Pub Date : 2025-12-02DOI: 10.1177/00187267251392802
Yasin Rofcanin, Zhijun Chen, Smriti Anand
As Human Relations continues to attract an increasing number of quantitative methods-based research submissions from scholars worldwide, ensuring the quality, coherence, and rigor of these contributions remains central to the journal’s mission. This editorial identifies the major challenges we observe in submissions and makes key recommendations for strengthening both theoretical and methodological foundations of quantitative submissions considered by the journal. Structured around two interconnected themes, “Enhancing theoretical rigor and contributions” and “Enhancing methodological rigor and research design”, the editorial encompasses topics ranging from conceptual framing and theoretical positioning to research design and analytic coherence. Drawing on collective editorial experience, we argue that theoretical and methodological rigor are not separate aspirations but joint foundations of impactful scholarship. We analyze past publications from the journal to offer actionable guidance to help authors align conceptual development with empirical execution. Altogether, we aim to demystify the review process, foster integrative thinking, and reaffirm the journal’s commitment to publishing research that is conceptually rich, methodologically robust, and socially meaningful.
{"title":"Beyond good ideas: Strengthening theoretical contributions and methodological foundations of submissions for Human Relations","authors":"Yasin Rofcanin, Zhijun Chen, Smriti Anand","doi":"10.1177/00187267251392802","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267251392802","url":null,"abstract":"As <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">Human Relations</jats:italic> continues to attract an increasing number of quantitative methods-based research submissions from scholars worldwide, ensuring the quality, coherence, and rigor of these contributions remains central to the journal’s mission. This editorial identifies the major challenges we observe in submissions and makes key recommendations for strengthening both theoretical and methodological foundations of quantitative submissions considered by the journal. Structured around two interconnected themes, “Enhancing theoretical rigor and contributions” and “Enhancing methodological rigor and research design”, the editorial encompasses topics ranging from conceptual framing and theoretical positioning to research design and analytic coherence. Drawing on collective editorial experience, we argue that theoretical and methodological rigor are not separate aspirations but joint foundations of impactful scholarship. We analyze past publications from the journal to offer actionable guidance to help authors align conceptual development with empirical execution. Altogether, we aim to demystify the review process, foster integrative thinking, and reaffirm the journal’s commitment to publishing research that is conceptually rich, methodologically robust, and socially meaningful.","PeriodicalId":48433,"journal":{"name":"Human Relations","volume":"359 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145651479","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-29DOI: 10.1177/00187267251392384
Allan Lee, Joanne Lyubovnikova, Jakob Stollberger, Geoff Thomas, Yu (Jade) Han, Gary Schwarz, Jie Cao
How can a complicated, ambivalent relationship with a boss be both draining and generative? This paper challenges the view that leader–member exchange (LMX) ambivalence is solely harmful. Using the Challenge–Hindrance Stressor Framework, we examine how conflicting feelings toward a leader can be experienced as both constraining and motivating. We focus on epistemic motivation—the tendency to seek deeper understanding—as a key factor that shapes how followers process such ambiguity. Across three studies, LMX ambivalence was linked to two distinct outcomes: emotional exhaustion and voice. These associations operated through different ruminative pathways: affective rumination, characterized by intrusive negative thoughts, and problem-solving pondering, involving reflective sense-making. Followers higher in epistemic motivation were less inclined toward affective rumination and more inclined toward problem-solving pondering, thereby strengthening the link between ambivalence and constructive voice while softening its association with exhaustion. Our findings highlight the hybrid nature of LMX ambivalence and suggest that it does not uniformly undermine followers but can also be associated with adaptive engagement. By unpacking the interplay of ambivalence, rumination, and epistemic motivation, this research provides a more balanced account of the complexities of leader–follower relationships.
