A study published recently in Human Resource Management found that the human capital industry, made up of businesses who perform HR tasks previously handled by the employers themselves, is as large as the gross national product of many large nations. Marketing efforts of this industry now drive the HR agenda. The agenda, however, often creates the perception of HR challenges for which there is no practical evidence. This disconnect between what the industry is interested in and the reality of what is actually happening in the world around us has direct implications for the relevance of the research in the HR field and for the HR practice. However, neither HR academics nor HR practitioners appear to be fully aware of this issue. The study points out that the research community could play a much bigger role in explaining what the reality is - what the issues that really matter are. However, to do so, a disconnect between what HR researchers are focusing on and the way HR practice is going needs to be bridged. This could be achieved by increasing the awareness of the HR research community about what is actually happening in practice and maintaining relevance.
To read the full article, click here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/hrm.22190
To watch the interview with the author, click here: https://youtu.be/4-dq6XuKcTA
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Jelena Petrovic
Knowledge Transfer Editor, Human Resource Management
Associate Professor, University of Southampton, UK
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