An integrative review of SHRM research in South Korea: current status and future directions

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to determine the current status of strategic human resource management (SHRM) research in the context of Korea as well as to provide specific recommendations for future research.Design/methodology/approachAn integrative literature review was performed to aggregate a body of studies in the Korean context. In total, 39 articles were carefully selected for inclusion in the present review.FindingsThe review demonstrated that prior studies conducted in Korea have examined whether the established relationship between strategic human resource (HR) practices and organizational outcomes has cross-national validity in Korean contexts, the extent to which the established relationship is moderated by contextual factors, as well as whether a combination of strategic HR practices and the congruence of HR practices with other organizational factors affect organizational outcomes. In addition, the review revealed four unique methodological characteristics of Korea-based studies, namely, the extensive use of self-reported questionnaires, personnel in managerial positions serving as the main sources of primary data, secondary data collected by Korean government research bodies being actively dealt with and an awareness of the necessity of a longitudinal design for causal research.Originality/valueThe present review makes an important contribution to the study of SHRM in general and the strategic human resources management model in Korea in particular. It is clear that more research is required, although it is encouraging to note the quality of prior research concerning Korean contexts and the specific mechanisms by which strategic HR practices influence organizational outcomes. Finally, there is a clear need for future research that explicitly considers employees' perceptions of strategic HR practices and specific contextual factors in Korea, and further, that utilizes more rigorous and diverse research methods to investigate the effectiveness of strategic HR practices in Korea.

Is turnover contagious? The impact of transformational leadership and collective turnover on employee turnover decisions

“…Organizations should establish leadership training programs to develop transformational leadership behaviors among people in managerial positions (Kelloway et al , 2000), which can increase employee perceptions of their supervisor's transformational leadership. This suggestion would be particularly effective for Korean organizations where the informal social network is very important (Oh and Park, 2021) and one of the top reasons an employee decides to leave their job is the poor leadership of their immediate supervisor (Jeong, 2019). Specific to car dealerships, organizations should offer extensive leadership training to develop a close relationship with their salespeople and thus improve retention and performance.…”

Sustainable development and national cultures: a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the research field

“…Therefore, longitudinal data are needed to show the chronological sequencing of the variables. Since secondary data (reports and cultural scores of countries) are publicly available, researchers should be able to analyze the chronological sequencing of the variables under study (Oh & Park, 2020). Although Hofstede's typology is the easiest to apply (Chanchani & Theivananthampillai, 2009), it would be valuable to use other cultural typologies.…”

A conditional process model linking high-performance work systems, collective turnover, collectivist culture and organizational performance

“…The resource-based view (RBV) has been widely used as the theoretical grounding of most research on strategic HRM (e.g. Oh and Park, 2021; Shin and Konrad, 2017). The RBV emphasizes the strategic relevance of knowledge-based competencies for achieving and sustaining a competitive advantage.…”

“…, 2011). For example, assuming that all Korean employment situations value the collectivist culture is liable to lead to misunderstandings because an organization usually has cultural values that are not consistent with those of the national culture (Oh and Park, 2021). Thus, this study adopts the collectivist culture at the organizational level.…”

“…Korea vs the USA) as a proxy for cultural differences in collectivism (Hancock et al ., 2013, 2017). National culture is useful, but the reflection of the culture at the organizational level is more relevant in managerial situations, given that an organization usually has cultural values that are not consistent with those of the national culture (Oh and Park, 2021; Yoo et al. , 2011).…”