This study extends Conservation of Resources (COR) theory by examining how perceived hierarchical threats experienced by supervisors cascade through dyadic relationships to shape subordinates' career self-management. COR posits that resources are embedded within social passageways-relationships that enable or constrain their flow. Drawing on this logic, we conceptualize supervisor-subordinate dyads as resource passageways through which resource threats can cross over from one actor to another. Using time-lagged, multi-source data from 233 supervisor-subordinate dyads, we find that supervisors who feel their hierarchical position threatened engage in knowledge hiding as a resource-conserving behavior, restricting subordinates' access to developmental resources. This defensive behavior produces a crossover effect: resource loss for supervisors triggers resource depletion for subordinates, prompting compensatory self-management strategies. Specifically, subordinates high in status striving respond with careerist behaviors aimed at preserving external advancement resources, whereas those high in achievement striving adopt protean, self-directed approaches to replenish internal resources. By extending COR beyond its traditional individual-level application, this study illuminates how resource protection and loss spirals unfold relationally, offering a resource-based explanation for divergent career orientations. The findings underscore the importance of HR systems and leadership development initiatives that mitigate hierarchical threat perceptions and sustain resource-enabling passageways for employee growth.
A growing body of research demonstrates that purpose and meaning are significant to employee well-being and organizational performance. Yet, increasing challenges in the workplace, including downsizing, layoffs, and job insecurity, can erode employees' sense of purpose and meaning. This context positions workplace spirituality (WS) as a meaningful contributor. We build on prior work in WS that primarily focused on individual and organizational levels. We tested an overarching relational model of WS as a three-factor structure comprising individual (e.g., meaning), organizational (e.g., value alignment), and relational-level (e.g., conditions for community) components, drawing from a cross-sectional survey of data from 436 employees in a healthcare organization. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the proposed three-factor structure. Structural equation modeling further indicated that, among the three components, the relational-level WS component emerged as the strongest predictor, with the strongest negative effect on turnover intent. The study findings extend WS and human resource development (HRD) scholarship by clarifying the importance of aligning individual, organizational, and relational-level factors in shaping employees' attitudes and perceptions of their work and the organization.
This study explores incidental learning among physicians navigating uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a constructivist research design, we conducted a literature review of 13 empirical studies on incidental learning in complexity and analyzed critical incident interviews with 12 emergency medicine and intensive care physicians, using a combined deductive-inductive coding approach. We illustrate how incidental learning in complexity operates through five key tensions: evidence-based protocols versus intuitive responses, instability versus stability-seeking, individual expertise versus collaborative input, professional confidence versus acknowledged vulnerability, and cognitive demands versus emotional management. Physicians employed strategies including "thinking out loud" to convert tacit insights into actionable knowledge, pattern recognition under ambiguous conditions, and collaborative cross-checking to navigate patient care without established protocols. These findings challenge existing process models of incidental learning by demonstrating non-linear, tension-driven forms of learning. The study contributes to HRD theory by revealing how incidental learning functions as an accelerator for innovative thinking and adaptive decision making when traditional evidence-based approaches prove insufficient.
Given the compelling global sustainability agenda, a green and resilient workforce is central to organizations navigating the environmental sustainability journey. Employee green resilience (EGR) delineates individuals' positive adaptation and continuous flourishing in the face of environmental challenges. Utilizing a resource-based perspective, we seek to unpack the resource-gain process from green human resource management (GHRM) to EGR. Particularly, we theorize that GHRM serves as a resource caravan passageway, shaping both cognitive and affective resource caravans (green mindfulness and environmental empathy), which facilitate the subsequent development of EGR. Furthermore, we hypothesize that uncertainty avoidance is a salient value orientation in the Chinese context, thereby amplifying the positive indirect effect of GHRM on EGR via green mindfulness and environmental empathy. Three-wave data were collected from 341 employees in six companies in China. Empirical findings have confirmed the dual mediation of green mindfulness and environmental empathy in the relationship between GHRM and EGR. Surprisingly, uncertainty avoidance has been found to weaken rather than strengthen the indirect effect of GHRM on EGR. Our research sheds light on the pathway for human resource development (HRD) in advancing a green and resilient workforce.
