Human resource management in project-based organizations: revisiting the permanency assumption

Abstract

With the aim of portraying the future of the field, HRM scholars have repeatedly proposed new research domains and perspectives. Unusual forms of organization do not, however, play a major role in these proposals, even if they have gained some importance in practice. A case in point relates to temporary forms of organization in general and project-based organizations in particular. In this paper, after outlining the evolution of HRM as a discipline, we will systematically review top-tier HRM journals as well as other management journals over a period of two decades. Findings reveal that HRM research concentrates mostly on only one dimension of temporary organizing, i.e. temporary employment, and adheres otherwise to the assumption of the permanency or at least longevity of organizations. We argue that theorizing HRM beyond the permanency assumption is not only urgently needed in face of spreading forms of project-based organizing, but also offers unique potentials to study HRM problems, including those of international HRM.