research for human resource management

Research trends in human resource management. A text-mining-based literature review

International Journal of Manpower

ISSN : 0143-7720

Article publication date: 26 April 2022

Issue publication date: 14 March 2023

The purpose of the study was to detect trends in human resource management (HRM) research presented in journals during the 2000–2020 timeframe. The research question is: How are the interests of researchers changing in the field of HRM and which topics have gained popularity in recent years?

Design/methodology/approach

The approach adopted in this study was designed to overcome all the limitations specific to the systematic literature reviews and bibliometric studies presented in the Introduction. The full texts of papers were analyzed. The text-mining tools detected first clusters and then trends, moreover, which limited the impact of a researcher's bias. The approach applied is consistent with the general rules of systematic literature reviews.

The article makes a threefold contribution to academic knowledge. First, it uses modern methodology to gather and synthesize HRM research topics. The proposed approach was designed to allow early detection of nascent, non-obvious trends in research, which will help researchers address topics of high value for both theory and practice. Second, the results of our study highlight shifts in focus in HRM over the past 19 years. Third, the article suggests further directions of research.

Research limitations/implications

In this study, the approach designed to overcome the limitations of using systematic literature review was presented. The analysis was done on the basis of the full text of the articles and the categories were discovered directly from the articles rather than predetermined. The study's findings may, however, potentially be limited by the following issues. First, the eligibility criteria included only papers indexed in the Scopus and WoS database and excluded conference proceedings, book chapters, and non-English papers. Second, only full-text articles were included in the study, which could narrow down the research area. As a consequence, important information regarding the research presented in the excluded documents is potentially lost. Third, most of the papers in our database were published in the International Journal of Human Resource Management, and therefore such trends as “challenges for international HRM” can be considered significant (long-lasting). Another – the fourth – limitation of the study is the lack of estimation of the proportion between searches in HRM journals and articles published in other journals. Future research may overcome the above-presented limitations. Although the authors used valuable techniques such as TF-IDF and HDBSCAN, the fifth limitation is that, after trends were discovered, it was necessary to evaluate and interpret them. That could have induced researchers' bias even if – as in this study – researchers from different areas of experience were involved. Finally, this study covers the 2000–2020 timeframe. Since HRM is a rapidly developing field, in a few years from now academics will probably begin to move into exciting new research areas. As a consequence, it might be worthwhile conducting similar analyses to those presented in this study and compare their results.

Originality/value

The present study provides an analysis of HRM journals with the aim of establishing trends in HRM research. It makes contributions to the field by providing a more comprehensive and objective review than analyses resulting from systematic literature reviews. It fills the gap in literature studies on HRM with a novel research approach – a methodology based on full-text mining and a big data toolset. As a consequence, this study can be considered as providing an adequate reflection of all the articles published in journals strictly devoted to HRM issues and which may serve as an important source of reference for both researchers and practitioners. This study can help them identify the core journals focused on HRM research as well as topics which are of particular interest and importance.

• Human resource management
• Text-mining

Piwowar-Sulej, K. , Wawak, S. , Tyrańska, M. , Zakrzewska, M. , Jarosz, S. and Sołtysik, M. (2023), "Research trends in human resource management. A text-mining-based literature review", International Journal of Manpower , Vol. 44 No. 1, pp. 176-196. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-03-2021-0183

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Katarzyna Piwowar-Sulej, Sławomir Wawak, Małgorzata Tyrańska, Małgorzata Zakrzewska, Szymon Jarosz and Mariusz Sołtysik

Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

1. Introduction

The human resource (HR) function has evolved over the years from serving a purely administrative role into one that is more strategic in character. Today it is believed that the mission of human resource management (HRM) is to support the organization in achieving its objectives by developing and implementing HR strategies that are integrated with a company's business strategy, promote staff development, foster a positive employment relationship, promote an ethical approach to people management, and care about the environment (social and natural) ( Ehnert, 2009 ; Braga et al. , 2021 ).

In practice, HRM means providing continuous solutions to a wide array of problems occurring in employee-employer, line worker-manager, and employee-employee relations and also in contacts with, e.g. trade unions. Human behaviors, feelings and attitudes are determined both by the personal characteristics of individuals and by the impact of the environment. The shape of HRM is significantly influenced by such factors as, e.g. the demographic and technological transformations ( Greiling, 2011 ; Silva and Lima, 2018 ), and globalization ( Gerhart and Fang, 2005 ).

HRM has evolved as a professional and academic discipline in parallel with both planned shifts in global considerations and unplanned phenomena such as, e.g. epidemics. For researchers it is crucial to identify, define, explain, and help practitioners understand the key factors which have an impact on HRM. Another of the researchers' roles is to formulate practical guidelines on how to manage people in different circumstances and outline areas of future research. HRM thrives on the contributions made in other fields that it assimilates and applies in practice. It unscrupulously builds on theoretical developments made earlier in related disciplines ( Boxall et al. , 2009 ). Finally, the researcher endeavors to provide an overview, comparisons, analyses and syntheses of previously published findings ( Paul and Criado, 2020 ).

The theme of trends in HRM has been addressed in numerous publications (e.g. Cooper et al. , 2020 ; Madera et al. , 2017 ). Their authors have employed various approaches to identify such phenomena, including systematic literature reviews. Articles offering a traditional overview provide a quantity-oriented (i.e. meta-analytical, systematic) approach together with descriptive or qualitative elements. Jointly, they develop a theoretical background, highlight irregularities in existing findings, integrate the findings of a wide variety of publications and in general provide other researchers with an up-to-date understanding of the discipline, frequently prepared by leading specialists ( Palmatier et al. , 2018 ). In most cases, the documents selected for analysis were based on titles, keywords and abstracts only. Unfortunately, they contain only around 8% of all research findings ( Blake, 2010 ). In order to gain a deeper insight into such a body of knowledge authors have often turned to the by-hand review method (e.g. Cooper et al. , 2020 ).

Conventional systematic by-hand literature reviews are sometimes characterized by errors in article selection, possible simplifications and potentially incomplete and not universal results (subjective, impressionistic descriptions), In response to these shortcomings, in recent years a number of new alternatives have emerged. One new approach that has attracted increasing attention is bibliometric studies. This method applies dedicated IT tools to gauge trends in articles. They examine academic material from both an objective and qualitative perspective for the purposes of identifying, organizing, and analyzing information in a specific research field ( Capobianco-Uriarte et al. , 2019 ). As far as trends in HRM are concerned, Markoulli et al. (2017) presented a summary of previously published traditional and narrative reviews and on its basis created a science map and defined clusters based on keyword co-occurrence analysis and the VOSviewer software tool.

Bibliometric analyses can be treated as a platform for writing an entire article or can be used only as preparation for the groundwork for further in-depth content analysis and qualitative descriptions. In turn, a text mining toolset can help identify research trends and select papers which are in line with a particular trend. Moreover, a full-text analysis of publications using a text mining toolset enables researchers to obtain higher-quality results than when using only keywords, such as in the case of VOSviewer analyses ( Kobayashi et al. , 2018 ). As a consequence we decided that it was worth adopting a methodology based on full-text mining and a big data toolset in order to identify trends in HRM research. We believe that big data and analytics help not only companies function but also researchers in a highly data-driven world ( Kobayashi et al. , 2018 ).

The purpose of the study was to detect trends in HRM research presented in journals during the 2000–2020 timeframe. The following research question was asked: how are the interests of researchers changing in the field of HRM and which topics have gained in popularity in recent years?

The paper is organized as follows. In the second section we describe the HRM research trends identified in previous studies. Here the focus is on the context in which authors were operating when analyzing HRM issues. The third section is devoted to the research method employed for the purpose of this study. Then we present the results and discussion. The article ends with conclusions, including limitations and areas of future research.

The article makes a threefold contribution to academic knowledge. First, it uses modern methodology to gather and synthesize HRM research topics. The proposed approach was designed to allow early detection of nascent, non-obvious trends in research, which will help researchers address topics of high value for both theory and practice. Second, the results of our study highlight shifts in focus in HRM over the past 20 years. Third, the article suggests further directions of research.

2. Trends in the HRM research identified in previous studies

In their search for HRM research trends authors of this study firstly used the Scopus database and a search strategy based on such terms as: trends in human resource management/HRM, trends in research on human resource management/HRM, human resource management/HRM trends, intellectual structure of human resource management/HRM. The searching process covered titles, abstracts and keywords and was limited to articles written in English. The search produced 37 documents. Then the authors also searched for additional articles in Google Scholar.

Most of the articles were devoted to the trends identified in HR practices in companies (e.g. Dubravska and Solankova, 2015 ). One of such trends is HRM digitalization ( Ashbaugh and Miranda, 2002 ). Table 1 presents a list of HRM trends identified in the research (related to academic work) conducted by different authors.

It can be concluded from the above that researchers employed different approaches to defining and identifying these trends. Research trends may be associated with research topics (e.g. Özlen, 2014 ), research methods (e.g. Pietersen, 2018 ) and the general characteristics of the academic domain (e.g. Sanders and De Cieri, 2020 ). Although a number of authors have provided traditional literature reviews of trends in HRM, Chae et al. (2020) , for example, focused only on the local (Korean) research trends and used only keyword analyses. Others focused on a specific sector ( Cooper et al. , 2020 ), industry ( Madera et al. , 2017 ) or region ( Wood and Bischoff, 2020 ). There are also articles that outline the evolution of research in particular journals (e.g. Pietersen, 2018 ). Others address specific problems, such as international HRM (e.g. Sanders and De Cieri, 2020 ) or green HRM ( Yong et al. , 2020 ). The most visible trends identified in previous studies and associated with research topics were strategic HRM, HR performance and employment/industrial relations. The first topic was addressed in eight works while the remaining was the subject of five publications.

