Strategic human resource management and employees’ intention to leave: testing the moderated mediation Subhash C. Kundu and Archana Mor Haryana School of Business, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, India, and Neha Gahlawat Department of Human Resources, ICFAI Business School (IBS), IFHE (ICFAI Foundation of Higher Education) University, Hyderabad, India Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between business strategies (i.e. cost reduction, quality enhancement and innovation strategy) and employees’ intention to leave (ITL), through the mediating role of high-performance work system (HPWS). It also attempts to study variability in the relationship between business strategies, HPWS and employees’ ITL on the basis of nature and ownership forms of the firms. Design/methodology/approach – Primary data based on 573 respondents from 192 organizations operating in India were analysed using structural equation modelling and conditional process modelling. Findings – This study has revealed that HPWS mediates the relationship between business strategy (specifically innovation and quality-enhancement strategy) and employees’ ITL. Findings further indicate that the mediated relationships between quality enhancement and innovation strategy, HPWS and ITL do not vary across nature and ownership forms of the firms. Practical implications – In context of dynamic business environments in developing countries, the findings provide some important insights in exploring the relevance of strategic human resource management in improving employees’ behavioural intentions. Originality/value – By applying a three dimensional business strategy system (innovation, quality and cost) and by exploring the relevance of several contextual factors, this study attempts to expand the focus of turnover research. Keywords Strategic human resource management, Business strategies, High-performance work systems, Employees’ intention to leave, India Paper type Research paper 1. Introduction It has been often thought that Asian firms, especially Indian firms, lay little importance on managing human resources rather than other technical aspects of business like productivity and competitiveness (Cooke and Saini, 2010; Sharma and Khandekar, 2006). Following which, employees in Indian firms have been reported to put up with increased pressures of job, work–life imbalance and monotonous nature of work that eventually result in enhanced turnover intentions amongst them (Budhwar et al., 2006; Guchait and Cho, 2010). Recently, several authors have also highlighted that Indian firms are dealing with issues of higher turnover rates, gaps in workforce demand and supply, and costs associated with higher attrition rates (Cooke and Saini, 2010; Holtbr€ ugge et al., 2010; Kundu and Gahlawat, 2016). In this regard, researchers have contended that an effective means of shrinking turnover rate is to ascertain the motivational factors that aid in lowering the employees’ intention to leave (ITL) (Carmeli and Weisberg, 2006). One amongst the crucial factors which is often proclaimed to have effects on this significant behavioural intention is strategic human Strategies and employees’ intention to leave The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/1741-0401.htm Received 19 April 2019 Revised 13 November 2019 19 March 2020 Accepted 16 April 2020 International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management © Emerald Publishing Limited 1741-0401 DOI 10.1108/IJPPM-04-2019-0161