Special Issue – Contextualising Human Resource Management through Qualitative Research: Evidence from Australia and New Zealand
Aim of the special issue
The role of context is important to advance human resource management (HRM) theory and practice (Boxall, Ang and Bartram, 2011; Paauwe & Farndale, 2017). As a concept, context itself is multi-faceted and multi-layered (Johns, 2006; Shapiro, 2007), and in HRM scholarly research, it permeates how studies are conducted, interpreted, theorised and translated into management practice. Cooke (2018) conceptualised context across three levels of analysis; (level 1) descriptive context which may include country, industry, organisation, workforce and demographics; (Level 2) analytical context which focuses on institutional, cultural, and structural environment of the organisation in which HRM is practiced; (Level 3) subjective context which builds on the previous two levels of context and informs the researchers’ conceptualisation of empirical data such as their understanding of HRM phenomena and interpretation. Some HRM practices, such as reward and recognitions, are more heavily influenced by context than others such as training and development. Despite the growing trend of de-contextualisation in HRM research over the last decade or so (Dundon & Rafferty, 2018), understanding context is critical as it enables a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of HRM phenomena across descriptive, analytical, and subjective levels (Cooke, 2018).