The Role of Time in Strategic Human Resource Management Research: A Review and Research Agenda

Abstract

Although time is an essential component of the relationships between human resource (HR) systems and their antecedents and consequences, strategic human resource management (SHRM) research has been long criticized for not paying enough attention to the role of time in theory development and research design. To evaluate how the time issue has been addressed in this research field, we reviewed 237 empirical studies on HR systems that incorporated time, using temporal features. We found that while the number of studies incorporating time has increased substantially over time, there is a lack of progress regarding testing and theorizing temporal effects, thus we lack understanding of change or relationships over time. Based on our findings, we offer specific guidance on hypothesizing and theorizing the role of time in SHRM, and we offer suggestions for research design and statistical analyses in temporal research of SHRM. By integrating temporal models, temporal features, and methodologies for testing temporal relationships with SHRM research, this review aims to advance SHRM research to adopt more truly dynamic views to examine HR systems and their antecedents and effects.