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HRM and its Impact on Employee Happiness: An Empirical Study on Sri Lankan
Employees

Article · May 2020

DOI: 10.20448/journal.500.2020.72.114.123

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 Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Management Studies
Vol. 7, No. 2, 114-123, 2020
ISSN(E) 2313-7401/ ISSN(P) 2518-0096
DOI: 10.20448/journal.500.2020.72.114.123
© 2020 by the authors; licensee Asian Online Journal Publishing Group

HRM and its Impact on Employee Happiness: An Empirical Study on Sri Lankan
Employees

H.H.D.P.J. Opatha1
K.I. Uresha2

Department of Human Resource Management, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.

1,2 ( Corresponding Author)

Abstract
A systematic empirical study was carried out with regard to Human Resource Management
(HRM) and Employee Happiness owing to little research done, contextual gap and intellectual
curiosity of authors. Objectives of the study were (1) to find the degree of happiness of Sri Lankan
employees under study; (2) to find the degree of HRM practices in the organizations where
employees are working under study; and (3) to investigate whether there is any positive and
significant impact from HRM on employee happiness. The nature of this study was analytical;
time horizon was cross sectional; and the unit of analysis was individual. A theoretical framework
was formulated based on some empirical evidences in literature review and logical beliefs of the
authors. Two different instruments were developed by the authors to measure the employees‟
happiness and HRM practice level of their organizations. Reliability and validity of the
instruments are assured. Survey method was utilized and 110 employees responded to the authors
developed questionnaire through the sampling technique of convenient sampling technique. The
empirical findings revealed that employees‟ happiness and HRM practices of their organizations
are in a high degree and HRM has a significant and positive impact on happiness of Sri Lankan
employees under study.

Keywords: HRM, Happiness, Employee, Organization, Survey, Sri Lanka.

JEL Classification: C12 Hypothesis Testing: General.

Citation | H.H.D.P.J. Opatha; K.I. Uresha (2020). HRM and its Acknowledgement: Both authors contributed to the conception and design of
Impact on Employee Happiness: An Empirical Study on Sri Lankan the study.
Employees. Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Management Funding: This study received no specific financial support.
Studies, 7(2): 114-123. Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflict of
History: interests.
Received: 10 February 2020 Transparency: The authors confirm that the manuscript is an honest,
Revised: 24 March 2020 accurate, and transparent account of the study was reported; that no vital
Accepted: 27 April 2020 features of the study have been omitted; and that any discrepancies from the
Published: 21 May 2020 study as planned have been explained.
Licensed: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Ethical: This study follows all ethical practices during writing.
Attribution 3.0 License
Publisher: Asian Online Journal Publishing Group

Contents
1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................... 115
2. Research Questions and Objectives ........................................................................................................................................... 115
3. Conceptualization of the Constructs.......................................................................................................................................... 115
4. Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................................................................................ 116
5. Operationalization of the Constructs ........................................................................................................................................ 117
6. Method ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 119
7. Findings ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 120
8. Discussion ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 122
9. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 122
References ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 122

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Contribution of this paper to the literature

This study adds empirical evidence in Sri Lankan context to confirm that Human Resource
Management (HRM) has a significant positive impact on Employee Happiness.

1. Introduction
In the present turbulent business environment people are spending a busier life where many work family
conflicts occur which directly affect in happiness level of people. If work family conflicts occur employees will not
give their best performance in the workplace due to high stress they possess. Therefore, to gain full commitment
from employees towards work, employee happiness is a major factor which human resource practitioners must
concentrate in the present context. Human resource professionals have clearly identified through past research that
happier employees are willing to give their best commitment towards achieving organizational objectives.
Therefore, with the evolution of human resource function human resource professionals tend to concentrate on
employee happiness with the purpose of developing a satisfied and committed workforce. Employee happiness has
taken the lime light in the context of managing human resources as literature discloses that effective functioning of
human resource function may have an impact on employee happiness which will result in achieving satisfied labour
force and satisfied labour force can be considered as a key feature of generating competitive edge.
Little research has been done with regard to the impact of HRM on employee happiness in the world and no
research has been done so far to test this impact of HRM on employee happiness in Sri Lankan context. Hence, a
contextual gap exists in Sri Lanka regarding to the findings of degree of happiness of Sri Lankan employees and
HRM practice level of organizations in Sri Lanka, and the impact of HRM on employee happiness. Furthermore, an
intellectual curiosity exists to know about the impact of HRM on employee happiness and the importance of HRM
practices in deciding employee happiness. Hence this study aims at filling the contextual gap on studying employee
happiness with related to HRM functions.