3. Material and methods

The approach adopted in this study was designed to overcome all the limitations specific to the systematic literature reviews and bibliometric studies as presented in the Introduction. The full texts of papers were analyzed. The approach applied is consistent with the general rules of systematic literature reviews ( Tranfield et al. , 2003 ) and consists of several steps, which are presented in Figure 1 .

3.1 Selection of journals

Thousands of articles covering HRM can be found on both Scopus and the Web of Science. For the sake of the present analysis, it was necessary to define inclusion criteria in the meta-analysis.

The main topic of the journal was related to HRM,

The journals were indexed in Scopus and WoS,

The journals have a high SNIP index value (the limit value is set at 1 - status for 2020; full values are presented in Table 2 ),

Full versions of the article were available,

The articles were published in the years 2000–2020.

A total of 8 journals met the above criteria ( Table 2 ). The full texts of the papers were downloaded from academic databases. No duplicates were found. Only research papers were included, while editorials, calls for papers, errata and book reviews were excluded.

All the metadata were removed from the papers. The titles and abstracts often contain catchwords designed to increase readership. As a consequence, only the texts of papers minus their titles, keywords, abstracts and references were analyzed in this study. Additional bibliographic information that could be useful in the analytical process was downloaded from the Crossref database. Each paper was converted into a text file and then into a bag-of-words model for the needs of automatic analysis using computer algorithms. The algorithms were created using Python libraries, such as grobid, nltk, scikit-learn, hdbscan, and scipy ( Pedregosa et al. , 2011 ).

3.2 Search for the most important terms

w i j – result for term i in document j ,

t f i j – number of occurrences of i in j ,

d f i – number of documents containing i ,

N – number of documents in the corpus (set of documents).

The TF-IDF method is not a mathematical model. It requires extensive computation, cannot be used to discover synonyms and ignores multiple meanings of words ( Zhang et al. , 2011 ). However, in the case of research papers, these problems have a minimal impact due to the more precise language used by researchers.

3.3 Identification of thematic groups (clusters)

The TF-IDF model presents each paper as a multidimensional vector. The number of dimensions is equal to the number of keywords used in the analysis. In the next step, all the vectors were compared to each other, which led to the discovery of clusters.

As mentioned in section 3.2 , the TF-IDF model does not analyse synonyms and ignores multiple meanings of words and phrases. In scholarly texts, it is rarely a problem. Even in HRM, where the number of synonyms can be perceived as higher than in other areas of management, the impact on the results should be negligible.

There are two main approaches to clustering: partitioning and hierarchical clustering. The former can be applied when all the corpus elements must be included in one of the groups. This induces data noise, as not even similar elements have to be included. The latter allows some elements to remain outside the clusters. The clusters become much more homogenous. This constitutes a better approach when it comes to identifying trends. Multiple hierarchical clustering methods are available, e.g. meanshift, DBSCAN, Optics and HDBSCAN (Hierarchical Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise) ( McInnes et al. , 2017 ). HDBSCAN is characterized by the least number of limitations. It takes each paper (vector) and checks at what distance it can find similar publications. Then it compares the results, and the densest areas are detected as clusters. Unlike some other methods, the clusters lack permanent density or a fixed number of elements. The only parameter that the researcher needs to establish is the minimum cluster size. The best value can be determined through a series of experiments.

In the present study, the authors carried out a set of experiments using different minimum cluster sizes. The highest value detected was 20. Lower values lead to a much higher number of clusters. Moreover, general phrases not directly related to HRM played a significant role in the discovery of these clusters. With the minimum cluster size set to values greater than 20, the number of clusters was significantly lower. That led to general results based on the most popular phrases only.

The entire sample was divided into groups of papers published in 5-year overlapping periods starting with 2000–2004 and ending with 2016–2020. Each paper was assigned to all the groups into which it fitted. Cluster analysis was performed for every group separately, and the results were used to identify trends.

Cluster analysis was performed on each group separately, and the results were used to discover trends. Approximately 30 clusters on average were identified for each five-year period. However, for a trend to be identified at least two similar clusters had to be discovered in successive periods Therefore, many unrelated clusters were excluded by the algorithm. Such behaviour is expected, as it removes noise from data. Usually, only one-third of clusters meet the conditions to form trends.

The number of papers published in each year is presented in Figure 2 . A slight decrease in the number of articles can be observed compared to 2018–19, which may have been a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

3.4 Identification of trends

Long-lasting trends that existed and evolved during the studied period,

Declining trends which came to an end during the studied period,

Emerging trends which began during the studied period,

Ephemeris trends that began and ended during the studied period.

3.5 Interpretation of trends

The results delivered by the algorithm must be checked through further studies. The algorithm can detect mergers or splits in trends. We decided, however, that the final decision should be left to researchers. At this stage, trends should also be named, interpreted and described. The interpretation phase should help highlight changes within trends and try to predict their future evolution.

4. Results and discussion

The analyses, performed by researchers using automatic algorithms and further verification, led to the discovery of 42 trends presented in Table 3 . These trends are ordered according to the year of their first occurrence and their duration. It is worth emphasizing that the year in which a trend was observed does not indicate that the idea behind it emerged at the same time. Rather, it shows when a subject began to increase in popularity among researchers. Furthermore, the number of identified trends is much higher than the results from previous studies presented in Section 2.1 Table 4 .

The use of tracking revealed the evolution of clusters, and made it possible to identify trends. The analysis led to the discovery of the types of trends presented in Section 3.4. Of the 42 trends, 4 were long-lasting, 5 declining, 17 emerging and 16 ephemeris in character. One possible fact to note is that “strategic HRM”, which was a prevailing trend in previous studies, is not directly presented in the results obtained using text-mining analyses. However, it is included in the “architecture and changing role of HRM” trend.

At this point it is worth emphasizing that sociologists of science have examined the principles governing the selection of topics analysed by researchers, and noticed that it may result from a trade-off between conservative production and risky innovation ( Bourdieu, 1975 ). The main problem when choosing research topics is deciding whether to continue topics fixed in the literature or take the risk of exploring new, hitherto unknown themes. Trend a analysis offers an indirect solution based on strategic ambidexterity. This is not only because it allows us to observe disappearing themes that continue to be exploited, but also to identify those topics, in which there is a growing interest (exploration).

Long-lasting trends are not homogenous and change over time. The evolution of trends can be tracked using keywords of considerable importance in subsequent years. The importance of keywords was evaluated using the TF-IDF algorithm and averaged for each cluster. The TF-IDF formula was presented in the Methodology section. It should be noted that the TF-IDF score has to be calculated for each phrase in each paper. In this study, over 150,000 phrases were identified in over 6 thousand papers. That resulted in a significant number of calculations made by the algorithm, which cannot be presented in the paper. A comparison of cluster keywords reveals new topics within trends. The evolution of trends may lead to the disappearance of earlier topics or to their parallel development. Declining and ephemeris trends are associated with issues that are of less interest to researchers, have been resolved or were eclipsed by changes in a researcher's approach to the object of their study. The disappearance of certain trends is a normal phenomenon in science. Such a disappearance can be predicted to a certain degree when the average number of papers decreases.

Since we identified many trends, only a few examples will be described below. One example of a long-lasting trend is “Diversity Management”, which covered the entire 2000–2020 timeframe. The articles that discussed this trend focused on effective diversity management, its impact on organizational performance (e.g. Choi et al. , 2017 ), team performance ( Roberge and van Dick, 2010 ), knowledge sharing ( Shen et al. , 2014 ), innovation ( Peretz et al. , 2015 ), and the various factors which impact upon its effectiveness. Some papers discussed only one form of diversity in the workplace, e.g. age diversity ( Li et al. , 2011 ), gender diversity (e.g. Gould et al. , 2018 ) or ethnic diversity (e.g. Singh, 2007 ).

One sub-trend that can be observed within the above-discussed trend is age management', which falls within the 2005–2018 time range. The papers assigned to this sub-trend focus on HR practices towards older employees (e.g. Kooij et al. , 2014 ).

One example of a declining trend is “new and traditional career models”. This trend, which was observed in the years 2000–2019, highlights the fact that the weakening of organizational boundaries has increased career freedom and independence from previously constraining factors. The papers which examined this issue provide conceptual knowledge of different career dimensions. For example, a shift has taken place from objective to subjective careers. Individuals have to make sense of their careers, because they can no longer depend on their employers ( Walton and Mallon, 2004 ). Individual cultural, social and economic capital builds a field of opportunities for pursuing a career ( Iellatchitch et al. , 2003 ). Simultaneously, two major kinds of boundaries to the “boundaryless career” have been identified: the competence-based boundary (industry boundary) and the relation-based boundary (social capital boundary) ( Baghdadli et al. , 2003 ).

In the last two decades, increasing environmental awareness has pushed researchers towards addressing the issue of HRM as a strategic tool for making companies sustainability-driven organizations (e.g. Podgorodnichenko et al. , 2020 ). One of the emerging trends identified in our study is “Green and sustainable HRM”. This trend focuses on the environmental responsibility of companies (e.g. DuBois and Dubois, 2012 ) or/and achieving simultaneously social and economic goals (if the triple bottom line concept is discussed) (e.g. Ren and Jackson, 2020 ). The results, in the form of behavioral changes, have also been examined (e.g. Dumont et al. , 2017 ) and the contribution of HRM to company sustainability has been discussed in the context of different countries (e.g. Alcaraz et al. , 2019 ).

Finally, one example of an ephemeris trend is “HR certification”. The discussion on this trend was initiated by Lengnick-Hall and Aguinis (2012) . They applied a multi-level theory-based approach to investigating HR certification. They tried to assess the value of HR certification for individual HR specialists, their organizations as well as for the HR profession as a whole. The main topic addressed in later articles devoted to this trend was the value of HR certification (e.g. Aguinis and Lengnick-Hall, 2012 ). The value of HR certification has been linked with shareholder value ( Paxton, 2012 ). The link between organizational values and HR certification is another issue that has been addressed. Organizational values are treated as a key antecedent to the use and pursuit of HR certification ( Garza and Morgeson, 2012 ).

