Employee perceptions of HR practices: A critical review and future directions

Abstract

Scholars are directing more attention to employee perceptions of human resources (HR) practices and have explored issues such as whether and how employees' idiosyncratic or collective perceptions of HR practices shape employee outcomes. To further this area of research, we seek to determine what authors mean when they refer to "employee perceptions of HR practices". We review 105 articles from leading human resource management journals and find that employee perceptions of HR practices is not a monolithic concept. Rather, following previous scholars, we identify three distinct components of employee perceptions of HR practices: the 'what', 'how', and 'why'. We critically summarize extant literature on these three components of employee HR perception and propose future research directions, including enriching the theoretical foundations of HR communication, embracing cross-national contexts, and enhancing practical relevance. KEYWORDS Employee human resource perceptions; perceived human resource strength; human resource attributions Over the last decade, the strategic human resource management field has paid increasing attention to employee perceptions of human resource (HR) practices (Beijer, Peccie,

The employee perspective on HR practices: A systematic literature review, integration and outlook

“…We extend prior recent reviews on the employee perspective of HRM (Beijer et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2020). Beijer et al (2019) offered an in-depth review on the conceptualization of employee perceptions of HR practices.…”

“…40% of the studies in the last four years included employee perceptions of HR practices when studying the relationship between HRM and performance (Beijer et al, 2019). This has resulted in a wide range of conceptual models in which employee perceptions of HR practices have been researched (Wang et al, 2020). These studies have shown that it is employees' perception of HR practices that influences employee behavior, rather than manager-rated implemented HR practices, demonstrating the importance of investigating the employee perspective on HR practices (Den Hartog et al, 2013;Jensen et al, 2013;Kehoe & Wright, 2013).…”

“…With the growing number of studies investigating employee perceptions of HR practices, the field of SHRM is challenged with monitoring how cumulative insights have developed. Extant SHRM literature has examined the employee perspective on HRM using different theoretical angles, resulting in a variety of conceptual models studied that include employee perceptions of HRM as an antecedent, mediator, or outcome (Beijer et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2020). In addition, there is a lack of transparency in the conceptualizations that are used to capture employee perceptions of HR practices.…”

“…In addition, there is a lack of transparency in the conceptualizations that are used to capture employee perceptions of HR practices. This is problematic, as it has been argued that different conceptualizations of employee perceptions of HR practices could have differential relationships with both actual HR practices and outcomes (Beijer et al, 2019;Boon et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2020). To date, we lack a systematic overview of how employee perceptions of HRM have served as an antecedent, mediator, and outcome, the theoretical perspectives that advocate the employee perspective on HRM, and the conceptualizations used to examine employee perceptions of HR practices.…”

Shared Perceptions of Supervisor Support: What Processes Make Supervisors and Employees See Eye to Eye?

“…Finally, in search of better understanding employees' perceptions of HRM and how these perceptions are developed, scholars have called for more qualitative research related to this topic (Hewett et al, 2018;Wang et al, 2020), rather than "uncritically borrow(ing) measurements items developed in different empirical contexts" (Wang et al, 2020, p. 155). Our multilevel qualitative approach allowed us to get a better understanding of the support supervisors provide to each employee and employees' interpretations thereof, which would not have been possible when uniform operationalizations of supervisor support were used, as is done in quantitative research methods.…”