2. Research Questions and Objectives

Following questions were formulated as the research questions in this study to be answered through a
systematic attempt:
1. What is the degree of happiness of Sri Lankan employees under study?
2. What is the degree of HRM practices in the organizations where employees are working under study?
3. Does HRM have a significant positive impact on employee happiness?
Following objectives of the study were established by being consistent with the above mentioned research
questions:
1. To find the degree of happiness of Sri Lankan employees under study.
2. To find the degree of HRM practices in the organizations where employees are working under study.
3. To investigate whether there is any positive and significant impact from HRM on employee happiness.

3. Conceptualization of the Constructs

3.1. Employee Happiness
Happiness relates to how people experience and appraise their lives in total (Bataineh, 2019). Happiness is an
umbrella term for all that is good which contributes to the 'wellbeing' or 'quality of life' of both individuals and
society (Veenhoven, 2012). Kaczmarek (2017) defined happiness as:
“Happiness in psychology has two references. First, happiness is an umbrella term for several theories of well-being. These
theories cover intrinsically rewarding and valued experience, positive beliefs about self and the world, or positive psychological
functioning. Second, happiness has been considered a basic emotion by most theorists within the psychology of emotions”.
Opatha (2019) has defined happiness as a feeling of pleasure, satisfaction, or becoming pleased. According to
Opatha (2019) happiness has two meanings: (1) a sense of pleasure, and (2) a profound sense of a life well lived.
Overall happiness is the degree to which an individual evaluates the overall quality of his/her own life-as-a-whole
positively or how much one prefers the life one lives (Veenhoven, 2017).
It is found that the people, or human capital, can provide companies with the competitive advantage through
their creativeness and innovativeness (Kowalskia & Lorettob, 2017). Supporting to enhance employee subjective
and objective well-being of the employee is one of the major HR strategies in the twenty-first century (Kowalskia &
Lorettob, 2017).

3.2. Types of Happiness

Happiness is basically two types i.e. hedonic happiness and eudaimonic happiness. Hedonic happiness is defined
as subjective wellbeing and according to Huta, Pelletier, Baxter, and Thompson (2012) there are two components
for SWB which are affective component and cognitive component. According to Opatha (2019) affective hedonic
happiness refers to the degree to which people can enhance pleasure over pain in their lives while cognitive hedonic
happiness refers to the degree to which people are satisfied with their overall life (Global Life Satisfaction) and
degree to which people have positive feelings about various domains (work, family, social, educational, religious
etc.) of their lives (Dimensional Life Satisfaction). Eudaimonic happiness derives from one‟s living according to
virtues and self-fulfilment (Opatha, 2019).
According to Veenhoven (2012) components of happiness are referred to as 'hedonic level of affect' and
'contentment'. Hedonic level of affect is the degree to which someone experiences various moods and emotions
which are pleasant in character while contentment is the degree to which an individual perceives his/her
aspirations are met (Veenhoven, 2012).
Following working definition which is also labeled as nominal definition was developed for the construct, i.e.
happiness:
“Happiness is the sense of joyfulness and meaningfulness relating to various aspects (Eg; work, family, social,
educational, religious etc.) of an individual‟s life.”

