organisation. The enhanced perception of FTP increases the chances that employees in the organisation will adopt and seek to pursue longterm goals in the organisation and, in the end, increases innovative work behaviours in the workplace.
This current study contributes to the literature in three ways; first, this research has introduced individual-level variables into theoretical models explaining the relationship between HPWS and work-related outcomes. The previous studies centred on explaining the mediation effect of workrelated outcomes on organisational performance; however, less attention has been given to the underlying mechanism through which HPWS impacts or shape employees' work-related outcomes, such as innovative work behaviours. The current study empirically demonstrates that FTP plays an important role in enhancing innovative work behaviours amongst employees working in the banking sector in Tanzania. It is important for the organisation to be able to control and govern the employees' perceptions of their future for the better facilitation of mechanisms unto which HPWS facilitates work-related outcomes such as IWB. This current study is therefore very important as its findings demonstrate that, in the working environment, HPWS play a very important role in shaping and motivating employees' FTP and hence IWB.

Limitations of the Study and Future Directions
This research, like any other research, has some limitations as well. First, this study investigates the relationship between high-performance work systems towards innovative performance and innovative work behaviour in the banking sector, which is the service sector in Tanzania. Therefore, the findings of this research can generally be used in other industries providing services as well.
Other researchers should also investigate the usability of the model proposed in this study in other sectors like the mining sector, manufacturing firms, and tourism industry in Tanzania as well as in the hospitality industry. This study has focused on both the public and private sector banks in Tanzania. Future studies may narrow down to the specific banking sector separatelylike the proposed model being applied to private banks in Tanzania or separately to the public banks in Tanzania.
The data collected in this study were collected from the banks through their HR offices which can raise the problem of common method bias. For future studies, more sources of collecting data must be applied. Convenience sampling has been used in this study. The use of this sampling method was necessary because of the limited time and resources. However, the sampling method is not good in generalising the target population. The researcher hence suggests that for the future study, researchers should adopt other sampling methods such as stratified sampling method This study is cross-sectional by design. The findings obtained in this study have well correlated to the proposed model of the researcher. The weakness of the cross-sectional design is that it cannot well describe the causality of the proposed hypotheses. It is then suggested that future studies should utilise the longitudinal approaches so that they can address the issue of causality.
Demographic variables such as gender, education, job position, age and job tenure, in many cases, have an impact on the innovative work behaviours of employees at the workplace. These variables are controlled in this study. Future studies should include such variables in the model to test their effects on innovative work behaviours of employees in an organisation.
In understanding how HPWS can have an influence on the innovative work behaviour of employees, it is necessary for future studies to consider other intervening variables, such as affective psychological empowerment and affective commitment, through which high-performance work systems influence innovative work behaviours.

CONCLUSION
This research investigated the mediating role of FTP in explaining the underlying mechanism in which HPWS influence individual innovative work behaviours of employees in the banking sector in Tanzania. The study intends to contribute to the body of knowledge of strategic human resources management and organisational studies on the impact of employees' future time perspectives on organisation and innovative behaviours of employees in the workplace. The findings of the study suggest that the utilisation of HPWS has a significant effect on IWB and FTP, and consequently, FTP partially mediates the association between HPWS and IWB.
It is therefore suggested that organisations that foster higher productivity and performance should pay attention to the implementation of HR practices through HPWS that will, in turn, result in outcomes such as FTP and IWB which are important for the growth of organisations.