Making the (entire) world a better place? Aligning theory and practice towards a more sustainable & inclusive HRM

Abstract

General critical remarks on a gap between theory and practice are not new, and frequently made (Carr, 1980). This is also the case within the field of Human Resource Management (HRM) (Cheng & Hackett, 2021). Especially in the young and applied field of sustainable and inclusive HRM there is a need to further develop theory and close the research-practice gap in the global context. To do this a multi-focused perspective is needed that includes relevant actors in different parts of the world. Current knowledge in HRM is heavily influenced by western perspectives. O'Leary-Kelly et al. (2014) for example noted that the samples used in HRM studies are typically people working in professional and white-collar jobs in Europe or the USA. There is an underrepresentation of sectors, countries and continents in the HRM literature. This is illustrated by Richards (2019) in a systematic review of 64 sustainable HRM-related research articles. Of these articles, 52 (81%) were performed in Western countries, and only six (9%) had international approaches - without detail of the countries involved - five not stating the locality (8%), leaving a single article from a developing country (2%). HRM practices, as well as the changing context in which they occur, are not the same around the world. The reality for an organization operating in Sub-Saharan African countries can be drastically different from an organization operating in Australia, Europe, or Northern America.