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3.3. HRM
Human resource management (HRM) has become one of the most critical functional fields in an organization
as it mainly focuses on the most unique resource; human beings. HRM contributes towards business development
(Arachchige & Robertson, 2015). Marescaux, Winne, and Forrier (2018) state that, sound HRM gives a signal to
the employees implying that organization value and care about their wellbeing, development and contribution.
Opatha (2009) provides an overall definition about HRM with related to the strategic perspective of the
organization. He defines HRM as; “Effective and efficient utilization of human resources to achieve goals of an
organization”. One of the most used definition to have a comprehensive idea on HRM is Armstrong‟s definition.
Armstrong‟s definition is explained in Eneh and Awara (2016) as; “a strategic and coherent approach to the management
of an organization’s most valued assets-the people working there who individually and collectively contribute to the
achievement of its objectives”. Wilton (2016) provides a definition on HRM from industrial perspective as; HRM refers
to the context of management of principals, strategies and activities that occur between employer and employees.
HRM is a distinctive perspective of employment management aims at achieving competitive advantage using
cultural, personal and structural approaches through strategic utilization of fully dedicated and competent
workforce (Storey, 2007).

3.4. Human Resource Functions

Human resource management can be viewed as an approach to precisely handle the labor force (Guest, 1987).
Human resource management considered as a critical function among other organizational functions due to its
unique nature as it focusses on managing an exclusive resource which is completely different than other resources.
Therefore, it is important to have a comprehensive idea on human resource management functions. Human
resource management functions are sub areas or practices conducted under human resource management. Opatha
(2009) has stated 18 extensive human resource management functions namely; job design, job analysis, human
resource planning, recruitment, selection, hiring, induction, performance evaluation, training and development,
career management, pay management, welfare management, management of incentives, employee movements,
health and safety management, discipline management, grievance handling and labour relations.
Many other authors have stated about these functions having various perspectives. According to Ahammad
(2017) Human resource management aims at; learning and development, recruitment and selection, professional
development, performance appraisal, benefits and compensation, ensure legal compliance, equality and diversity
and strategic HR. Human resourcing, managing performance appraisal, personal training and development,
compensation/ reward management, personnel relations and other administrative functions such as health and
safety, pensions, personal information systems are identified as HRM functions by Itika (2011).
Tubey, Rotich, and Kurgat (2015) state that, HR department basically responsible for functioning number of
activities including main activities such as; recruitment, training and development, performance appraisal,
rewarding and industrial relations. Moreover, Obedgiu (2017) lists down functions of HRM as aligning human
resource and business strategy, listening and responding to employees, re-engineering organization process and
managing transformation and change. He further states that in practice HRM mainly involves in attracting and
selecting right employees through recruitment process, hiring employees, providing them with training and
development during their time period of occupation, evaluating employee talent through performance appraisal and
rewarding employees based on their talent.
Anthonia and Omotayo (2012) found out that, recruitment, selection, training and development are some main
activities done under HRM and organizations tend to outsource these HRM functions in the present business
context. HRM consists with distinctive broad functions namely; personal resourcing, managing performance,
managing rewards, human resource development and employment relations as well as supportive functions such as
health and safety, employee wellbeing, equality and diversity management (Wilton, 2016).
Finally, these HRM functions play a primary role in enhancing organizational performance through uplifting
human capital to reach pre-determined organizational goals. Following working definition or nominal definition
was developed for the construct, i.e. HRM:
“HRM is about managing employees in a way that achieving the organizational goals and employees‟ goals
productively.”

4. Theoretical Framework
It is said that a happy employee will become a productive employee (Joo & Lee, 2017). HRM has to play a
significant role in terms of maintaining the satisfaction of employees as it ultimately affects to the customer
satisfaction. Employee satisfaction is a distinct measurement which relates to the way an organization develops
their culture, pay systems, employee services, jobs and duties etc. Sankar (2019). Relevant employee, relevant
manager and relevant HR department are mainly responsible for the happiness of employees (Opatha, 2019). There
are some researches that have been done on HRM practices and its relationship with employee work happiness.
Providing happiness education, providing happiness counselling, promoting job satisfaction, generating and
enhancing job involvement and organizational citizenship behavior, promoting personal character, adopting
Maslow‟s theory of motivation and promoting appropriate personality traits are some major strategies available for
HR departments to maintain and enhance employee happiness (Opatha, 2019). Shen (2010) has identified that the
levels of employees‟ satisfaction with performance appraisals, staffing and pay were between high and moderate,
level of satisfaction regarding to training and development was low and employees‟ satisfaction levels with HRM
vary according to personal characteristics such as gender, age, education, position, working years, and registration
status. Zamanana et al. (2020) found that HRM practices and employees‟ satisfaction have negative effects on
intension to leave and employees‟ satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between HRM practices and
intension to leave. Perera (2019) found that job satisfaction of employees significantly mediates the relationship
between occupational health and safety practices and job performance which are some functions of HRM.
Strategic HRM is an extended part of human resource management where more concern has been given to the
consistency between HRM strategies and organizational goals and objectives. The strategic human resource