Table 3 presents only those periods during which specific trends were active, but provides no information on their dynamics. This can be observed by looking at the average number of papers per year (ANPY) in consecutive periods. Table 4 presents all the trends active during the last year of the study. They were divided into three groups according to whether the ANPY was decreasing, increasing or stable in recent years. To depict the relative strength of these trends, table shows the average number of papers published in the final 5-year period.

It can be concluded that trends with an increasing dynamic coincide with the trends defined in the literature. For example, “flexible employment from the perspective of HRM” corresponds with “employment relations” distinguished by Markoulli et al. (2017) and “the HRM process, the changing nature of HRM, and precarious employment relations” in the typology developed by Cooper et al. (2020) . “Diversity Management” is related to “organizational culture” ( Özlen, 2014 ). “Employee participation” may be associated with “employment relations” ( Cooke et al. , 2019 ) and “organizational commitment” ( García-Lillo et al. , 2017 ). The latter occurs both in the presented typology and in previous ones. “leader–member exchange” should be included in “behavioral issues” ( Özlen, 2014 ). Finally, a trend characterized by an increasing dynamic is “green and sustainable HRM”. Green HRM was an independent subject of analysis in a study by Yong et al. (2020) .

5. Conclusions

5.1 contributions and implications.

The present study provides an analysis of HRM journals with the aim of identifying trends in HRM research. It makes contributions to the field by providing a more comprehensive and objective review than analyses resulting from conventional systematic literature reviews as well as by identifying 42 different trends. It fills an existing gap in literature studies on HRM with a novel research approach – a methodology based on full-text mining and a big data toolset. As a consequence, this study can be considered as providing an adequate reflection of all the articles published in journals strictly devoted to HRM issues and which may serve as an important source of reference for both researchers and practitioners. It can also help them identify the core journals focused on HRM research as well as those topics which are of particular interest and importance.

As the study covers a period of over 20 years it should come as no surprise that some trends emerged and declined over this time. However, our study creates an opportunity for reviving research topics which combine old trends with new ones, and at the same time take into account the interdisciplinary nature of HRM as a field of research. Some researchers have observed that success can often be achieved by adopting a tool from another research area or through a new way of analyzing old problems that brings new insights and solutions ( Adali et al. , 2018 ).

Finally, we observed the emergence of a number of trends during the studied period that are still active. In particular, green and sustainable HRM is not only an emerging trend but also developing rapidly. It is worth mentioning here that while many articles have focused on green HRM issues, they have not been published in journals that specialize in HRM but in journals devoted to environmental issues. One possible future challenge for researchers may be to estimate the proportions between HRM articles published in HRM journals and those featured in other journals.

Practitioners interested in the evolution of the field can find in this paper areas of HRM that require improving in their own businesses or which can be treated as a platform for introducing innovations in HRM (emerging trends). The information contained in this paper can also be utilized as a source for evaluating the performance of sub-fields in a HRM research domain and for adjusting research policies with regard to funding allocations and comparing research input and output ( Gu, 2004 ). The editors of journals may take into account the results presented in this paper when making decisions regarding the direction, scope, and themes of their journals.

5.2 Limitations

In this study, the approach designed to overcome the limitations of using systematic literature review was presented. The analysis was done on the basis of the full text of the articles and the categories were discovered directly from the articles rather than predetermined. The study's findings may, however, potentially be limited by the following issues.

First, our eligibility criteria included only papers indexed in the Scopus and WoS database and excluded conference proceedings, book chapters, and non-English papers. Second, only full-text articles were included in the study, which could narrow down the research area. As a consequence, important information regarding the research presented in the excluded documents is potentially lost. Third, most of the papers in our database were published in the International Journal of Human Resource Management, and therefore such trends as “challenges for international HRM” can be considered significant (long-lasting). Another – the fourth – limitation of the study is the lack of estimation of the proportion between searches in HRM journals and articles published in other journals. Future research may overcome the above-presented limitations. Although we used valuable techniques such as TF-IDF and HDBSCAN, the fifth limitation is that, after trends were discovered, it was necessary to evaluate and interpret them. That could have induced researchers' bias even if – as in this study – researchers from different areas of experience were involved. Finally, this study covers the 2000–2020 timeframe. Since HRM is a rapidly developing field, in a few years from now academics will probably begin to move into exciting new research areas. As a consequence, it might be worthwhile conducting similar analyses to those presented in this study and compare their results.

Workflow of the methodology used in this study

Number of papers in the years 2000–2020

Trends in HRM research identified in previous studies

HRM-related journals included in this study

Trends in HRM research in the years 2000–2020

Activity of long-lasting and emerging trends in recent years

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Human resource management research in healthcare: a big data bibliometric study

Xiaoping qin.

1 School of Health Policy and Management, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100730 China

Yu-Ni Huang

2 College of Medical and Health Science, Asia University, Taichung, 41354 Taiwan

Kaiyan Chen

3 Department of Education, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100730 China

4 Department of Innovative Medical Research, Hospital Management Institute, Chinese People’s Liberation Army General Hospital, Beijing, 100853 China

Richard Szewei Wang

5 Affiliation Program of Data Analytics and Business Computing, Stern School of Business, New York University, New York, 10012 United States of America

6 Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, 518055 China

Bing-Long Wang

Associated data.

All data and materials generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article.

Human resource management (HRM) in healthcare is an important component in relation to the quality and efficiency of healthcare delivery. However, a comprehensive overview is lacking to assess and track the current status and trends of HRM research in healthcare. This study aims to describe the current situation and global trends in HRM research in healthcare as well as to indicate the frontiers and future directions of research. The research methodology is based on bibliometric mapping using scientific visualization software (VOSviewer). The data were collected from the Web of Science(WoS) core citation database. After applying the search criteria, we retrieved 833 publications, which have steadily increased over the last 30 years. In addition, 93 countries and regions have published relevant research. The United States and Australia have made significant contributions in this area. Current research articles focus on topics clustered into performance, hospital/COVID-19, job satisfaction, human resource management, occupational/mental health, and quality of care. The most frequently co-occurring keywords are human resource management, job satisfaction, nurses, hospitals, health services, quality of care, COVID-19, and nursing. There is limited research on compensation management and employee relations management, so the current HRM research field still has not been able to present a complete and systematic roadmap. We propose that our colleagues should consider focusing on these research gaps in the future.

Introduction

Among the many management elements, people are the most dynamic and active element, and they are an important asset in organizations [ 1 ]. The term “human resources” was first coined by the academic Peter F. Drucker in 1954 [ 2 ]. The key function of human resources management (HRM) is to “put the right people in the right jobs at the right time” [ 2 ]. HRM refers to the planned allocation of human resources in accordance with the requirements of organizational development through a series of processes, such as recruitment, training, use, assessment, motivation, and adjustment of employees, to mobilize their motivation, bring into play their potential and create value for the organization [ 1 ]. Ensuring the achievement of the organization’s strategic objectives, HRM activities mainly include human resource strategy formulation, staff recruitment and selection, training and development, performance management, compensation management, staff mobility management, staff relationship management, staff safety and health management, etc. Similarly, modern healthcare management has human resources as the core. The HRM level in hospitals is related to the quality and efficiency of medical services provided by hospitals, which is also the core of internal hospital management and the focus of health macro management [ 3 ].

The World Health Organization (WHO) states that health systems can only work with the help of health workers, and that improving the coverage of health services and realizing the right to the highest standard of health depends on the availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of health workers [ 4 ]. In response to evolving characteristics in socio-economic development and the human resource market, healthcare system personnel reforms are evident in three key areas: first, decentralization and flexible employment practices grant hospital managers greater decision-making autonomy concerning priorities and access to medical resources. However, they also impose quantitative and functional constraints on physicians' working hours, career planning, and medical payment systems. Second, a focal point is the rational allocation of technical staff to achieve efficiency while controlling labor costs. Finally, hospital organization change and restructuring are prevalent. Many European countries have unionized hospital employees, limiting the ability to establish independent incentives and rewards. In contrast, U.S. hospital employees often do not belong to specific organizations, leading cost control efforts to revolve around adjusting the allocation of technical staff and employee numbers to reduce labor expenses [ 5 – 7 ].

The current global trend in the number of publications on HRM in healthcare is rising. However, there are currently several problems in HRM research. The following issues mainly exist: (1) the expertise and professionalism of HRM managers are limited. (2) Theoretical methods and technical applications are weak. (3) Insufficient regulation of regulations, systems and procedures. (4) Management is mainly at the level of operational work, and functions are too fragmented [ 8 , 9 ]. Although hospitals worldwide generally recognize the importance of HRM, they do not pay sufficient attention to it. The management of human resources is also stuck in the previous understanding that its work is carried out only by transferring positions in hospitals, promoting and reducing the salary of employees and a series of other operations [ 10 ]. Most senior management in hospitals have comprehensive medical knowledge; some are experts in a particular field. Still, they lack expertise in HRM, which makes them work in a transactional way in HRM. There is also currently a general health workforce imbalance in countries worldwide. The lack of well-being of healthcare workers is particularly problematic in foreign healthcare institutions [ 11 ], and to reduce costs, some organizations have reduced staffing levels. In turn, because of lower quality of service, the morale of healthcare providers often suffers. Patient satisfaction may decline [ 12 ]. In the process of data gathering, we found that the literature related to HRM in healthcare is still under-reported and that the research topics are scattered, and there is still a lack of generalization and summary of these literatures [ 13 ]. There is no systematic theoretical support in the current research, which defines the perspective that researchers should take when analyzing and interpreting the data to be collected, leading to biased interpretations of the results, and does not allow other researchers to combine the findings with existing research knowledge and then apply them to practice [ 14 ]. Second, data collection was not rigorous, and the downloading strategy was not appropriate to achieve completeness and accuracy of data. There is also a lack of information and incomplete use of features in the presentation of knowledge maps and visualization results [ 15 ].

