Job quality has gained recognition as a critical objective amidst the rise in non-standard job contracts and declining employer commitment to employee development. Despite efforts by EU countries to enhance job quality, significant cross-national disparities persist. Institutional theory posits that a country’s institutional regime influences job quality (Holman, 2013) due to differences in industrial relations and production systems shaped by national, political, and historical compromises (Davoine et al., 2008). Understanding how institutional regimes affect job quality is essential for effectively implementing initiatives in new contexts. Using Amable’s (2003) categorization of regimes—social democratic, continental, liberal, and southern European regimes— and manager responses from the Third European Company Survey (ECS; 2013), this study addresses three objectives: identifying cross-national variation in job quality among regimes, (2) examining the relationship between organizations’ HR strategies and job quality, and (3) assessing whether HR strategies mediate institutional influences on job quality differences. Results indicate that organizations in distinct regimes incorporate varying levels of commitment and development strategies into their HR practices. Contrary to expectations, firms in continental regimes utilized these strategies most, followed by liberal, social democratic, and southern European regimes. Organizations employing commitment HR strategies exhibit higher levels of compensation, employee-controlled work organization, engagement, and development opportunities. Finally, commitment HR strategies mediate the relationship between economic regime and job quality, underscoring the role of institutional structures in shaping job quality through HR strategies.