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management (SHRM) mainly focuses on achieving competitive advantage by developing core competencies of the
firm‟s human resources and integrating the HRM strategies with firm‟s strategies in order to pursuit of growth,
profit and sustainability (Blackman, O'Flynn, & Mishra, 2010). Blackman et al. (2010) has identified the role of
strategic human resources management (SHRM) in the development of „Gross National Happiness‟ (GNH) in
Bhutan.
Work-life balance has been viewed as a crucial factor for both organizations and people, because it is found that
work life balance greatly contributes on improving productivity of employees which in turn contributes to enhance
the performance of organizations from a considerable degree (Guthrie, 2012). When work-life Balance of people is
in a high state it is a major reason for them to spend their lives in a more positive, happy, healthy and successful
way (Bataineh, 2019). Sustainable HRM mainly concerned with planet related matters (Green HRM), society
related matters (Social HRM) and profit related matters (Economic HRM) and work life balance is a component
coming under social HRM (Opatha, 2019). Thus, it can be identified that well management of human resources for
sustainability contributes to improve work-life balance of employees and ultimately this increases the happiness of
employees.
One of the major functions of HRM is compensation management which is consisted of pay management,
incentive management and welfare management (Opatha, 2009). According to a longitudinal research done by
Maleka, Swarts, and Mmako (2018) have found that participants have rated the positive emotions negatively, and
they have rated the job-related wellbeing, affective commitment, employee engagement and distributive justice
items positively. The dimensions of happiness index of which they have used are positive emotions, job-related
wellbeing, affective commitment, employee engagement and distributive justice. The reason for the respondents to
rate positive emotions as negative are that they were dissatisfied with their remuneration. The implication of this
study for HR policymakers is that they must review their remuneration policy and practices and need to implement
compensation management effectively and efficiently (Maleka et al., 2018). This implication ultimately implies that
sound HRM in which compensation management is a major function leads employees to possess with positive
emotions.
In hedonic tradition, psychologists have concentrated on the assessment of “subjective well-being”, which
consists of three elements: (i) life satisfaction; (ii) the presence of positive mood; and (iii) the absence of negative
mood and all this together is summarized as happiness as in Zižek, Potočnik, and Vaner (2012). In human resource
management, there are series of functional strategies for each HRM function that consistency with the firm‟s goals.
Execution of these strategies leads the organizations to create competitive advantage while increasing motivation,
improving employees‟ health, better interacting relationships, better teamwork, and also make a positive impact on
the performance of the organization, individuals‟ subjective and objective well-being and happiness (Zižek et al.,
2012).
Thus, based on the above empirical evidences and logical beliefs of the researchers, it is possible to formulate an
alternative hypothesis which is stated below. Relevant null hypothesis follows the alternative hypothesis.
Alternative Hypothesis: There is a significant positive impact from HRM on employee happiness.
Null Hypothesis: There is no significant positive impact from HRM on employee happiness.
Theoretical framework is depicted in Figure 1.

Figure-1. Theoretical framework.

