Multilevel theorizing in strategic human resource management research: A systematic and critical review

IF 4.6 2区管理学 Q1 MANAGEMENT

Human Relations Pub Date : 2025-11-06 DOI:10.1177/00187267251392079

Jeske Van Beurden, Robin Bauwens, Karina Van De Voorde, Sanne Ghielen, Steven Kilroy, Mengwei Li, Aneeqa Suhail, Kim De Meulenaere, Rawan Ghazzawi, Tina Sahakian, Dorien Kooij

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

How do we further enrich our understanding of multilevel dynamics, particularly in strategic human resource management (HRM) research? Organizational policies and practices, such as strategic HRM practices, are subject to influence from internal organizational factors and external factors, affecting organizational outcomes at various levels, including individual, team, organizational, and societal levels of analysis. Therefore, the field of strategic HRM is inherently multilevel. However, how HRM systems are conceptualized in multilevel studies, and how such studies attempt to theoretically connect HRM systems to their antecedents and outcomes at different levels of analysis, is still unclear. The present paper poses the question: to what extent do multilevel HRM system studies provide a coherent theoretical justification for the HRM system conceptualization, and are the proposed HRM system multilevel linkages coherently explained with theoretical reasoning? This question is answered through a systematic review of 112 studies. The results reveal strong theoretical diversity in explaining the HRM system construct, primarily at the organizational level, and its predominantly multilevel situational mechanisms. Moreover, the analysis indicates great potential for enhancing the quality of multilevel theorizing in strategic HRM. This paper advances strategic HRM research by systematically mapping and advancing theoretical discourses on the multilevel nature of HRM systems.

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战略人力资源管理研究中的多层次理论：系统批判的回顾

我们如何进一步丰富我们对多层次动力学的理解，特别是在战略人力资源管理（HRM）研究中？组织政策和实践，如战略人力资源管理实践，受到组织内部因素和外部因素的影响，影响组织在各个层面的结果，包括个人、团队、组织和社会层面的分析。因此，战略人力资源管理领域本质上是多层次的。然而，在多层次的研究中，人力资源管理系统是如何概念化的，以及这些研究如何试图在不同的分析层次上将人力资源管理系统与它们的前因和结果在理论上联系起来，这些都还不清楚。本文提出了一个问题：多层次人力资源管理系统研究在多大程度上为人力资源管理系统概念化提供了连贯的理论依据，所提出的人力资源管理系统多层次联系是否用理论推理连贯地解释了？通过对112项研究的系统回顾，可以回答这个问题。研究结果显示，在解释人力资源管理系统构建（主要是在组织层面）及其主要的多层次情境机制方面，存在很强的理论多样性。此外，分析表明，在战略人力资源管理中，提高多层次理论化的质量具有很大的潜力。本文通过系统地映射和推进人力资源管理系统多层次性质的理论话语来推进战略人力资源管理研究。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Human Relations Multiple-

CiteScore

12.60

自引率

7.00%

发文量

期刊介绍： Human Relations is an international peer reviewed journal, which publishes the highest quality original research to advance our understanding of social relationships at and around work through theoretical development and empirical investigation. Scope Human Relations seeks high quality research papers that extend our knowledge of social relationships at work and organizational forms, practices and processes that affect the nature, structure and conditions of work and work organizations. Human Relations welcomes manuscripts that seek to cross disciplinary boundaries in order to develop new perspectives and insights into social relationships and relationships between people and organizations. Human Relations encourages strong empirical contributions that develop and extend theory as well as more conceptual papers that integrate, critique and expand existing theory. Human Relations welcomes critical reviews and essays: - Critical reviews advance a field through new theory, new methods, a novel synthesis of extant evidence, or a combination of two or three of these elements. Reviews that identify new research questions and that make links between management and organizations and the wider social sciences are particularly welcome. Surveys or overviews of a field are unlikely to meet these criteria. - Critical essays address contemporary scholarly issues and debates within the journal''s scope. They are more controversial than conventional papers or reviews, and can be shorter. They argue a point of view, but must meet standards of academic rigour. Anyone with an idea for a critical essay is particularly encouraged to discuss it at an early stage with the Editor-in-Chief. Human Relations encourages research that relates social theory to social practice and translates knowledge about human relations into prospects for social action and policy-making that aims to improve working lives.