Importance of Perceptions and Understanding in the Relationship Between HRM and Organizational Performance

Dear Colleagues,

There is growing interest, from both scholars and practitioner communities, in understanding how to deploy HRM (Human Resource Management) practices in order to achieve strategic goals (Kehoe and Wright, 2013; Jiang et al., 2012; Katou and Budhwar, 2015).

Indeed, HRM research has made substantial progress in providing robust evidence connecting the deployment of HRM practices with organizational performance measures in recent years. In addition, current research is more frequently adopting an employee perspective that highlights job-related attitudes and behaviors associated with strategic success (e.g., Pierning, Baluch and Salge, 2013; Wood et al., forthcoming).

Moreover, HRM research has begun to acknowledge that senior HR managers today often have the responsibility of devising people management strategy in collaboration with an organization’s top executives to that there is clear “line of sight” (Boswell et al., 2006) between HRM policy and HR operations so that employees can readily see the link between their own behaviors and theirs and the organization’s performance. Central to this movement is the importance of employees’ perceptions and understanding of HR practices, and acknowledgement that HRM will only be effective when employees perceive and understand HR practices as were intended by management. Similarly, recent work is increasingly focusing on HR managers, senior and line management perceptions and understanding of HR practices influence individual, group, and organizational performance (e.g., Alfes et al., 2013).

In this Special Issue, we focus on the perceptions and understanding of different actors within the organization and how these help explain the relationship between HRM and organizational performance. Towards that objective, we are calling for papers that consider a range of performance outcomes, and encourage submissions focusing on perceptions and understanding of HRM, as delivered through a range of stakeholders, including the employee, HR professionals, and senior and line managers. In addition, we are looking for papers that take into account the context of the study. Although there is a longstanding debate concerning the relative universality of HRM (Delery and Doty, 1998), scholars today (e.g., Tzabbar et al., 2016) argue that context matters. Hence, submissions emphasizing contextual factors, such as country, industry, and profession, are welcomed.

Prof. Dr. Karin Sanders
Prof. Dr. Frances Jørgensen
Prof. Dr. Helen Shipton
Guest Editors

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• HRM
• Organizational Performance
• Perceptions of HR
• Understanding of HR