Andrew R. Timming, Johanna Macneil

Bridging human resource management theory and practice: Implications for industry‐engaged academic research

  • Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

AbstractThe link between academic theory and the professional practice of human resource management (HRM) is often tenuous and disjointed. The “gap” between theory and practice is damaging to academics and practitioners. On the one hand, academic research is often highly theoretical and methodologically complex. On the other, HR professionals tend to oversimplify advice on “how to solve” HRM “problems” and they may conduct research lacking rigor and nuance. Insofar as a bridge can be built between HRM theory and practice, significant benefits exist for both parties. Mick Marchington exemplified this bridge. His commitment to pluralism wrought significant influence on the professional practice of HRM through highly readable and practically useful theory. We look to Marchington's work to draw lessons on how we can better bridge theory and practice for the enrichment of academics and practitioners. We develop a framework contrasting “academic esotericism” with “practitioner reductionism.” We then propose a third way: “industry‐engaged academic research.”

Need a simple solution for managing your BibTeX entries? Explore CiteDrive!

  • Web-based, modern reference management
  • Collaborate and share with fellow researchers
  • Integration with Overleaf
  • Comprehensive BibTeX/BibLaTeX support
  • Save articles and websites directly from your browser
  • Search for new articles from a database of tens of millions of references
Try out CiteDrive

More from our Archive