Abstract: In this paper the phenomenon of HPWS “process trap” is confirmed and its occurrence mechanism is explored through quantitative and qualitative sub studies from 72 subsidiaries of a state-owned power service group in China. Study 1 (quantitative) based on 4,186 questionnaires and objective data of external customer complaints, confirms the bewilderment and harmfulness of HPWS process traps: (1) the correlation between managers’ HPWS climate and employees’ HPWS climate is not significant; (2) there is a significant gap between the two; and (3) the larger the gap is, the more serious the customer complaint is. Study 2 (qualitative) follows the principle of grounded theory, and based on the interview data of 24 department managers and 30 employees, discusses the occurrence mechanism of HPWS process traps from the perspective of social cognition: it originates from the hierarchical differentiation of HR policy itself and the cognitive difference between employees and managers on HR policy objectives, which is blocked by the social communication inertia of acquaintances in the workplace and strengthened by identity cognition. At the same time, the polarization of the trap is constrained by the zhong-yong thinking based on collective identity. This paper helps to enlighten the new direction of HPWS process perspective research, contributes to the localization research of HPWS, provides clues for the social information processing system model to further distinguish cognitive information from a functional perspective, and also has some enlightenment significance for enterprises to prevent internal management traps.

Key words: high-performance work systems, management trap, customer complaint, social information process, grounded theory