With the increasing adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the workplace, employees' career paths have become more diverse and less predictable in the era of Industry 4.0. As technological transformations accelerate, employee turnover patterns are also changing, as reflected in the growing prevalence of occupational transitions and large-scale layoffs. These shifts highlight the need for more developmental approaches to understanding and managing retention. To address this issue, the present paper examines how AI implementation influences employee turnover by focusing on both the motives and psychological states underlying the withdrawal process. Drawing on proximal withdrawal states theory, the paper provides a deeper understanding of the dynamic nature of employee withdrawal patterns. This perspective elucidates the withdrawal process shaped by AI adoption, emphasizing that employees' responses to technological disruption are diverse in both psychological and behavioral terms rather than uniform. Furthermore, the paper proposes Human Resource Development (HRD)-based interventions aimed at preventing undesirable turnover through employee education and career development initiatives. By integrating these elements, we introduce an HRD-focused framework for addressing turnover issues associated with AI adoption in a more developmental and sustainable manner. Finally, the paper outlines future research directions for empirically testing the proposed theoretical mechanisms and intervention strategies within the rapidly evolving technological landscape of work.
The research-practice gap (the gap) in HRD remains a significant challenge, hindering the application of academic research to practice and the integration of workplace challenges into research efforts. It is critical for HRD research to address the gap to develop evidence-based solutions for learning and organizational performance. The purpose of this study was to explore how HRD scholars and scholar-practitioners define, motivate, address barriers to, and recommend strategies for bridging the gap in HRD. Building on the study by Moore and Cho (2024) from the perspective of HRD practitioners, we investigated the perspectives of HRD scholars and scholar-practitioners to examine whether there are any critical differences in their perspectives through 29 interviews. In a thematic analysis, we identified four key themes: defining the gap, motivations, barriers, and strategies for bridging the gap. Participants emphasized the need for participatory action research, the co-creation of research agendas, and practitioner engagement from the early stages of research to enhance the relevance and applicability of the findings. A surprising study finding was the influential role of HRD scholar-practitioners, who serve as translators between academic research and workplace applications, leveraging their dual roles to co-create usable knowledge. We provide actionable recommendations for narrowing the gap, stressing the role of HRD in diverse organizations by fostering collaboration and integrating academic rigor with practical applications.
Numerous empirical studies have examined the work- and career-related outcomes of self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) in cross-cultural work settings, thereby contributing to an emerging research stream in the HR literature. Building on self-determination theory, this study examined whether the protean career attitude is positively associated with subjective career success. We further explored the mediating role of overseas work adjustment and the three-way moderation of cultural intelligence and learning-goal orientation to strengthen this indirect relationship. The data from two studies, encompassing non-Asian (n = 289) and Asian (n = 192) participants, provide convergent support. The results showed an indirect influence of protean career attitude on subjective career success via overseas work adjustment. Moreover, this indirect influence is strengthened when SIEs possess either higher cultural intelligence or a stronger learning-goal orientation. This study contributes to the literature by identifying key factors influencing SIEs' career success and highlighting the central role of learning in their workplace adjustment. It advances HRD by showing how learning and adaptability drive cross-border career development.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often face dynamic environments that require them to balance growth with resource constraints, necessitating strategic adaptability in their talent management (TM) practices. This study employs an in-depth analysis of multiple cases to explore TM practices in startups and SMEs operating in Norway, a country that fosters cooperation and innovation among its small businesses. The leaders of 11 Norwegian startups and SMEs were interviewed to understand their definitions and standpoints on TM and to explore how SMEs can adapt TM practices as they grow. This study also involved nine experts from the external ecosystem surrounding the companies to obtain their perspectives on this topic and to support the findings. The results underscore that TM definitions and practices evolve through three stages of SME growth-startup, transition, and scale-up-shifting from informal to formal approaches throughout the growth process. Further abductive thematic analysis reveals firms' criteria for talent, the challenges of implementing TM, and the strategic importance of TM, interpreted through the lenses of the resource-based view (RBV) and dynamic capabilities theory (DCT). While leaders and experts agree that TM is strategically crucial, especially for leadership development, financial constraints emerge as the primary challenge. Based on these findings, a theoretical framework is proposed, encouraging further studies to investigate the TM dynamics in growing SMEs in more depth, while also considering perspectives from multiple stakeholders.