5. Operationalization of the Constructs

5.1. Employee Happiness
According to Veenhoven (2017) there are three kinds of happiness: 1) overall happiness, also called „life-
satisfaction, 2) affective component called „hedonic level of affect‟ and 3) cognitive component called „contentment‟
and all these kinds of happiness can be measured using single direct questions, such as the examples below.
• Overall Happiness: "How do you feel about your life as a whole...?"
• Affective Happiness Component: "How is your mood these days...?"
• Cognitive Happiness Component: "How do you feel about what you have accomplished in your life...?"
Opatha (2019) has identified two types of happiness: 1) hedonic happiness and 2) eudaimonic happiness. These
are explained under the conceptualization of constructs. Further he has mentioned that hedonic happiness is
represented by pleasant life (devoted to pursuit of positive emotions) while eudaimonic happiness is represented by
good life (devoted to pursuit of engagement) and meaningful life (devoted to pursuit of service to others). As per
Seligman (2011) there are three elements for happiness under the original theory of authentic happiness: 1) positive
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emotions, 2) engagement and, 3) meaning and under the well being theory there are five elements: 1) positive
emotions, 2) engagement, 3) relationships, 4) meaning and purpose and, 5) accomplishment.
Considering the above dimensions of happiness and happiness questionnaires developed by Lyubomirsky and
Lepper (1999); Hills and Argyle (2002) (Oxford Happiness Questionnaire), Opatha (2019) authors developed
statements for the questionnaire to measure happiness under the following dimensions and indicators in Table 1.

Table-1. Statements for Each Dimension and Indicator for Measuring Employee Happiness.
Dimension Indicator Statement
Hedonic Happiness Affective Hedonic Happiness I often feel joy, contented and fortunate in my
(Pleasant Life) life rather feeling sadness, disgust and anger.
I often experience cheerful and good moods.
I feel that life is very rewarding to me.
I feel pleased with the way I am.
I often wake up with a fresh mood.
Cognitive Hedonic Happiness
 Global Life Satisfaction I am well satisfied about everything in my life.
 Dimensional Life I am highly satisfied with my job.
Satisfaction My marriage/personal life makes me happy
honestly.
I do exercises and I am very healthy.
I am a good follower of my religion.
Eudaimonic Happiness Engagement and Accomplishment I have a sense of direction in my life.
(Good Life and (Good Life) I am fully engaged with my works.
Meaningful Life) I feel good when making ethical decisions.
I feel sense of improvement or expansion over
time.
There is a gap between what I would like to do
and what I have done.
Relationships and Meaning and I have very warm feelings towards almost
Purpose (Meaningful life) everyone.
I do have fun with other people.
I do have a particular sense of meaning and
purpose in my life.
I have a sense of feeling that I have served more
to the society.
I am very happy with what I have done.

The level of the instrument was interval and the summated rating received on a 20-item, 5-point Likert scale of
happiness was the relevant operational definition. With regard to each of the statement mentioned above,
respondents were asked to rate on a 5-point Likert scale, and the act of transforming into a different variable (with
new values from 1 to 5) was done after calculating the composite indexing. The transforming was done by using
the following points scale:
Points
20 – 36 - Very low level of happiness
37 – 52 - Low level of happiness
53 – 68 - Moderate level of happiness
69 – 84 - High level of happiness
85 – 100 - Very high level of happiness

5.2. HRM
Human resource management plays a critical role in determining the level of happiness possessed by an
individual. Therefore, measuring human resource practices are important in determining the way to happiness. As
mentioned by Kottawatta (2015) according to literature, number of measures are being considered in measuring
human resource practices and most importantly those variables are different from one to another.
Different authors have identified various dimensions and indicators to measure Human resource management.
Considering Opatha (2009) and Kottawatta (2015) Table 2 shows the indicators, dimensions and statement for each
indicator for measuring HRM.
Above mentioned statements are authors developed statements referring to few studies such as; Demo, Neiva,
Nunes, and Rozzett (2012); Mabaso (2012); Hirschi, Freund, and Herrmann (2013); Chaubey and Rawat (2016);
Itang (2015); Biggs, Swailes, and Baker (2016) and Gomathi (2014).
The level of the instrument was interval and the summated rating received on a 18-item, 5-point Likert scale of
HRM was the relevant operational definition. With regard to each of the statement mentioned above, respondents
were asked to rate on a 5-point Likert scale, and the act of transforming into a different variable (with new values
from 1 to 5) was done after calculating the composite indexing. The transforming was done by using the following
points scale:
Points
18 – 32.4 - Very low level of HRM practices.
32.5 - 46.8 - Low level of HRM practices.
46.9 – 61.2 - Moderate level of HRM practices.
61.3 – 75.6 - High level of HRM practices.
75.7 – 90 - Very high level of HRM practices.