Therefore, the aims of this study are the following; first, we provide a new way of viewing the field of healthcare HRM and its associations by examining co-occurrence data. Second, we relate our evolutionary analysis to a comprehensive future research agenda which may generate a new research agenda in healthcare hospital HRM. This review, therefore, focuses on illuminating the research frontiers and future roadmap for healthcare HRM research [ 16 , 17 ].

Materials and methods

This study provides a bibliometric analysis of the HRM research literature in health care over a 30-year period to describe the landscape and trajectory of change in the research field. The methodology used for this overview is based on bibliometric mapping [ 18 , 19 ], a visualization technique that quantitatively displays the landscape and dynamic aspects of the knowledge domain [ 20 ]. Data were collected from the Web of Science (WoS) core citation database. Two Java-based scientific visualization software packages (CiteSpace and VOSviewer), developed by Chaomei Chen and Van Eck and Waltman, were used to analyze the data [ 18 , 21 ].

The data for this study were retrieved from the Web of Science on 28 September 2022. Web of Science was chosen as the search engine, because it is the most widely accepted and commonly used database for analyzing scientific publications [ 22 ]. The keywords “human resource management” and “healthcare organization” were used as search topics. First, to get a complete picture of HRM research, we searched all the literature from 1977 to the date of the search.

Eight hundred thirty-three publications on HRM in healthcare organizations were identified (Fig.  1 ). We excluded publications before 1990, because the two documents before 1990 did not include complete information. In addition, articles, review articles, and early access articles were included in the study. To minimize language bias, we excluded literature published in languages other than English. Each publication in WoS contains detailed information, including the year of publication, author, author’s address, title, abstract, source journal, subject category, references, etc. A detailed description of the contents of the database preceded the bibliographic analysis. For example, some authors presented their names in different spellings when submitting articles, so reviewing and integrating the data in detail was necessary. A total of 718 publications were included and exported to VOSviewer and CiteSpace software to analyze the following topics: global publishing trends, countries, journals, authors, research orientations, institutions, and quality of publications.

Research flow chart of the bibliometric analysis

Introduction to CiteSpace and VOSviewer

VOSviewer is a software tool for building and visualizing bibliometric networks. It was developed by Van Eck and Waltman [ 21 ]. In VOSviewer, metric networks can be visualized and analyzed for factors, including journals, researchers, or individual publications. They can be constructed based on citations, bibliographic couplings, co-citations, or co-authorship relationships [ 21 ].

Global publication trends

Number of global trends.

After applying the search criteria, we retrieved a total of 718 articles. Figure  2 a shows the increase in articles from 1 in 1977 to 108 in 2021. To predict future trends, a linear regression model was used to create a time curve for the number of publications throughout the year, and the model fit curve for the growth trend is shown in Fig.  2 b. The trend in the number of publications fitted the time curve well at R 2  = 0.8802. The R-squared value is a measure of how well the trend line fits. This value reflects the degree of fit between the estimated value of the trend line and the corresponding actual data; the better the fit, the more reliable the trend line is [ 23 , 24 ]. Based on the model’s trends, it is also predicted that the number of articles on HRM in healthcare will increase to approximately 300 by 2030, an almost threefold increase compared to 2021.

a Total number of publications related to HRM research. The bars indicate the number of publications per year. b Model fitting curves of global publication trends. c Top 10 countries of total publications. d Distribution world map of HRM research

Country and regional contributions

Figure  2 c, d shows the number of publications and the world distribution of the top 10 countries in total publication numbers. The USA contributed the most publications (172, 24.2%), followed by Australia (86, 12.0%), the UK (83, 11.6%), and China (78, 10.9%).

Total number of citations

The USA had the highest total number of citations of all included publications (5195) (Table ​ (Table1), 1 ), while the UK ranked second (2661), followed by Australia (1960) and the Netherlands (1271). The detailed rankings and numbers are shown in Fig.  3 a and Table ​ Table1 1 .

Contributions in publications of countries

a Top 10 countries of average citations for each article. b Average number of citations. c Top 10 countries of the H-index

Average citation frequency

Belgium had the highest average number of citations (49.26), followed by the UK (32.06), the USA (30.2), and Canada (27.13), as shown in Fig.  3 b.

Total citations and the h-index reflect the quality of a country’s publications and academic impact[ 25 ]. Figure  3 c shows the ranking of the h-index, where the top country is the USA (h-index = 36), followed by the UK (h-index = 27), Australia (h-index = 23), and Canada (h-index = 22).

Analysis of publications

Table ​ Table2 2 shows the top 10 journals for publications on HRM in healthcare, with 54 articles published in “International Journal of Human Resource Management”, 44 articles published in “BMJ Open”, 30 articles published in “Journal of Nursing Management”, and 24 articles in “BMC Health Services Research”.

Top 10 journals of publications related to HRM research

Table ​ Table3 3 shows the top 10 most published authors with 96 articles/reviews in the last decade, representing 13.4% of all literature in the field. Timothy Bartram from Australia has published 19 papers, followed by Sandra Leggat from Australia, Stanton P from the USA, and Townsend K from the UK with 13, 11, and 10 papers, respectively. All researchers listed as authors were included in this term for analysis, regardless of their relative contribution to the study. Notably, we have included all authors in this analysis regardless of their relative contribution to the study.

Top 20 authors of publications

Research orientation

Figure  4 a shows the top 10 research orientations of the 100 research orientations. The most common research orientations were management (193 articles), nursing (107 articles), health policy services (105 articles), and health care sciences services (201 articles).

a Top 10 research orientations and the number of publications in each orientation. b Top 20 institutions with the most publications

Institutions

Figure  4 shows the top 20 institutions with the most published papers. La Trobe University has the highest number of articles with 24, followed by the University of London (23) and Griffith University (18).

Co-occurrence analysis

In the keyword mapping on HRM research in healthcare, the size of the nodes represents the frequency, while the line between the nodes reflects the co-occurrence relationship. A total of 1914 keywords were included, and 59 met the criteria. All keywords were grouped into six clusters: performance (light blue cluster), job satisfaction (red cluster), quality of care (blue cluster), human resource management (brown cluster), occupational/mental health (purple cluster), and hospital/COVID-19 (green cluster) (Fig.  5 ).

Co-occurrence analysis of HRM research in healthcare

The most prominent themes in HRM research in healthcare are as below. In the “Performance” cluster, the keywords which have the greatest co-occurrence strength were “performance”, “systematic review”, “decentralization health system” and “motivation”. The main keywords in the “Job Satisfaction” cluster are “job satisfaction”, “organizational commitment”, “transformational leadership” and “turn over”. In the “Quality of care” cluster, the keywords that stand out are “quality of care”, “patient safety”, “high-performance work system”, “quality management” and “patient satisfaction”. In the “Human resource management” cluster, the prominent keywords include “human resource management”, “health policy”, “public health”, and “education and training”. In the “Occupational/Mental Health” cluster, the prominent keywords are “Occupational health”, “mental health”, “well-being” and “burnout”. The main keywords in the “Hospital/COVID-19” cluster were “hospitals”, “COVID-19” “workforce” and “qualitative research”.

Global trends in HMR in healthcare

Our study of HMR research in healthcare illustrates current and global trends in publications, contributing countries, institutions, and research orientations. The field of HMR research has evolved over the past three decades. However, as this study shows, the number of publications steadily increases yearly, with 93 countries or regions publishing in the field, suggesting that research focusing on HMR research and providing in-depth knowledge will likely increase.

Quality and status of publications worldwide

We find that most publishing countries are developed countries, but developing countries are catching up. The total citation rate and the h-index reflect the quality and scholarly impact of a country’s publications [ 25 ]. According to our study, the US ranks first among other countries in total publications, citations, and h-index, making the most substantial contribution to global HRM research. The UK and Canada also contribute significantly, with impressive total citation frequencies and h-index, especially the UK, which ranks second in average citation frequency. However, some countries, such as Belgium, Canada and Australia, also play an important role, given their high average citation frequency. In developing countries, HRM research has also served as a guide for hospitals to improve the quality of care. The study will serve as a reference for developing countries to learn from the experience of developed countries as their economic development gradually catches up with that of developed countries.

The impact and prestige of the journals can be seen in the number of articles published in the field and the influential journals in healthcare HRM research, including the BMC Health Services Research, the Journal of Nursing Management, the International Journal of Human Resource Management, the Health Care Management Review, and the Journal of Health Organisation and Management. These high-quality journals are thus the main source of information for researchers in this field on the latest developments in HRM in healthcare.

The study shows that almost all of the top 20 institutions come from the top five countries with the most publications, with the majority coming from the US, Australia and the Netherlands, reflecting the great academic influence of these three countries in the field of HRM in healthcare. These institutions play an important role in raising the academic performance of a country. Furthermore, the top 20 authors represent research leaders who are likely to impact the future direction of research significantly. Therefore, more attention should be paid to their work to stay abreast of the latest developments in the field.

Research Focus on HRM

Keywords play a crucial role in research papers as they contain vital information [ 26 ]. A systematic analysis of keywords within a specific research domain offers valuable insights into trends and focal points across various research areas [ 27 ]. Moreover, co-occurrence analysis relies on the number of joint publications to evaluate relationships among the identified keyword domains. As a result, it serves as an effective method for predicting future trends and focal points within the research areas of interest. These findings are expected to inspire more researchers to contribute to the future of HRM research in healthcare [ 28 ].

In this study, a total of six research domains were eventually summarized. Performance, Hospital/COVID-19, Job Satisfaction, Human resource management, Occupational/Mental Health, and Quality of care. By visualizing the analysis results, we can easily further clarify future trends. As the co-occurrence diagram shows, the keywords “Organizational culture”, “Patient safety”, “Nursing”, “Leadership”, “Quality of care” and “Hospitals” are highlighted as larger icons, so that investment and demand for quality research are necessary for the context of these six research directions.