{"title":"Can’t get you o u t of my head: The stress-driven dual effects of LMX Ambivalence","authors":"Allan Lee, Joanne Lyubovnikova, Jakob Stollberger, Geoff Thomas, Yu (Jade) Han, Gary Schwarz, Jie Cao","doi":"10.1177/00187267251392384","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267251392384","url":null,"abstract":"How can a complicated, ambivalent relationship with a boss be both draining and generative? This paper challenges the view that leader–member exchange (LMX) ambivalence is solely harmful. Using the Challenge–Hindrance Stressor Framework, we examine how conflicting feelings toward a leader can be experienced as both constraining and motivating. We focus on epistemic motivation—the tendency to seek deeper understanding—as a key factor that shapes how followers process such ambiguity. Across three studies, LMX ambivalence was linked to two distinct outcomes: emotional exhaustion and voice. These associations operated through different ruminative pathways: affective rumination, characterized by intrusive negative thoughts, and problem-solving pondering, involving reflective sense-making. Followers higher in epistemic motivation were less inclined toward affective rumination and more inclined toward problem-solving pondering, thereby strengthening the link between ambivalence and constructive voice while softening its association with exhaustion. Our findings highlight the hybrid nature of LMX ambivalence and suggest that it does not uniformly undermine followers but can also be associated with adaptive engagement. By unpacking the interplay of ambivalence, rumination, and epistemic motivation, this research provides a more balanced account of the complexities of leader–follower relationships.","PeriodicalId":48433,"journal":{"name":"Human Relations","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-11-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145614123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-26DOI: 10.1177/00187267251394567
Benjamin W. Walker, Nimbus A. Staniland, Jarrod Haar, Phoebe Turner, Gray Ryburn, Ryan Meachen
Although scholarly interest in minority employees has grown in recent years, Indigenous Peoples’ experiences of work still largely appear on the margins of management and organizational scholarship. For Indigenous employees, the interplay of colonialism and features of Indigenous cultures and communities can lead to distinct work experiences. We thus explore the question of how being Indigenous shapes life at work by reviewing findings from 127 empirical studies, spanning multiple Indigenous groups and scholarly disciplines. We canvas four factors that existing literature suggests are especially relevant for understanding Indigenous work experiences: colonialism and Indigenous employment ; the work-culture interface ; relationships ; and perceptions . We highlight how different constellations of these factors can lead Indigenous workers to experience the relationship between their Indigenous identity and their work as broadly synergistic , strained , or ambivalent . To conclude, we present a constructive critique of the literature on Indigenous employees, and in doing so, propose three key priorities for future research: engaging with the complexities of Indigenous identities, exploring the varied contexts in which Indigenous employees experience work, and developing solutions to common challenges Indigenous employees face at work.
{"title":"Indigenous employees’ experiences of work: An interdisciplinary review","authors":"Benjamin W. Walker, Nimbus A. Staniland, Jarrod Haar, Phoebe Turner, Gray Ryburn, Ryan Meachen","doi":"10.1177/00187267251394567","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267251394567","url":null,"abstract":"Although scholarly interest in minority employees has grown in recent years, Indigenous Peoples’ experiences of work still largely appear on the margins of management and organizational scholarship. For Indigenous employees, the interplay of colonialism and features of Indigenous cultures and communities can lead to distinct work experiences. We thus explore the question of how being Indigenous shapes life at work by reviewing findings from 127 empirical studies, spanning multiple Indigenous groups and scholarly disciplines. We canvas four factors that existing literature suggests are especially relevant for understanding Indigenous work experiences: <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">colonialism and Indigenous employment</jats:italic> ; <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">the work-culture interface</jats:italic> ; <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">relationships</jats:italic> ; and <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">perceptions</jats:italic> . We highlight how different constellations of these factors can lead Indigenous workers to experience the relationship between their Indigenous identity and their work as broadly <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">synergistic</jats:italic> , <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">strained</jats:italic> , or <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">ambivalent</jats:italic> . To conclude, we present a constructive critique of the literature on Indigenous employees, and in doing so, propose three key priorities for future research: engaging with the complexities of Indigenous identities, exploring the varied contexts in which Indigenous employees experience work, and developing solutions to common challenges Indigenous employees face at work.","PeriodicalId":48433,"journal":{"name":"Human Relations","volume":"18 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-11-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145599926","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-19DOI: 10.1177/00187267251394583
Vijayta Doshi, Paulina Segarra, Martyna Śliwa
This paper provides an interdisciplinary critical integrative review of research on precarious work. Based on a review of 311 records, we develop an integrated framework that brings together the antecedents, outcomes and responses to precarious work found in the literature. We also explain the discrepancy between the ideas of key influential thinkers about the existence of political potential of precarity, and the lack of fieldwork evidence that would suggest that this potential is coming to fruition. We highlight that prevailing theorisations do not take appropriate account of the historico-cultural embeddedness, or the intersectional experiences, outcomes of and responses to precarious work in different locations. We outline a pathway for future research, arguing for: (1) shifting the empirical focus of studies towards greater inclusion of members of currently under-represented geographical contexts , occupations and social groups , and towards appreciation of the different, context-specific forms, impacts and responses to precarious work; (2) developing a nuanced understanding of the experiences and outcomes of precarious work as an intersectional phenomenon; (3) decolonising our thinking about precarious work through engagement in reflexivity about the assumptions underlying the extant knowledge. Finally, we put forward policy recommendations for addressing the prevalence and impacts of precarious work worldwide.