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Table-2. Statements for Each Dimension and Indicator for Measuring HRM.
Dimension Indicator Statement
Employment Job Design My job is highly enriched (I have the ability to plan, do, and control
Planning my job).
Job Analysis I know clearly what duties need to be performed by myself.
HRP HR department of my organization analyzes future employee demand
and supply yearly.
Staffing Recruitment The organization I work for widely disseminates information about
both external and internal recruitment processes.
Selection The organization I work for uses various selection instruments (e.g.
interviews, tests, etc).
Hiring Appointment letter given by my organization when hiring an
employee contains all the necessary information in a detailed way.
Induction Induction training programs in my organization provide an excellent
opportunity for newcomers to learn comprehensively about the
company, job and people in the organization.
Human Resource Performance Evaluation The organization I work for periodically conducts competency-based
Development performance appraisals and disseminates results to its employees.
Training and The organization I work for invests in my development and
Development education, promoting my personal and professional growth in a broad
manner.
Career Management HR Department of my organization provides career counselling and
career education for its employees to develop their future career plans
and goals.
Rewards Pay Management The organization I work for offers me a fair salary that is compatible
Management with my skills, training, and education.
Incentive Management In the organization where I work, I get incentives such as promotions,
commissioned functions, awards, bonuses, etc.
Welfare Management The organization I work for provides various welfare facilities like
medical facilities, transportation facilities, feeding facilities, loan
facilities etc.
Employee & Labor Employee Movements Employee movements such as promotions, transfers etc. are not
Relations encouraged by personal biasness and favoritism but by performance of
employees in my organization.
Health and Safety The organization I work for has programs or processes that help
Management employees to cope up with hazardous incidents and prevent workplace
accidents.
Discipline Management HR Department implements preventive and corrective disciplinary
procedures to maintain the discipline of employees.
Grievance handling In my organization, there are methods to identify the root causes of
the grievances of employees and provides suitable solutions.
Labour Relations A culture of harmonious working relationships is encouraged in my
organization.

5.3. Validity and Reliability of the Instruments

5.3.1. Reliability
The inter item reliability of the two instruments was examined with Cronbach‟s Alpha test. The results of the
Cronbach‟s Alpha test are depicted below in Table 3. Cronbach‟s Alpha coefficient of each instrument is greater
than 0.7 which means that internal reliability of each instrument is good.

Table-3. Results of Cronbach's Alpha.

Instrument Cronbach’s Alpha
Employee Happiness .899
HRM .929

As per the above results we can say that the consistencies of respondents‟ responses to all the items in the
measure are assured.

5.3.2. Validity
A major type of validity which is a property of an instrument is content validity that is an essential type of
validity which is the extent to which the instrument measures what it intends to measure (Opatha & Opatha, 2020).
Content validity of the instrument was ensured by the conceptualization and operationalization of the variables in
literature and indirectly by the high internal consistency reliability of the instruments as denoted by Alphas. As
there were 20 items to test the employee happiness which is the dependent variable and 18 items to test the HRM
practices which is the independent variable covering all the dimensions and indicators, it ensures that the measures
include an adequate and representative set of items that would tap the concepts.

6. Method
In order to find answers for the three research questions a systematic survey was carried out. The survey was
composed of a self-administered questionnaire that contained the two instruments developed by the authors to
measure the two constructs, i.e. employee happiness and HRM.
Data collection of this study carried out through a google form where 110 responses were received around the
country. Data was collected from both executive and non-executive employees in different industries categorized
under manufacturing, service and other. Majority of the respondents represent nonexecutive category and when
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consider the industry larger proportion depicts service industry and then manufacturing and other industries
respectively. Further, respondents around the country participated for this study where respondents around 8
districts have participated in data collection but the majority represents the Colombo district.