Six modules and research directions in human resources

This study found that the visual clustering results and the keywords that emerged from the clusters were closely related to the HRM module s described in “Human Resources Management: Gaining a Competitive Advantage” by Noe. R . [ 29 ]. The modules have been cited in HRM research and are used as textbooks in universities [ 30 – 33 ]. Some of the keywords in each cluster correspond to human resource planning, performance management, recruitment and staffing, and training and development, respectively. The explanation of the HRM modules is described in the next paragraph. However, there are no explicit keywords in the modules related to employee relations management and compensation management results. This may be due to the private nature of the compensation structure in healthcare organizations during data collection, making it unavailable.

The explanation of the HRM modules [ 29 ]

• Human resource planning is the starting point of HRM. It helps the organization forecast future personnel needs and their basic qualities, primarily through planning.
• Recruitment and staffing, with HR planning as the input, is equivalent to the organization’s blood, nourishing the organization and solving the problem of staffing and staff matching.
• Training and development, with the “education” theme.
• Performance Management is at the heart of the six dimensions. It is also the primary input to the other dimensions.
• Compensation management aims to motivate employees to solve the company’s problems.
• Employee relations management aims to manage people and help the company form an effective cycle of rational human resource allocation.

Human resource planning

Human Resource Plan (HRP) stands for the implementation of the HR development strategy of the enterprise and the accomplishment of the enterprise’s goals, according to the changes in the internal and external environment and conditions of the enterprise, through the analysis and estimation of the future needs and supply of human resources and the use of scientific methods for organizational design, as well as the acquisition, allocation, utilization and maintenance of HR and other aspects of functional planning. HRP ensures that the organization has a balance of HR supply and demand at a needed time and in a required position, and achieves a reasonable allocation of HR and other resources to effectively motivate and develop of employees [ 34 ].

Decentralization health system, organizational culture/structure are high-frequency words in the clustering results related to “human resource management”. It is important to assess the extent to which decentralization can be used as a policy tool to improve national health systems. For policymakers and managers, based on relevant literature and research as well as country experience analysis, the experience of decentralization in relation to the organization and management of healthcare services is considered a forward-looking and pioneering concept capable of achieving optimal allocation of HR and other resources, in addition to the need to focus more on ex-ante and ex-post incentive development to deliver a 1 + 1 > 2 HRM effect [ 35 ]. HRP is the starting point and basis for all specific HRM activities. It directly affects the efficiency of the overall HRM of the enterprise. It is, therefore, taken as the primary job requirement for HR managers [ 36 ]. Organizational culture/structure significantly impacts the healthcare sector, such as excellence in healthcare delivery, ethical values, engagement, professionalism, cost of care, commitment to quality and strategic thinking, which are key cultural determinants of high-quality care delivery [ 37 ]. Therefore, as with other for-profit organizations, healthcare organizations must ensure that their organizational structure functions effectively to achieve their strategic goals. The organization formulates and implements HRM, an important task to achieve the development strategy goals.

Staff recruitment and allocation

Recruitment and staffing are the first steps in hospital HRM activities. Under the guidance of the organization’s human resources development plan, potential staff who meet the development conditions are attracted. Through the scientific selection of outstanding personnel, a platform with guaranteed treatment and development prospects is provided to ensure that the team of the healthcare organization is built solidly and meets the development needs. From the findings of this study, the keywords “workforce” and “workload” appear as high-frequency keywords in the co-occurrence analysis. Still, keywords related to traditional staff recruitment (e.g., analysis of recruitment needs, job analysis, competency analysis, recruitment procedures, and strategies) do not appear often. Recruitment and staffing are the prerequisites of human resources work. They bring a new dynamic source to healthcare organizations while complementing staff, making the organization full of vitality and vigor, facilitating organizational innovation and management innovation and helping improve the healthcare organization’s competitive advantage [ 38 ]. Recruitment and staffing, as a part of HR, directly impact the successful running of daily activities.

Training and development

Human resource training is an important component of quality and safety in the health care system. The keyword “education and training” shows a high frequency of co-occurrence in the clustering results of analysis, corresponding to the module “training and education”. However, it is connected to the keywords “human resource management” and “health policy”, and is in the same cluster with” public health”, “health care management”, and the distance between the lines and dots indicate that these topics are closely related, proving the importance of education and training in the HRM of health systems. Healthcare organizations (especially for non-professionals and caregivers) can improve the performance of their employees by enhancing their capabilities, knowledge and potential through learning and training, so that they can maximize their qualifications to match the demands of their work and advance their performance [ 39 , 40 ].

Performance management

Performance management, the core of the six modules, is also featured in the clustering results. Although this is an important focus for HR professionals, few studies have explored the link between HRM and health sector performance [ 6 ], the results show “performance” and “motivation”. The effectiveness of performance management is an important component of HRM, which effectively improves the quality of care in healthcare organizations/institutions [ 6 ]. Focusing on the effectiveness of performance management is considered to be crucial. First, as an integral part of HRM within an organization, it can help the organization meet its goals. Second, ineffective approaches can lead to negative attitudes among employees (including clinicians, nursing staff, administrators, etc.) and adversely affect performance due to decreased satisfaction among employees and patients. Third, given the increasing quality and cost reduction pressures on healthcare organizations, conducting further research on performance management and effectiveness is critical [ 41 ]. However, it is clear from our results that healthcare organizations have recognized the importance of performance management and are pursuing “high performance”. Although the topic of performance management in HRM in healthcare is one of the research priorities, the number is lacking and more discussion on performance management should be suggested for future research.

Compensation management

Compensation is an important tool to motivate employees to work hard and to motivate them to work hard. The results of the database's bibliographic analysis show that no keywords directly involved compensation. This indicates that “compensation management” has not been considered a hot topic or a research issue over 30 years of available literature. To clarify the content of this module, we further searched the database of 718 articles with keywords, such as compensation, remuneration, salary, etc., and found that only 35 of them mentioned or discussed compensation, and some years (e.g., 2018, 2009) even had no relevant literature being published. However, issues such as fairness of compensation management and employee compensation satisfaction are still important issues of concern to business management academics [ 42 , 43 ]. The actual situation is that it is difficult to conduct research on compensation management. Most organizations keep their employees’ compensation confidential, and when conducting research, HR managers avoid talking about their employees’ compensation or leave it vague, rendering it impossible for researchers to conduct further research.

Employee compensation is one factor that has the greatest impact on organizational performance. In the future, organizations should be encouraged to scientifically structure their compensation management and empower academic research to establish and implement fair compensation management systems based on empirical research while maintaining the privacy and security of organizational information.

Employee relations management

The connotation of employee relations management involves organizational culture and employee relations, as well as the coordination of the relationship between employers and employees. Healthcare organizations have complex structures with employees with varying skills, tasks or responsibilities, and such conflicts are often managed through the communication skills of administrative staff [ 44 ]. Although the keywords related to “employee relations management” did not occur in this study's analysis results, the six HRM modules are closely related. Therefore, this does not mean that no description of employee relations management was completely absent in the retrieved articles. It is clear that there is currently a lack of research on employee relations management in the healthcare field. Still, with the continuous development of the healthcare industry, it faces multiple challenges. If employee relations are not handled properly, healthcare organizations with social responsibility will face great public pressure, which will even affect the quality of healthcare services and performance, so it is especially important to strengthen the research on employee relations management.

This study inevitably has some limitations, the first of which arises from using quantitative methods to review documents in the field of HRM. The review relied on an analysis of the bibliographic data associated with the documents rather than a review of the research findings. The impact of the study was, therefore, limited to the general direction of developments in the field, rather than a synthesis of research findings. As a result, we may have missed some publications due to database bias. Second, most of the publications identified were in English and some articles relevant to other languages have not been included. Third, Since HRM exists in a wide range of industries and research areas, although researchers have set the screening criteria as detailed as possible, there may still be some literature that has not been detected.

This study describes the current state and global trends in HRM research in healthcare. The United States has made significant contributions in this field, establishing itself as a global leader. It is foreseeable that more and more publications will be published in the coming years, which indicates that HRM research in healthcare is booming. The analysis results of this study echoed the modules of HRM. It can be seen that in the current HRM research, many topics have been of interest. However, the focus and hotspots of the research are scattered, and there is presently no systematic research on the content of HRM in healthcare.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Editor-in-Chief and the referees for their helpful comments which help to improve our manuscript significantly.

Author contributions

BW, ZH and LLconceived of the presented idea. BW, developed the theory. BW, YH, RW, KC and XQ collected the data and discussed the results. BW and YH encouraged XQ to investigate the hospital management field and supervised the findings of this work. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript.

This research was supported by Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, China (Grant number: 2021-RC630-001).

Availability of data and materials

Declarations.

There are no human or animal studies in this manuscript, and no potentially identifiable human images or data are presented in this study.

Not applicable.

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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Human Resource Management Research Paper Topics

Human resource management research paper topics are a critical area of study for students and professionals aiming to understand and advance the field of Human Resource Management (HRM). With the rise of complex organizational structures, diverse workplace environments, and evolving employment laws, HRM has become an essential part of any successful organization. This abstract provides an overview of the multifaceted world of HRM research and introduces a comprehensive list of research paper topics that cater to various aspects of HRM. From talent acquisition to employee retention, performance evaluation, training, and legal compliance, the following sections will offer detailed insights into these areas. Students interested in pursuing research in HRM will find these topics engaging and highly relevant to the current organizational landscape. Additionally, they will be introduced to iResearchNet’s writing services that provide expert assistance in producing custom HRM research papers, ensuring quality, depth, and adherence to academic standards.

