Does alignment elicit competency-based HRM? A systematic review

Abstract

Internationally, human resource practice is committed to competency-based HRM. HR practitioners and management consultants expect the outcomes of competencybased HRM to include improved employee and organizational performance. However, research indicates that a commitment to the use of competency-based HRM does not automatically guarantee these outcomes. Therefore, HR practitioners have called for academic work to enhance our understanding of the process of effective competencybased HRM. This paper addresses this call by systematically reviewing the existing body of evidence. The conducted systematic review indicated that the effectiveness of competency-based HR depends on the degree of several types of alignment. More specifically, we first identified four crucial types of alignment in this process: (1) vertical alignment, (2) internal alignment, (3) alignment of line managers, and (4) alignment of employees. Subsequently, based on these drivers of effectiveness and drawing from the HRM literature, we developed a process model of competency-based HRM. This process model interlinks the identified types of alignment and acknowledges the conditions in which this process occurs.