Je. Delery et Dh. Doty, MODES OF THEORIZING IN STRATEGIC HUMAN-RESOURCE MANAGEMENT - TESTS OFUNIVERSALISTIC, CONTINGENCY, AND CONFIGURATIONAL PERFORMANCE PREDICTIONS, Academy of Management journal, 39(4), 1996, pp. 802-835
The field of strategic human resource management (SHRM) has been criti
cized for lacking a solid theoretical foundation. This article documen
ts that, contrary to this criticism, the SHRM literature draws on thre
e dominant modes of theorizing: universalistic, contingency, and confi
gurational perspectives, Seven key strategic human resource practices
are identified and used to develop theoretical arguments consistent wi
th each perspective, The results demonstrate that each perspective can
be used to structure theoretical arguments that explain significant l
evels of variation in financial performance.