100 Human Resource Management Research Paper Topics

Human Resource Management (HRM) is a field that delves into the multifaceted interactions between employees and organizations. The role of HRM has evolved over time to include not only the management of recruitment and employee relations but also strategic planning, legal compliance, and organizational development. Here, we present a comprehensive list of Human Resource Management research paper topics divided into 10 essential categories, each containing 10 specific topics.

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HRM is a dynamic and broad field that demands multidimensional approaches to study. As students explore various topics, they will find intricate connections between management strategies, organizational behavior, and employee satisfaction. The following list serves as an inclusive guide to inspire research and academic inquiry.

• The role of HRM in organizational strategy
• Integrating HRM and business planning
• Talent management strategies
• Outsourcing HR functions: Pros and cons
• Technology and HRM
• Cross-cultural HRM
• Mergers and acquisitions: HRM challenges
• Strategic HR planning and organizational success
• The future of strategic HRM
• Best HR practices in top-performing companies
• Innovative recruitment techniques
• Bias and discrimination in the recruitment process
• Role of artificial intelligence in recruitment
• Recruitment marketing strategies
• Social media as a recruitment tool
• Ethics in employee selection
• Assessing the effectiveness of recruitment strategies
• Diversity and inclusion in recruitment
• Remote hiring practices
• Campus recruitment strategies
• The effectiveness of training programs
• Employee development and organizational growth
• The role of mentors in employee growth
• E-learning and virtual training methods
• Personalized training approaches
• Training evaluation methods
• Cross-training and skill development
• The future of corporate training
• Impact of continuous learning culture
• Leadership development programs
• Modern performance appraisal techniques
• 360-degree feedback system
• Employee engagement and performance
• Performance management and job satisfaction
• Aligning performance goals with organizational objectives
• Challenges in performance evaluation
• Performance-based rewards
• Emotional intelligence and employee performance
• Performance management in remote work environments
• Real-time performance tracking systems
• Building trust and collaboration among employees
• Conflict resolution strategies
• Impact of organizational culture on employee engagement
• Managing generational differences in the workplace
• Role of leadership in fostering engagement
• Employee wellness programs
• The psychology of employee engagement
• Communication strategies for employee relations
• Remote employee engagement tactics
• Work-life balance initiatives
• Salary negotiation techniques
• The psychology of compensation
• Pay equity and gender wage gap
• The impact of benefits on employee retention
• Flexible compensation models
• Global compensation strategies
• Linking compensation to performance
• Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs)
• Non-monetary benefits and motivation
• Compensation transparency
• Labor law compliance in multinational corporations
• Whistleblowing and ethical considerations
• HRM in unionized workplaces
• Workplace harassment laws
• Employee rights and employer responsibilities
• Managing employee terminations ethically
• Diversity and anti-discrimination policies
• Legal aspects of employee benefits
• Remote work and legal challenges
• Ethical dilemmas in HRM
• Building a diverse workforce
• Strategies for fostering inclusion
• The impact of diversity on team performance
• Gender diversity in leadership roles
• Managing cultural diversity
• Age diversity in the workplace
• Disability inclusion strategies
• LGBT+ inclusion in the workplace
• Ethnic diversity and organizational success
• Bias reduction training
• The role of HRM in shaping organizational culture
• Employee behavior and organizational success
• Workplace norms and values
• Emotional labor in organizations
• Organizational change management
• Strategies for building a positive work environment
• Employee motivation and organizational culture
• The psychology of workplace relationships
• Corporate social responsibility (CSR) and culture
• The role of leadership in defining organizational culture
• Emerging Trends in HRM
• HRM in the gig economy
• Artificial intelligence and HRM
• Employee mental health and well-being
• Sustainability and HRM
• The future of remote work
• Integrating HRM and corporate social responsibility (CSR)
• Blockchain in HRM
• Personal branding in HR
• The role of big data analytics in HRM
• HRM challenges in the post-pandemic world

The list of human resource management research paper topics presented above offers a rich and diverse avenue for exploration. Each category delves into core aspects of HRM, reflecting the ever-changing nature of this field. As students embark on their research journey, they will discover a world that intricately connects people, organizations, and societal values. Whether focusing on traditional practices or emerging trends, these topics provide the starting point for meaningful inquiry and the creation of knowledge that contributes to the continued growth and evolution of HRM.

Human Resource Management and the Range of Research Paper Topics

Human Resource Management (HRM) is an interdisciplinary field that integrates aspects of management, psychology, sociology, economics, and legal studies. It is the art and science of managing people within an organization to maximize their performance, well-being, and alignment with strategic goals. As a broad and multifaceted domain, HRM opens doors to a wide array of research opportunities. This article will explore the essence of HRM, its historical evolution, theoretical frameworks, practical applications, and the myriad of research paper topics it offers.

Historical Background

The history of HRM can be traced back to the early 20th century, during the rise of the industrial revolution. The scientific management theory introduced by Frederick Taylor sought to apply scientific principles to worker productivity. As the business environment grew more complex, the Hawthorne studies emerged, highlighting the importance of social factors and human relations in the workplace. The evolution from personnel management to modern HRM reflects a shift from viewing employees as mere resources to recognizing them as valuable assets.

Theoretical Frameworks

HRM is underpinned by several key theories that guide practice:

• Resource-Based View (RBV): Emphasizes the role of human resources as a competitive advantage.
• Equity Theory: Focuses on fairness and justice in employee relations.
• Expectancy Theory: Explains how employees are motivated by the expected outcomes of their actions.
• Human Capital Theory: Regards employees as assets whose value can be enhanced through training and development.

These theories offer diverse perspectives for research, ranging from organizational behavior to strategic HRM.

Key Functions and Practices

The scope of HRM encompasses various functions that address the needs of both the organization and its employees:

• Recruitment and Selection: Designing and implementing processes to attract and hire suitable candidates.
• Training and Development: Enhancing employee skills and knowledge through continuous learning.
• Performance Management: Assessing and managing employee performance to align with organizational goals.
• Compensation and Benefits: Structuring pay and rewards to motivate and retain talent.
• Labor Relations: Navigating the legal landscape and fostering healthy employee-employer relationships.

Contemporary Challenges

Modern HRM faces several challenges that provide fertile grounds for research:

• Diversity and Inclusion: Creating a workforce that represents various backgrounds, beliefs, and perspectives.
• Technology and Automation: Leveraging technology to enhance HR processes while considering its impact on jobs.
• Globalization: Managing HR practices across different cultures and jurisdictions.
• Ethical Considerations: Balancing organizational needs with ethical treatment of employees.

Emerging Trends

The ever-changing business landscape leads to new trends in HRM:

• Remote Work: The rise of virtual workplaces and the associated management challenges.
• Well-Being and Mental Health: Prioritizing employee health and well-being as part of HR strategy.
• Sustainability: Integrating social responsibility into HR practices.

Range of Research Paper Topics

The complexity and diversity of HRM lead to an abundance of research paper topics. Here are examples from different areas:

• Strategic HRM: Examining the alignment of HR practices with business strategy.
• Employee Engagement: Exploring factors that influence engagement and its impact on performance.
• Legal Aspects of HRM: Investigating laws and regulations affecting HR practices.
• Organizational Culture and Behavior: Analyzing the influence of culture on employee behavior and organizational success.

Human Resource Management is a vast and dynamic field that intertwines various disciplines, theories, practices, and challenges. From historical roots to contemporary issues, HRM offers a rich tapestry of research opportunities. Whether investigating traditional functions or delving into emerging trends, students and scholars can find a wealth of topics that resonate with their interests and contribute to our understanding of human interactions within organizational contexts. The spectrum of human resource management research paper topics reflects the depth and breadth of a field that continues to evolve, shaping the way we work, lead, and thrive in an ever-changing world.

How to Choose Human Resource Management Research Paper Topics

Selecting the right topic for a research paper in Human Resource Management (HRM) is a critical step that can shape the entire trajectory of your project. The topic you choose should align with your interests, academic level, the specific requirements of the assignment, and the current trends in the field. Here’s a guide to help you navigate the decision-making process and pinpoint a topic that resonates with you.

The realm of Human Resource Management is vast and diverse, encompassing various theories, functions, challenges, and emerging trends. Choosing a suitable research paper topic within this multifaceted field requires careful consideration and strategic thinking. This section will outline ten essential tips to guide you in selecting a meaningful, relevant, and engaging topic for your research.

• Identify Your Interests: Begin by reflecting on what aspects of HRM intrigue you. Are you passionate about organizational behavior, talent acquisition, employee welfare, or strategic HRM? Your research will be more enjoyable if it aligns with your interests.
• Understand the Assignment Requirements: Review the guidelines and grading criteria provided by your instructor. Consider the scope, length, and expected complexity of the paper.
• Conduct a Preliminary Literature Review: Explore existing research in areas that interest you. Identify gaps, controversies, or emerging trends that could form the basis for your study.
• Consider the Target Audience: Think about who will read your paper. Tailoring the topic to your audience’s interests, knowledge level, and expectations can enhance its impact.
• Evaluate Available Resources: Assess the availability of data, tools, and resources needed for your research. The feasibility of a topic depends on your ability to access relevant information and support.
• Align with Current Trends: Consider choosing a topic that relates to contemporary issues or recent developments in HRM. This alignment can make your research more relevant and appealing.
• Seek Guidance from Instructors or Peers: Don’t hesitate to consult with your instructor, classmates, or academic advisors. They may offer valuable insights, feedback, or suggestions.
• Ensure Ethical Consideration: Ensure that your chosen topic complies with ethical standards, particularly if it involves human subjects, sensitive data, or controversial subjects.
• Consider the Broader Impact: Reflect on how your research could contribute to the field of HRM. A topic with potential practical implications or theoretical advancements can add value to your work.
• Create a Shortlist and Evaluate: Draft a list of potential topics and weigh them against the criteria outlined above. This systematic approach can help you identify the most suitable option.