In recent decades, the accelerating global aging population and the emergence of a large number of talented young subordinates in the workplace, who have risen to leadership positions, are leading to a significant transformation in the traditional model of older supervisors managing younger subordinates. Although knowledge about how such phenomenon positively impacts the interaction between supervisors and subordinates and subordinates' behavior is limited. This research delves into the increasingly common phenomenon of supervisors being younger than their subordinates, and further explores the impact of this phenomenon on both the supervisors and subordinates. Drawing on the reasoned action theory, we propose that supervisor-subordinate directional age difference is positively related to employee creativity via leader empowerment behavior. In addition, employee power distance moderates the relationship between leader empowerment behavior and employee creativity. We conducted an experimental study (N = 264) and two questionnaire surveys (N = 226, N = 285) to test our hypothesis. Our research enriches the positive impact of supervisor-subordinate directional age differences from the perspective of leader behavior, providing practical insights for young supervisors to effectively manage older subordinates.
This article examines how CEOs navigate sociopolitical engagement and the implications for human resource development (HRD). Drawing on qualitative data from semi-structured interviews with 15 public and private U.S. CEOs who have engaged in sociopolitical issues, the study explores how leaders interpret and respond to contested social and political events affecting their organizations. Thematic analysis shows that sociopolitical engagement involves moral sensemaking, leadership identity work, emotional and cognitive complexity, employee voice, and stakeholder management. Findings highlight how employees often act as catalysts and partners in collective sensemaking, while leaders translate values into organizational policies and practices. The article outlines implications for HRD in developing leaders' ethical discernment, enabling employee dialogue, and embedding organizational learning systems that support responsible engagement in sociopolitical contexts.
Human-AI collaboration has the potential to revolutionize organizational development amid rapid technological changes. By integrating the theoretical foundations of adaptive structuration theory (AST) and affordance actualization theory (AAT), this study proposes a theoretical framework to facilitate effective human-AI collaboration for organizations in the AI era. These theories complement each other by linking human and AI elements, synergizing the adaptive process of human-AI collaboration to yield positive outcomes at the individual, team, and organizational levels. Based on the framework, the roles of strategic innovation backing and mentoring styles that intervene in the process are examined. Finally, the study discusses implications and outlines a future research agenda.
This paper complements retrospective approaches to researching informal learning in the workplace with experience sampling. Since (conscious) informal learning is becoming increasingly important for successfully keeping pace with rapid changes in working environments, a clear understanding of the construct and its precise measurement are essential. This is opposed by the error-proneness of retrospective measurements. The aim of this study was therefore to better understand how employees learn informally by situationally measuring their use of informal learning activities (e.g., searching the internet). Three hundred sixty four full-time employees with desk jobs in various professions completed short online questionnaires twice a day for 8 days about their current work task and the informal learning activities used. A Multilevel CFA with good model fit revealed the same three factors at the situation and person level: learning from oneself, learning from others, and learning from media. Thinking/reflection, professional exchange/co-working with colleagues, and sharing knowledge were most frequently reported. Learning activities with media were used comparatively little. These findings underscore the metacognitive role of reflection in informal learning, challenge previous models of informal learning that underrepresent situational antecedents and learning from media, and emphasize the importance of including multilevel data in research. Our research provides human resource development professionals and supervisors with a foundation for promoting informal learning and the society with basic knowledge for familiarizing students with the need for informal learning. This ability to adapt quickly to changing knowledge requirements is crucial to the competitiveness of many industries.
Organizational career research is crucial in understanding the complexities of modern workforce dynamics, especially since organizations increasingly emphasize talent management and employee development. This study examined 465 publications from Scopus in the domains of Management and Organization and Social Sciences, covering the period between 1973 and 2023. Additionally, 122 Scopus-indexed publications from 2024 to 2025 within the same subject categories were analyzed to capture recent developments. A comprehensive bibliometric analysis was conducted using VOSviewer 1.6.20 and the Biblioshiny package through the Bibliometrix R-Tool. The study applied various techniques such as co-citation, word cloud, trend topic, co-occurrence, thematic mapping, and factorial analysis. The results underscore the intellectual, conceptual, and cognitive frameworks influencing organizational career research, explaining significant concepts, research clusters, and emerging themes. It also identifies the most influential sources, authors, and publications in organizational career research. Word cloud analysis defined career development, career satisfaction, and job satisfaction as the most frequently used keywords. Trend topic analysis recently focused on themes such as career sustainability, career crafting, career resilience, self-efficacy, innovative work behavior, and the impact of COVID-19. Co-occurrence network analysis showed that organizational career research is structured into three clusters, focusing on career development, career satisfaction, organizational growth, and career adaptability. Factorial analysis revealed three fundamental dimensions: (i) human resources and organizational career management, (ii) career attitudes and individual development, and (iii) organizational support. These findings offer an extensive understanding of the changing dynamics of organizational career research and indicate key directions for future theoretical and empirical research.