{"title":"Precarious work: A critical review and a proposal for future research","authors":"Vijayta Doshi, Paulina Segarra, Martyna Śliwa","doi":"10.1177/00187267251394583","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267251394583","url":null,"abstract":"This paper provides an interdisciplinary critical integrative review of research on precarious work. Based on a review of 311 records, we develop an integrated framework that brings together the antecedents, outcomes and responses to precarious work found in the literature. We also explain the discrepancy between the ideas of key influential thinkers about the existence of political potential of precarity, and the lack of fieldwork evidence that would suggest that this potential is coming to fruition. We highlight that prevailing theorisations do not take appropriate account of the historico-cultural embeddedness, or the intersectional experiences, outcomes of and responses to precarious work in different locations. We outline a pathway for future research, arguing for: (1) shifting the empirical focus of studies towards greater inclusion of members of currently <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">under-represented geographical contexts</jats:italic> , <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">occupations and social groups</jats:italic> , and towards appreciation of the different, context-specific forms, impacts and responses to precarious work; (2) developing a nuanced understanding of the experiences and outcomes of precarious work as an <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">intersectional</jats:italic> phenomenon; (3) <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">decolonising</jats:italic> our thinking about precarious work through engagement in reflexivity about the assumptions underlying the extant knowledge. Finally, we put forward policy recommendations for addressing the prevalence and impacts of precarious work worldwide.","PeriodicalId":48433,"journal":{"name":"Human Relations","volume":"180 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-11-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145545671","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-12DOI: 10.1177/00187267251385967
Matthew B Perrigino, Ariane Ollier-Malaterre, Marcello Russo
Everyone experiences major life transitions (e.g. relocation, job loss, birth of a child), and increasingly so as economic, technological, and social environments become more turbulent. Yet in accounting for how work-life decision-making associated with these transitions occurs, we argue that extant theory overfocuses on individual agency and rational thinking. In this article, we bridge an epistemological divide between the study of major life transitions and work-life decision-making by advancing a narrative theory of aberrant work-life navigation. Our theory overcomes blind spots around the study of “real life,” lived experiences, introducing work-life navigation as a messy, complex, and volatile process, capturing the ontology of how individuals experience major life transitions. We point out factors that inhibit rationality and constrain agency traditionally ascribed to work-life decision-making at the individual (intuitive and unconscious thoughts, emotions, impulsivity, and inaction) and contextual (work-life stakeholders, cultural norms, and regulations) levels. Further, we apply our theorizing to the most studied outcomes associated with major life transitions—work-life balance, conflict, and enrichment—to highlight how these are inherently subjective and, at times, determined by factors entirely beyond one’s control. We conclude by offering a future research agenda to empirically test our theory of aberrant work-life navigation.