Selecting a research paper topic in Human Resource Management is a thoughtful and iterative process that requires introspection, exploration, and strategic thinking. By considering your interests, academic requirements, available resources, current trends, ethical considerations, and potential impact, you can identify a topic that not only resonates with you but also contributes to the vibrant discourse in HRM. Remember that your choice is not set in stone; it’s a starting point that you can refine and adapt as you delve into your research. Embrace the journey, for the right topic is a gateway to discovery, learning, and growth in the multifaceted world of human resource management.

How to Write a Human Resource Management Research Paper

Writing a research paper on Human Resource Management (HRM) is a complex task that requires a clear understanding of the subject matter, a methodical approach to research, and strong writing skills. The following section will guide you through the process of crafting a well-structured, insightful, and academically rigorous research paper in HRM.

Human Resource Management is at the core of organizational success, shaping the way businesses attract, retain, and develop talent. As a field that intertwines with psychology, sociology, business strategy, and law, writing a research paper on HRM is both challenging and rewarding. The following guide provides a step-by-step approach to help you navigate the research, writing, and revision stages, ensuring that your paper is thorough, coherent, and impactful.

• Understand the Assignment: Before diving into research and writing, clarify the assignment’s objectives, scope, format, and grading criteria. Ensure you understand what is expected in terms of content, structure, style, and depth of analysis.
• Choose a Relevant Topic: Select a topic that aligns with your interests, the course objectives, and current HRM trends. Refer to Section IV for guidance on choosing the right topic.
• Conduct Comprehensive Research: Utilize reputable sources such as academic journals, books, and industry reports to gather data, theories, and insights related to your topic. Evaluate the credibility and relevance of each source.
• Develop a Thesis Statement: Craft a clear and concise thesis statement that outlines the central argument or focus of your paper. The thesis should guide the reader on what to expect and provide a roadmap for your analysis.
• Create an Outline: Develop a detailed outline that breaks down the main sections and sub-sections of your paper. An outline will help you organize your thoughts, maintain coherence, and ensure a logical flow of ideas.
• Write the Introduction: Begin with an engaging introduction that introduces the topic, provides background information, highlights its significance, and presents the thesis statement.
• Develop the Body Paragraphs: Divide the body of your paper into clear sections and subsections. Use headings and subheadings to guide the reader. Each paragraph should have a clear topic sentence, supporting evidence, and a concluding sentence that links back to the thesis.
• Include Practical Insights and Case Studies: Where appropriate, include practical examples, case studies, or industry insights that illustrate your points. This application of theory to real-world scenarios can enhance the depth and relevance of your paper.
• Write the Conclusion: Summarize the key findings, restate the thesis in light of the evidence, and discuss the implications, limitations, and recommendations for future research or practice.
• Revise and Edit: Review your paper multiple times to check for clarity, coherence, grammar, and formatting errors. Consider seeking feedback from peers or instructors, and use plagiarism check tools to ensure originality.

Writing a research paper in Human Resource Management is a multifaceted process that requires careful planning, diligent research, critical analysis, and thoughtful writing. By following the tips outlined above, you can create a paper that not only meets academic standards but also contributes valuable insights to the dynamic field of HRM. Remember that writing is a process of continuous refinement; embrace revisions, seek feedback, and strive for clarity and depth. The journey of crafting an HRM research paper is an opportunity to deepen your understanding, hone your skills, and contribute to the ongoing discourse in a field that shapes the heart of organizations around the world.

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The Most Successful Approaches to Leading Organizational Change

• Deborah Rowland,
• Michael Thorley,
• Nicole Brauckmann

A closer look at four distinct ways to drive transformation.

When tasked with implementing large-scale organizational change, leaders often give too much attention to the what of change — such as a new organization strategy, operating model or acquisition integration — not the how — the particular way they will approach such changes. Such inattention to the how comes with the major risk that old routines will be used to get to new places. Any unquestioned, “default” approach to change may lead to a lot of busy action, but not genuine system transformation. Through their practice and research, the authors have identified the optimal ways to conceive, design, and implement successful organizational change.

Management of long-term, complex, large-scale change has a reputation of not delivering the anticipated benefits. A primary reason for this is that leaders generally fail to consider how to approach change in a way that matches their intent.

• Deborah Rowland is the co-author of  Sustaining Change: Leadership That Works , Still Moving: How to Lead Mindful Change , and the Still Moving Field Guide: Change Vitality at Your Fingertips . She has personally led change at Shell, Gucci Group, BBC Worldwide, and PepsiCo and pioneered original research in the field, accepted as a paper at the 2016 Academy of Management and the 2019 European Academy of Management. Thinkers50 Radar named as one of the generation of management thinkers changing the world of business in 2017, and she’s on the 2021 HR Most Influential Thinker list. She is Cambridge University 1st Class Archaeology & Anthropology Graduate.
• Michael Thorley is a qualified accountant, psychotherapist, executive psychological coach, and coach supervisor integrating all modalities to create a unique approach. Combining his extensive experience of running P&L accounts and developing approaches that combine “hard”-edged and “softer”-edged management approaches, he works as a non-executive director and advisor to many different organizations across the world that wish to generate a new perspective on change.
• Nicole Brauckmann focuses on helping organizations and individuals create the conditions for successful emergent change to unfold. As an executive and consultant, she has worked to deliver large-scale complex change across different industries, including energy, engineering, financial services, media, and not-for profit. She holds a PhD at Faculty of Philosophy, Westfaelische Wilhelms University Muenster and spent several years on academic research and teaching at University of San Diego Business School.

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Workplace Romance Is On the Rise

Even amid the growth of remote and hybrid work, intimate relationships among co-workers are increasing. So it's essential for HR leaders to have a policy in place.

A married executive insisted the subordinate he was romantically involved with would voluntarily leave the company so they could be together. She didn’t agree with those terms; he ended up out of a job. When a couple at another company broke up, the man didn’t take it well and showed up at work with weapons to convince his ex-girlfriend to go with him. Another couple who worked together thought the parking area was a good place for a sexual romp. They didn’t know about the security cameras.

Ain’t love grand?

Well, not so much if you’re in human resources and must deal with those real-life examples described by HR managers. While people do meet on the job and even sometimes end up marrying those whom they get to know in a workplace environment, such relationships are fraught with potential problems. HR specialists say  navigating workplace romance is among their toughest assignments. That’s because the issue involves weighing fairness against people’s right to privacy and the possibility of legal liability for the company if things go awry.

“With the #MeToo movement, you’re getting into some very scary ground” if one employee is alleging harassment or pressure from another employee seeking an unwanted relationship, especially if the pursuer is a supervisor, says Jeff Luttrell, SHRM-SCP, global vice president of executive talent at Atento, a Madrid-based customer relationship management firm with 150,000 employees worldwide. “It’s a really difficult topic, one I think HR people struggle with on an almost daily basis.”

Indeed, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) research shows something unexpected: Even as more workers went remote, the number of workplace romances rose during the pandemic. One-third of U.S. employees are currently involved or have been romantically involved with a co-worker, up from the 27 percent who reported workplace romances before the public health crisis began. So this is a good time for HR leaders to revisit their company policies on workplace romance, experts say, especially since many of those policies are lacking.

A Practical Approach

Many HR specialists agree that trying to prohibit workplace romances doesn’t make sense. “Banning all romances is not terribly realistic. People will find a way,” says attorney Julie A. Moore, SHRM-SCP, president of the Wellesley, Mass.-based HR consulting firm Employment Practices Group. 

Draconian policies will either drive relationships underground or make people look elsewhere for employment, experts say. 

“Do they really want to lose talent?” Moore asks. “In this day and age, talent is scarce.” 

And these are just the types of issues that arise when the feelings are mutual. 

Occasionally, romantic relationships in the workplace can lead to difficult or even dangerous situations. Luttrell wished office romances were forbidden after encountering a particularly scary incident at a call center job he had some years ago. A male employee who was upset when his female co-worker broke off their relationship showed up at work with weapons “basically to take her away,” Luttrell recalls.

“The police had to come. Of course, the gentleman was terminated immediately, and he was prosecuted,” Luttrell says. “It kind of put [workplace relationships] in a different perspective for me.” 

“We spend more waking time with the people we work with than anyone else, which is why we have to get along with the people we work with,” says HR consultant Chad Sorenson, SHRM-SCP. “Sometimes that turns into romances with the people we work with”—like the couple inadvertently captured on parking lot security cameras that Sorenson had to deal with in an earlier HR job. But “when things turn south … or one person wants the relationship [to continue] and the other one doesn’t, you could be talking about harassment.”

It’s a tricky position for HR because relationships are not always clear-cut, people aren’t always forthcoming, and solutions need to be designed so they don’t undermine company credibility or employee morale.

And because of harassment concerns, “we’ve gotten so careful about these office romances,” Lipman says. “I think it has unintentionally demonized what is perfectly normal human behavior.” 

The SHRM study, in fact, found that three-fourths of employees say they’re comfortable with their colleagues being romantically involved.

Sometimes office romances are life-changing in a good way, with couples finding their spouses at work. Think Barack and Michelle Obama, who met and began a relationship while they were working at the same law firm. But there are so many other ways love can go wrong—whether it’s a relationship that ends in heartache or a manager involved with a subordinate. The latter raises problems not just for claims of harassment, but also for office morale, if people think someone is getting favorable treatment because they’re sleeping with the boss, experts say.

That’s why HR professionals and employment attorneys agree that except in very rare cases (such as between married couples in a family-owned company), relationships between managers and their direct reports should not be permitted. And in many cases, relationships between executives and any subordinate should not be allowed, even if they don’t work in the same division.

Do’s and Don’ts for HR

Workplace relationships are a delicate matter for HR, which needs to protect the company from liability while allowing employees to pursue their own love interests. Some tips from HR managers and legal specialists:

DO have a formal policy, and make sure employees are aware of it. It can be included in the employee handbook, onboarding sessions, sexual-harassment training or—ideally—all three.