Despite rapid technological advancement in insurance, there remains a critical gap in understanding how open data initiatives affect employee digital competencies and organizational transformation. This research investigates this relationship through a systematic review of 51 scholarly articles published between 2018 and 2024, using structured content analysis to examine the interaction between open data, digital transformation, and human capital. The analysis identified four key themes: Digital Literacy and Skills Development (68.6%), Adaptive Leadership (11.8%), Collaboration and Communication (64.7%), and Innovation and Creativity (74.5%). Organizations implementing comprehensive data sharing frameworks demonstrated significantly higher innovation rates and improved customer satisfaction scores, with digital transformation initiatives showing impact among nonstate‐owned enterprises. The study reveals that successful digital transformation depends on three critical factors: robust data sharing frameworks, comprehensive digital skill development programs, and adaptive leadership capabilities. Furthermore, regulatory frameworks, such as the Social Insurance Law, have emerged as key accelerators of digital adoption. These findings provide actionable information for policymakers and industry leaders, offering a strategic roadmap to integrate technology and talent while maintaining strong ethical governance standards. This research contributes to both theoretical understanding and practical implementation of digital transformation initiatives in insurance, while identifying critical areas for future research in human capital development.
This article examines the concept of employee delight as a distinct construct within organizational behavior. Based on a systematic literature review, we analyze 10 empirical studies that explicitly address this phenomenon. We propose a multidimensional conceptualization of employee delight as an affective state of highly positive valence and high arousal, which emerges when work experiences significantly exceed employee expectations. We identify the main theoretical perspectives (emotional, cognitive, needs‐based, and integrative), analyze current measurement approaches, and develop a model that articulates its antecedents and consequences. We also conceptually delineate this construct from related ones and propose a framework for its empirical evaluation to enrich the literature on exceptional work experiences.
The current climate change scenario imposes urgent challenges to different economic sectors around the world, requiring companies to adopt new strategies to achieve sustainable development goals (SDGs) while enhancing environmental awareness. In this sense, green human resource management (GHRM) and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 can lead to a reduction in the environmental impact caused by business activities. The growing need for decision‐makers to ensure a company's competitive position in the market invites managers to integrate people management as an active component of corporate sustainability efforts. By demonstrating a commitment to sustainability, companies can contribute to economic growth, individual well‐being, and environmental preservation. The purpose of this study is to analyze current knowledge on GHRM and ISO 14001 and their intersection, providing directions for future research. The literature review was conducted using the PRISMA methodology and bibliometric analysis (performance analysis and scientific mapping) with data from Web of Science and Scopus. The final dataset comprised 520 articles on GHRM and 12 about GHRM and ISO 14001. The results show the growth of the topics in the academic community, especially in countries located in East, South, and Southeast Asia and in Brazil. The most studied economic sectors are tourism, hospitality, and manufacturing. Future research trends indicate a greater inclusion of people in the corporate ecological objectives of different economic activities. The integration of GHRM and ISO 14001 seems to help mitigate climate change and promote sustainable development. The conclusions highlight the importance of implementing GHRM, especially in ISO 14001 organizations, to obtain the active participation of employees in environmental preservation. These ecological practices seem to strengthen the company's image, making it more attractive and helping them to retain talent. This study provides insights for academics, professionals, and policymakers and is a pioneering study in investigating two themes simultaneously.
Workplace bullying (WB) remains a pervasive concern across all sectors, including higher education institutions (HEIs), where shifting power dynamics, performance pressures, and transformation mandates often create fertile ground for systemic abuse. This research explored lecturers' experiences with WB in a South African HEI using qualitative research and a phenomenological approach informed by interpretivism and critical theory. Twenty-six purposefully selected participants from a population of 190 lecturers were interviewed, and data were thematically analyzed and co-coded to ensure trustworthiness. Findings revealed that WB was deeply embedded in institutional culture, manifesting through a hostile environment, abusive and dysfunctional institutional communication, work environment, and management deficiencies. It addresses a gap in the qualitative WB literature by applying a critical theory and human resource development (HRD) lens, particularly within the under-researched South African HEI context. This article makes a key contribution by theorizing WB as structural and symbolic violence embedded in institutional norms, distorted communication, and performativity. The findings extend critical theory by revealing how race-based transformation policies, such as affirmative action and employment equity, may unintentionally exacerbate WB. The article concludes with actionable HRD recommendations and suggestions for future research.