{"title":"A Theory of Aberrant Work-Life Navigation","authors":"Matthew B Perrigino, Ariane Ollier-Malaterre, Marcello Russo","doi":"10.1177/00187267251385967","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267251385967","url":null,"abstract":"Everyone experiences major life transitions (e.g. relocation, job loss, birth of a child), and increasingly so as economic, technological, and social environments become more turbulent. Yet in accounting for how work-life decision-making associated with these transitions occurs, we argue that extant theory overfocuses on individual agency and rational thinking. In this article, we bridge an epistemological divide between the study of major life transitions and work-life decision-making by advancing a narrative theory of aberrant work-life navigation. Our theory overcomes blind spots around the study of “real life,” lived experiences, introducing work-life navigation as a messy, complex, and volatile process, capturing the ontology of how individuals experience major life transitions. We point out factors that inhibit rationality and constrain agency traditionally ascribed to work-life decision-making at the individual (intuitive and unconscious thoughts, emotions, impulsivity, and inaction) and contextual (work-life stakeholders, cultural norms, and regulations) levels. Further, we apply our theorizing to the most studied outcomes associated with major life transitions—work-life balance, conflict, and enrichment—to highlight how these are inherently subjective and, at times, determined by factors entirely beyond one’s control. We conclude by offering a future research agenda to empirically test our theory of aberrant work-life navigation.","PeriodicalId":48433,"journal":{"name":"Human Relations","volume":"29 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145491831","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-12DOI: 10.1177/00187267251388629
Ive D. Klinksiek, Eline Jammaers, Laurent Taskin
Organisations are increasingly adopting activity-based working, replacing assigned desks and private offices with open, shared workspaces while shifting some tasks to employees’ homes. Management promotes these changes through explicit ‘efficiency-gain claims’ and subtler promises of flexibility and de-hierarchisation, thus making an implicit ‘inclusion-gain claim’. Drawing on 35 interviews, this study challenges the inclusion-gain assumption by examining activity-based working through the lens of visibility. The case of disabled workers reveals how the nature of disability and impairments complicate visibility in diverse and often ambiguous ways. Our findings show that while perceptions of diversity have increased with activity-based working, meaningful inclusion relies on universal flexibility and higher accessibility standards. Yet, disabled workers’ exclusion from the design phase resulted in retrofitting and exceptional territoriality, threatening inclusion. We contribute to the flexibility–visibility debate by showing that flexible organisational spaces not only influence the visibility of employees in terms of work recognition through spatial dispersion but also shape the visibility of embodied differences through spatial othering. Finally, this study reconceives disabled individuals and their allies not as passive users but as active re-designers of ableist workspaces, redefining visibility as a socially constructed, contested process shaped by the spatial and organisational structures of work.
{"title":"The inclusive potential of activity-based working: The case of disability","authors":"Ive D. Klinksiek, Eline Jammaers, Laurent Taskin","doi":"10.1177/00187267251388629","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267251388629","url":null,"abstract":"Organisations are increasingly adopting activity-based working, replacing assigned desks and private offices with open, shared workspaces while shifting some tasks to employees’ homes. Management promotes these changes through explicit ‘efficiency-gain claims’ and subtler promises of flexibility and de-hierarchisation, thus making an implicit ‘inclusion-gain claim’. Drawing on 35 interviews, this study challenges the inclusion-gain assumption by examining activity-based working through the lens of visibility. The case of disabled workers reveals how the nature of disability and impairments complicate visibility in diverse and often ambiguous ways. Our findings show that while perceptions of diversity have increased with activity-based working, meaningful inclusion relies on universal flexibility and higher accessibility standards. Yet, disabled workers’ exclusion from the design phase resulted in retrofitting and exceptional territoriality, threatening inclusion. We contribute to the flexibility–visibility debate by showing that flexible organisational spaces not only influence the visibility of employees in terms of work recognition through spatial dispersion but also shape the visibility of embodied differences through spatial othering. Finally, this study reconceives disabled individuals and their allies not as passive users but as active re-designers of ableist workspaces, redefining visibility as a socially constructed, contested process shaped by the spatial and organisational structures of work.","PeriodicalId":48433,"journal":{"name":"Human Relations","volume":"25 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145491833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
While prior research suggests that leaders’ dominant behavior effectively enhances organizational effectiveness and is necessary for navigating today’s uncertain and competitive business environments, its hidden costs—rooted in control, intimidation, and coercion—have received limited attention. In this study, we argue that leaders’ dominant behavior can serve as a workplace stressor that leads to employees’ defensive yet covert responses. Drawing on the transactional model of stress, we develop a serial mediation model in which leaders’ dominant behavior undermines employees’ psychological well-being (i.e., psychological empowerment), subsequently heightens negative emotions (i.e., workplace anxiety), and ultimately provokes employees’ cheating as a discreet coping strategy for releasing workplace anxiety. Furthermore, we predict that when coworker support is available, employees are less likely to adopt cheating as a defensive coping strategy. Results from three field survey studies—including two three-wave studies and one two-source, four-wave study—provide consistent support for our model. The conclusions drawn from this study provide valuable insights for both organizational leaders and HR professionals seeking to recognize and manage the hidden costs associated with leaders’ dominant behavior.