7. Findings
Under the findings of the study the derived results from the univariate and bivariate analyses are present
below. Descriptive statistics were carried out under univariate analysis while linear regression analysis was carried
out under bivariate analysis.

7.1. Employee Happiness

According to the collected data from 110 Sri Lankan employees, Table 4 presents descriptive statistics of the
dependent variable of the study, i.e. employee happiness.

Table-4. Descriptive Statistics of Employee Happiness.

Central Tendency and Dispersion Value
Measures
Mean 3.8545
Median 4.0000
Mode 4.00
Standard Deviation .78794
Variance .621
Minimum 2
Maximum 5
Range 3

According to the Table 4 that gives the relevant measure of central tendency, i.e the mean, it is 3.8545 which
means that majority of Sri Lankan employees under the study are individuals with high level of happiness as the
mean value is nearly 4 (in this study data were coded as, 1= very low degree, 2= low degree, 3= moderate degree,
4= high degree and 5= very high degree). The standard deviation is .78 which is less than 1. Hence the data is not
dispersed from the mean value very much and most of the employees are centered around the mean value. Table 5
provides the frequencies of employee happiness.

Table-5. Frequencies of Employee Happiness.

Value Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Valid 2 3 2.7 2.7 2.7
3 24 30.9 30.9 33.6
4 49 44.5 44.5 78.2
5 24 21.8 21.8 100.0
Total 110 100.0 100.0

Table 5 presents mainly four rows: the first row that is for the composite response low employee happiness (coded
in the data with the value 2), the second row that is for the composite response moderate employee happiness (coded in
the data with the value 3), the third row for the composite response high employee happiness (coded with the value 4),
and the fourth row for the composite response very high employee happiness (coded with the value 5). There are 24
employees who possess moderate employee happiness and the percentage of such employees is 30.9. 49 employees
possess high happiness and as a percentage it is 44.5 which is the highest frequency while 24 employees possess
very high degree of happiness. Only 3 employees are in low happiness level and there are no employees who have
very low level of happiness. As an overview we can say that more than a half of Sri Lankan employees (66.3%)
under study are happy or very happy individuals. The relevant histogram for the above results is depicted below in
Figure 2.
Above analysis results answered the first research question of the study is: What is the degree of Sri Lankan
employees’ happiness under study?

Figure-2. Histogram of Employee Happiness.

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7.2. Human Resource Management

According to the collected data from 110 Sri Lankan employees, Table 6 presents descriptive statistics of the
independent variable of the study, i.e. Human Resource Management.

Table-6. Descriptive Statistics of HRM.

Central Tendency and Value
Dispersion Measures
Mean 4.1818
Median 4.0000
Mode 4.00
Standard Deviation .74417
Variance .554
Minimum 2
Maximum 5
Range 3

According to the Table 6 that gives the relevant measure of central tendency, i.e the mean, it is 4.1818 which
means that majority of Sri Lankan employees under the study mentioned that practice of HRM in their
organizations are in a high level. The standard deviation is .74 which is less than 1. Hence the data dispersion from
the mean value is not very much. Table 7 provides frequencies of HRM.

Table-7. Frequencies of HRM.

Value Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent
Valid 2 1 .9 .9 .9
3 19 17.3 17.3 18.2
4 49 44.5 44.5 62.7
5 41 37.3 37.3 100.0
Total 110 100.0 100.0