DO tailor your policy to the office culture (a family-owned business might have looser rules than a large, hierarchical company, for example), but always require disclosure to HR of a romantic relationship.

DO  encourage open communication so relationships aren’t driven underground.

DO document everything, whether it’s a formal acknowledgment of a relationship or evidence in company communications of a relationship. If a relationship goes sour and someone alleges harassment, your lawyer will thank you.

DO consider a “love contract” that formally acknowledges the relationship and terms of office behavior. It can protect the company but also make people more reluctant to disclose, if it means putting it in writing. 

DON’T try to ban intra-office romances. It’s unrealistic—people do meet at work—and it will just lead to lying and deception.

DON’T permit relationships between a supervisor and a direct report, and consider whether peers should be working on the same team if they are romantically involved. Members of a couple should not have direct impact on each other’s work.

DON’T permit hand-holding or other obvious public displays of affection at the office. —S.M.

Rules of Engagement

When two colleagues become romantically involved, the ideal situation includes the couple voluntarily reporting the relationship to HR, followed by HR moving one or both individuals to another position in the company if there is a subordinate/manager situation or another potential conflict. It doesn’t always work so smoothly—especially when the rules aren’t clear.

In a previous job at a law firm, Moore was asked to figure out how to navigate the relationship between a romantically involved partner and associate. The duo devised what they considered a reasonable plan for their relationship, but the firm ultimately asked both to leave, Moore says, because it couldn’t satisfy the couple’s individual requests and didn’t want to pick between them to resolve management’s concerns.

Joanne Lee, SHRM-SCP, vice president of human resources at New Castle, Del.-based beverage distributor N.K.S. Distributors, was in HR at a previous company where the married male CEO got involved with a female subordinate but said it wouldn’t be a problem because she was prepared to leave.

Except that wasn’t what the subordinate said in a private meeting with HR. “It all got very ugly,” Lee says. “He just got himself into a web.” In the end, the CEO was going to be terminated, so he pre-emptively resigned.

Leesa Schipani, SHRM-SCP, a partner at Glastonbury, Conn.-based HR consulting firm KardasLarson LLC, is not unsympathetic to those who meet romantic partners on the job. (After all, she met her own husband at work and voluntarily resigned to avoid a conflict of interest.) In her experience, however, workplace romances can sometimes create problems, and a satisfactory solution can’t always be reached.

At one company, Schipani was presented with a situation where the regional vice president was involved with a woman who reported to him. “We talked to them and said, ‘One of you either needs to move to a different area or leave the company,’ ” Schipani says. The woman ended up leaving, with the company doing “everything we could” to help with her job search, she adds.

But in another case, a subordinate was involved with a supervisor—one was married—and the two would not-so-coincidentally end up in the same place, and same hotel, during business trips paid for by the company.

“It turned out to be really messy,” Schipani says. “They thought they were being discreet.” The pair had lost so much credibility in the organization that both were terminated.

S tandards an d Practices

W hat rules should HR impose? It depends on the company culture and size. Diane Dooley, CHRO at World Insurance in Edison, N.J., is in the process of writing a handbook that will apply to all of the organizations the company acquires, including those that are small and have family members already working together.

In those companies, “we will have nepotism,” Dooley says, adding that at the very least, people will have to disclose their relationships.

Some businesses get very detailed about what employees can and cannot do when pursuing romantic relationships. 

Meta (the company formerly known as Facebook) doesn’t prohibit office romances. But its employee handbook dictates that a worker can’t ask out a colleague twice if the first invitation didn’t result in a date. Further, Meta’s policy says workers can’t ask out colleagues they have never met. That means employees can’t contact a co-worker whose profile picture they find attractive to ask for a date.

Such rules can prevent a lot of problems down the road, attorneys and HR managers say, but only if they’re accepted and followed by staff, who might be resentful of rules they consider to be infringing on their personal lives.

When companies have very strict policies, “it causes people to keep it secret,” says Matt Carter, a Texas-based attorney with the business set-up firm Inc and Go. “Encourage openness. Not having those strict rules is paradoxically one of the best ways to avoid the situation” of couples conducting clandestine affairs. 

Proceed with Caution

Even though HR managers and lawyers tout the value of rules requiring the disclosure of relationships, such disclosure is rare. According to the SHRM survey, 77 percent of U.S. workers said their employers do not require them to disclose an office romance. An equal percentage said they have not told their employers when they have been involved in an office relationship.

And the definition of “relationship” is squishy. When is a relationship a relationship and not a random hookup that both parties would like to forget? What if one party sees the interaction as a relationship and the other sees it as more casual?

Plus, sometimes people have good reason not to let HR know what’s going on, says Sean Horan, a Fairfield University communications professor who is conducting a study on workplace romances. “What if someone is LGBTQ and doesn’t want their boss to know?” he asks. “What about cheating husbands or wives? What if they’re in a consensually nonmonogamous relationship?” Some people might not want to share information of this nature with friends, never mind someone at their company, Horan says.

In those cases, experts recommend HR be especially discreet to protect employees’ privacy and help them feel comfortable about reporting their relationship. 

Failure to disclose can often result in termination, regardless of the person’s status at the company. CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker resigned in early 2022 after acknowledging he had not disclosed—as was required—a relationship with Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Allison Gollust.

Another potential problem is equal treatment of two employees in a romantic relationship. For example, a company that most commonly asks women to move to another post or leave the organization could be subject to a discrimination suit, legal experts warn.

“If you don’t require a male in a relationship to move but require the female to move—even if arguably to an equal position—someone could still make a claim that the position is not as favorable,” says Peter Cassat, a Washington, D.C.-based labor and employment attorney at Culhane Meadows.

Love Contracts

HR specialists are divided on so-called love contracts, wherein employees sign a document stating they’re in a consensual relationship and perhaps agree to certain standards of behavior around the office.

The agreements are helpful because “they show the origination of the relationship was indeed consensual,” says Vanessa Matsis-McCready, associate general counsel and director of human resources at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Engage PEO, which provides HR services and benefits to small and midsize businesses. This protects the company if one party tries to claim they never wanted the relationship. 

“But it doesn’t mean you’re never going to get a harassment claim out of it,” Matsis-McCready adds. “It’s possible one person might say they were coerced into signing the agreement.” And some people might be more reluctant to sign a formal declaration, especially if they are married or identify as LGBTQ.

Mariel Smith, a partner and labor and employment lawyer at Hall Booth Smith P.C. in Columbus, Ga., says formal contracts can get “a little more heavy-handed than I think they should be.” However, when contracts do exist, they should state the date the relationship began, she says, so the company is somewhat protected if the relationship ends badly and someone makes a harassment allegation.

Same-Sex Relationships May Require Special Discretion 

Asking employees to disclose a romantic relationship is a common requirement for companies that have policies on workplace romances. But what about members of the LGBTQ community who may not want people at work to know about their sexual orientation?

It’s a thorny issue for HR, and many experts agree that it’s wrong to out people who want to keep their sexual orientation or gender identity private. But legally, HR can’t have different rules for LGBTQ employees than it does for employees who do not identify as LGBTQ.

“You’ve got to walk a fine line. You can’t really come out and ask someone, ‘Are you gay?’ or ‘Are you in a relationship with Steve?’ ” says business attorney Matt Carter, who is gay. Carter says when he came out in the early 21st century, it wasn’t a big deal at his workplace and he felt accepted.

But that’s not the case for all LGBTQ employees. 

A landmark 2020 Supreme Court case,  Bostock v. Clayton County , held that gay, lesbian and transgender individuals are protected against workplace discrimination under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. But Title VII applies only to companies with 15 or more employees. And it doesn’t stop LGBTQ individuals from being subject to judgment or disdain from fellow workers. 

A September 2021 study by UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute found that 46 percent of LGBTQ workers experienced some kind of unfair treatment at work at some point in their lives, and 1 in 10 had experienced discrimination at work in the previous year.

So what can HR do? Hold LGBTQ workers to the same standards and rules that all employees must follow, experts advise. But do so with the utmost discretion, says Sean Horan, a faculty member at Fairfield University who researches communication in dating relationships.

There are strict structures in place for other information, such as health information under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Horan notes. And while there may be no HIPAA-like law protecting disclosure of someone’s LGBTQ identity, it’s just the decent thing to do, he says. —S.M.

Digital Documentation

Love contract or no love contract, employers need to document everything, lawyers say. Many companies have a policy that allows management to view e-mails and Slack messages written by employees, which means companies can often discover a relationship by going to their own databases. And many businesses consider searching company computers and phones to be fair game. 

Paul Lopez, a labor and employment attorney with the South Florida-based firm Tripp Scott, recalls a case where a couple at a workplace—a supervisor and a subordinate—broke up, and afterward one party said the relationship was coerced from the start. However, upon further review, “there were hundreds of text messages, and it was crystal clear it was a consensual relationship,” Lopez says.

Moore says she’s currently working on a case where a central factor is the question of when a relationship began, and e-mails and texts are revealing. “It’s amazing what you learn by going through e-mail, Slack and text messages,” she says.

A workplace romance can also come to light as a byproduct of a separate inquiry. Cassat recalls a case in which a manager was accused of discrimination against someone in his department. It was a serious allegation, Cassat says, one that required investigators to examine company e-mails.

“We learned he was having a relationship with another manager in the company,” Cassat says, and would joke with her about having “company meetings” at his condo across the street that were not actually business meetings. Both parties ultimately were terminated.

The bottom line is that people are going to form romantic relationships at work, Carter says, and there’s nothing HR can do about it. The message to employees, he maintains, should be, “We’re not going to regulate your personal lives. But if you’re having a relationship with someone in the office, we would like to know about it. That’s to protect you—and to protect us, frankly.”                                                         

Susan Milligan is a freelan ce writer based in Washington, D.C.

Illustrations by Richard Mia.

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