{"title":"Cheating from dominating: An investigation of how leaders’ dominant behavior elicits employee cheating","authors":"Yanfen Wang, Qingxiong Weng, Zizhen Geng, Bin Ma, Mengmeng Xiao, Wenyang Gao","doi":"10.1177/00187267251388354","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267251388354","url":null,"abstract":"While prior research suggests that leaders’ dominant behavior effectively enhances organizational effectiveness and is necessary for navigating today’s uncertain and competitive business environments, its hidden costs—rooted in control, intimidation, and coercion—have received limited attention. In this study, we argue that leaders’ dominant behavior can serve as a workplace stressor that leads to employees’ defensive yet covert responses. Drawing on the transactional model of stress, we develop a serial mediation model in which leaders’ dominant behavior undermines employees’ psychological well-being (i.e., psychological empowerment), subsequently heightens negative emotions (i.e., workplace anxiety), and ultimately provokes employees’ cheating as a discreet coping strategy for releasing workplace anxiety. Furthermore, we predict that when coworker support is available, employees are less likely to adopt cheating as a defensive coping strategy. Results from three field survey studies—including two three-wave studies and one two-source, four-wave study—provide consistent support for our model. The conclusions drawn from this study provide valuable insights for both organizational leaders and HR professionals seeking to recognize and manage the hidden costs associated with leaders’ dominant behavior.","PeriodicalId":48433,"journal":{"name":"Human Relations","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-11-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145491843","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-11-06DOI: 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
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.
{"title":"Multilevel theorizing in strategic human resource management research: A systematic and critical review","authors":"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","doi":"10.1177/00187267251392079","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267251392079","url":null,"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.","PeriodicalId":48433,"journal":{"name":"Human Relations","volume":"78 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-11-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145447137","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-10-23DOI: 10.1177/00187267251379725
Marjan De Coster, Silke Op de Beeck, Marijke Verbruggen, Rein De Cooman
Why do so many workers continue to work after hours using information and communication technology (ICT), even though this behavior induces tensions between them and their partner? To understand this paradoxical phenomenon, we conducted in-depth interviews with both partners of 22 dual-earner couples (i.e., 44 interviews), which we analyzed from a systems psychodynamic perspective. Our analysis revealed what we defined as the “Narrative of unavoidability,” a shared discourse among all couples that constructs work-related ICT-use outside work hours (WICT) as unavoidable for the job. Simply put, workers and their partners argued that WICT is just necessary to perform their jobs effectively. This narrative justified the WICT behaviors, despite tensions and evidence that WICT was actually not always unavoidable. Informed by this narrative, both partners projected responsibility for WICT from the partner engaging in this behavior onto external (f)actors as a way to manage and alleviate the tensions triggered by WICT. This psychological defense further delineated particular practices by which partners tiptoed around the seemingly unavoidable WICT. Although these defense practices helped partners to temporarily ease the WICT tensions, they simultaneously normalized WICT and reproduced the narrative of unavoidability within couples. Consequently, the tensions kept resurfacing.