Table 7 presents mainly four rows: the first row that is for the composite response low level of HRM practices
(coded in the data with the value 2), the second row that is for the composite response moderate level of HRM
practices (coded in the data with the value 3), the third row for the composite response high level of HRM practices
(coded with the value 4), and the fourth row for the composite response very high level of HRM practices (coded with
the value 5). There are 19 employees who perceive that their organizations‟ HRM practices are in a moderate level
and the percentage of such employees is 17.3. 49 employees have accepted that high degree of HRM practices being
implemented by their organizations and as a percentage it is 44.5 which is the highest frequency while 41
employees have rated that the degree of HRM practice level is very high. Only 1 employee said that there is „low
level of HRM practices‟ and there are no employees who have mentioned that there is very low level of HRM
practices in their organizations. As an overview we can say that more than half of Sri Lankan employees (81.8%)
consider that the HRM practice level of their organizations are in a high or very high level. The relevant
histogram for the above results is depicted below in Figure 3.
Above analysis results answered the second research question of the study is: What is the degree of HRM level as
per the perception of employees under study?

Figure-3. Histogram for HRM.

7.3. Impact of HRM on Employee Happiness

The third research question of the study is: Does HRM impact on employee happiness? Based on the empirical
evidences in literature review and the researchers‟ logical beliefs an alternative hypothesis was formulated and it
was: “There is a significant positive impact from HRM on employee happiness”. Further, a theoretical framework was
formulated based on the above hypothesis and literature review. In order to text the validity of the alternative
hypothesis and the theoretical framework the Linear Regression Analysis was carried out. Table 8, 9, and 10
present the results of the linear regression analysis.

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 Asian Journal of Social Sciences and Management Studies, 2020, 7(2): 114-123

Table-8. Model Summary.

Model R R Square Adjuster R Square Std. Error of the Estimate
1 .675 .456 .451 8.74729

Table-9. ANOVA Table.

Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 6918.082 1 6918.082 90.415 .000
Residual 8263.636 108 76.515
Total 15181.718 109

Table-10. Coefficients Table.

Unstandardized Coefficients Standardized Coefficients
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 19.397 5.821 1
HRM .772 .081 .675

According to the above analysis R square is .456 which means that 45.6 percent of variance in employee
happiness is explained by human resource management. This positive impact is highly significant as sig. value is
.000 and this value is less than .01. Thus, it is possible to accept the alternative hypothesis: “There is a significant
positive impact from HRM on employee happiness”. Therefore, there is statistical evidence to claim that HRM practices
of an organization positively and significantly impact its employees‟ happiness. The relevant regression equation is,
Employee Happiness = 19.397 + .772*HRM.

8. Discussion
Under descriptive statistics, it was found that majority of Sri Lankan employees under study had a high level of
happiness. Furthermore, majority of Sri Lankan employees under study considered that the HRM practice level of
their organizations is in a high level. This provides a positive sign that many organizations in Sri Lanka in which
majority of employees under study are working, practice HRM functions in a way that keeps employees happy.
However, there is still room for them to improve their HRM practices like welfare management, job design,
induction and selection as many employees have rated those functions as moderate.
It was further identified that employee satisfaction is affected positively by HRM and this impact is highly
significant. The major reason for this might be that many dimensions of happiness i.e. hedonic and eudaimonic are
affected by HRM practices in the organization. for an example when the labor management relationships in the
organization are very sound and when there are proper implementations of work life balance initiatives, this cause
employees to maintain work life and family life happiness which are coming under dimensional life satisfaction of
hedonic happiness. Another example is that HRM functions like training and development and performance
evaluation ensures that employees are able to do something and they have done something meaningful through
evaluations. This may also make employees happy under the dimension of eudaimonic. As an overall, HRM is
contributing to employees‟ happiness through grievances handling. Grievance means any discontent or
dissatisfaction arising from a feeling or a belief of injustice felt by an employee or a group of employees in
connection with the work environment (Opatha, 1994). As concern for productivity is vital (Akuratiyagamage &
Opatha, 2004) contented or happy employees are integral to achieve high productivity for the organization.

9. Conclusion
Two important variables, i.e. HRM and employee happiness were considered in this study. Happiness of
majority of Sri Lankan employees under the study and HRM practice level of those employees‟ organizations are
high. It is statistically proved that HRM positively and significantly impact on employee happiness. Thus, it is
recommended that any organization that wishes to enhance the happiness of employees, needs to properly execute
their HRM functions with right policies and procedures.

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