Institutional logics in play at work: how applying an institutional logics approach to employees’ intentions to quit contextualizes HRM

Abstract

Organizational and human resource management (HRM) scholars have shown an increasing interest in examining how macro-level institutions influence individuals’ behaviour, frequently adopting an institutional logics perspective. This approach encourages a holistic perspective, highlighting the multiplicity of logics within organizations. However, HRM studies that adopt an institutional logics approach often focus on just two logics (profession and HRM), downplaying other logics that influence individuals, and not fully assessing how a HRM logic plays out in organizations. Based on 54 interviews with Pakistani banking employees, we find that their perceptions of HRM effectiveness only partially explain their turnover intentions. Several logics (HRM, traditional leadership, corporation, professional, family, and religious logics) and their associated values are in play at work, and help to explain how HRM influences employees’ intentions to quit. Consequently, we contend that the HRM literature that applies an institutional logics approach downplays the multiplicity of institutional logics embedded within local contexts, and overlooks how various institutional logics and their constituent values shape individuals’ behaviour. Thus, this article highlights the importance of contextualizing HRM policies, ways for HRM research to fully benefit from the institutional logics approach, and the role of values in shaping employees’ responses to enacted HRM policies.