{"title":"Tangled in tech: A systems psychodynamic analysis of work-related ICT use outside standard work hours within dual-earner couples","authors":"Marjan De Coster, Silke Op de Beeck, Marijke Verbruggen, Rein De Cooman","doi":"10.1177/00187267251379725","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267251379725","url":null,"abstract":"Why do so many workers continue to work after hours using information and communication technology (ICT), even though this behavior induces tensions between them and their partner? To understand this paradoxical phenomenon, we conducted in-depth interviews with both partners of 22 dual-earner couples (i.e., 44 interviews), which we analyzed from a systems psychodynamic perspective. Our analysis revealed what we defined as the “Narrative of unavoidability,” a shared discourse among all couples that constructs work-related ICT-use outside work hours (WICT) as unavoidable for the job. Simply put, workers and their partners argued that WICT is just necessary to perform their jobs effectively. This narrative justified the WICT behaviors, despite tensions and evidence that WICT was actually not always unavoidable. Informed by this narrative, both partners projected responsibility for WICT from the partner engaging in this behavior onto external (f)actors as a way to manage and alleviate the tensions triggered by WICT. This psychological defense further delineated particular practices by which partners tiptoed around the seemingly unavoidable WICT. Although these defense practices helped partners to temporarily ease the WICT tensions, they simultaneously normalized WICT and reproduced the narrative of unavoidability within couples. Consequently, the tensions kept resurfacing.","PeriodicalId":48433,"journal":{"name":"Human Relations","volume":"61 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-10-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145397920","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The operation of criminal governance within formal-legal industrial contexts connected to global supply chains remains insufficiently theorized in management and organization studies (MOS). How such governance legitimizes violence against marginalized workers both within and beyond organizational boundaries also remains critically underexplored. By analysing the paradoxical normalization of criminality and violence within Bangladesh’s garment industry, this study exposes the systemic embeddedness of mastans , politically connected criminals, within export-oriented industrial governance. We conceptualize this entanglement as mastanocracy , a hybrid political formation of violent criminal governance that operates legitimately at the nexus of corruption, democratic erosion, elite power and social polarization, advancing the neoliberal economic and political agendas of dominant actors. This research extends MOS by broadening the boundary conditions under which criminal governance is legitimized in a formal-legal industrial environment in the Global South. It also advances the discourse on violence in contemporary organizations by revealing the broader cultural, social and political dynamics that normalize violence within and beyond organizational boundaries, compelling millions of marginalized workers to live and work under regimes of criminal governance.
{"title":"Mastanocracy: The legitimization of criminal governance and violence in Bangladesh’s garment industry","authors":"Shoaib Ahmed, Chandana Alawattage, Kelum Jayasinghe","doi":"10.1177/00187267251383441","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/00187267251383441","url":null,"abstract":"The operation of criminal governance within formal-legal industrial contexts connected to global supply chains remains insufficiently theorized in management and organization studies (MOS). How such governance legitimizes violence against marginalized workers both within and beyond organizational boundaries also remains critically underexplored. By analysing the paradoxical normalization of criminality and violence within Bangladesh’s garment industry, this study exposes the systemic embeddedness of <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">mastans</jats:italic> , politically connected criminals, within export-oriented industrial governance. We conceptualize this entanglement as <jats:italic toggle=\"yes\">mastanocracy</jats:italic> , a hybrid political formation of violent criminal governance that operates legitimately at the nexus of corruption, democratic erosion, elite power and social polarization, advancing the neoliberal economic and political agendas of dominant actors. This research extends MOS by broadening the boundary conditions under which criminal governance is legitimized in a formal-legal industrial environment in the Global South. It also advances the discourse on violence in contemporary organizations by revealing the broader cultural, social and political dynamics that normalize violence within and beyond organizational boundaries, compelling millions of marginalized workers to live and work under regimes of criminal governance.","PeriodicalId":48433,"journal":{"name":"Human Relations","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":5.7,"publicationDate":"2025-10-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145310884","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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