Chapter 1: Perspectives on the Validity of Inferences From Research in Human Resource Management

Empirical research in Human Resource Management (HRM) and the related fields of industrial and organizational psychology, and organizational behavior has focused on such issues as recruiting, testing, selection, training, motivation, compensation, and employee well-being. A review of the literature on these and other topics suggests that less than optimal methods have often been used in HRM studies. Among the methods-related problems are using (a) measures or manipulations that have little or no construct validity, (b) samples of units (e.g., participants, organizations) that bear little or no correspondence to target populations, (c) research designs that have little or no potential for supporting valid causal inferences, (d) samples that are too small to provide for adequate statistical power, and (e) data analytic strategies that are inappropriate for the issues addressed by a study. As a result, our understanding of various HRM phenomena has suffered and improved methods may serve to enhance both the science and practice of HRM and allied disciplines.