human resource management in research confronts theory

Human resource management: when research confronts theory

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T1 - Human resource management: when research confronts theory

AU - Guest, D E

PY - 2001/11

Y1 - 2001/11

N2 - Research exploring the relationship between human resource management (HRM) and outcomes such as corporate performance encounters a range of significant practical difficulties. Using two surveys as illustrative cases, this paper examines the practical challenges of operationalizing and measuring HRM, measuring the various outcomes and assessing the relationship between HRM and corporate performance. Despite the problems, it is suggested that significant progress has been made. While possible solutions to some of the problems are put forward, it is argued that a key requirement remains more clearly specified theory, particularly theory about the nature of HRM.

AB - Research exploring the relationship between human resource management (HRM) and outcomes such as corporate performance encounters a range of significant practical difficulties. Using two surveys as illustrative cases, this paper examines the practical challenges of operationalizing and measuring HRM, measuring the various outcomes and assessing the relationship between HRM and corporate performance. Despite the problems, it is suggested that significant progress has been made. While possible solutions to some of the problems are put forward, it is argued that a key requirement remains more clearly specified theory, particularly theory about the nature of HRM.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0038342186&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/09585190110067837

DO - 10.1080/09585190110067837

M3 - Article

JO - International Journal of Human Resource Management

JF - International Journal of Human Resource Management

A Guide to Key Theories for Human Resource Management Research

This authoritative Guide provides 41 summaries of important theories used for research in HRM. Each entry clearly defines a theory, provides insight into the development of the theory, demonstrates the application of the theory to HRM, and discusses areas where the theory could be applied in future research projects. Additionally, the two introductory chapters overview HRM in relation to theory, and explain the importance of theory in research and issues to consider when using theory.

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Author: Guest, David E.

Source: International Journal of Human Resource Management , Volume 12, Number 7, 1 November 2001, pp. 1092-1106(15)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09585190110067837

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Keywords: PERFORMANCE ; RESEARCH ; THEORY

Document Type: Research Article

Publication date: November 1, 2001

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• DOI: 10.1080/09585190110067837
• Corpus ID: 154899388

Human resource management: when research confronts theory

• Published 1 January 2001
• The International Journal of Human Resource Management

355 Citations

Beyond measuring the human resources management-organizational performance link: applying critical realist meta-theory, performance management: a model and research agenda, hrm-performance research: under-theorized and lacking explanatory power, human resource management and performance in the hospitality industry: methodological issues, putting strategic human resource management (shrm) into practice: an australian case study.

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Human resource management systems and organizational performance: a test of a mediating model in the Greek manufacturing context

• 16 Excerpts

The effect of human resource management policies on organizational performance in Greek manufacturing firms

Human resource management practices on organizational performance in libya firm, the effect of strategic human resource management on organizational performance: the mediating role of high‐performance human resource practices, human resource development (hrd) for performance management: the case of nepalese organizations, 14 references, human resource management and performance: a review and research agenda, toward a unifying framework for exploring fit and flexibility in strategic human resource management, hr as a source of shareholder value: research and recommendations, the impact of human resource management practices on turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance, high commitment management and payment systems, peering into the black hole: the downside of the new employment relations in the uk, experiencing human resource management, competitive advantage through people, methodological issues in cross‐sectional and panel estimates of the human resource‐firm performance link, opening pandora's box: studying the accuracy of managers' perceptions, related papers.

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17 Convergence in Human Resource Management

Wolfgang Mayrhofer, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Vienna, Austria

Chris Brewster is a professor of international human resource management at Henley Business School, University of Reading, United Kingdom. He researches and publishes in the field of international and comparative HRM. Chris has consulted with major international companies and international public-sector organizations and taught on management programs throughout the world.

Katharina Pernkopf conducts research in the wider field of organizational institutionalism, convention theory, and (comparative) human resource management. She is interested in how organizations and individuals manage tensions at work, for example, institutional demands versus organizational rules. She does research on work time regulations, online recruiting, and other future of work issues.

• Published: 14 April 2021
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This chapter takes the contextual view of human resource management (HRM) and its challenge to the universalistic perspective that is explored in the preceding chapters and adds the element of time. How does time change the relationship between countries in their way of managing HRM? Including time leads to a question that goes beyond snapshot views of how various aspects of context at different levels relate to HRM: How do these relationships and their effects develop as the years go by? The chapter addresses the notion of convergence in three steps. First, it examines a range of conceptual views about what convergence means in different theoretical traditions and discourses. Second, and based on that examination, it offers a balanced overview of the conceptual and empirical evidence about how HRM has been developing in different contextual settings over time, teasing out what we know for sure and what is still open for speculation. Third, the chapter outlines some promising options for future research at the conceptual, empirical, and practical levels.

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High Performance Human Resources (HPHR)

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• David Lewin  

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The phrase ‘high performance human resources’ (HPHR) is generally taken to refer to human resource management (HRM) practices that have positive effects on the performance of an enterprise, typically a business enterprise. During the past 20 years, a substantial body of research literature that apparently provides strong quantitative evidence of the positive contributions of sets or bundles of certain HRM practices to business performance has emerged.1 Whether causal, this literature developed during a period in which HRM practices ostensibly became considerably more strategically focused and considerably less operationally focused. This transition – some would say transformation – is to some extent reflected in the supplanting of the older ‘personnel management’ by the newer ‘human resource management’. 2 Nevertheless, one can question whether and to what extent HPHR constitutes a new paradigm for the management of people in organizations and for the employment relationship more broadly.

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HRM Policies and Firm Performance: The Role of the Synergy of Policies

Human Resources

Work Organisation and Human Resource Management: Does Context Matter?

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Lewin, D. (2011). High Performance Human Resources (HPHR). In: Wilkinson, A., Townsend, K. (eds) The Future of Employment Relations. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230349421_2

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