The State of Theorizing Human Resource Development (HRD) in Extended Context: A Review

Abstract

In this article, I examine and evaluate the human resource development (HRD) theorization presented by Wang and Doty (2022a) , as well as the reactions it received from Russ-Eft (2022) , Yoon (2022) , and Poell (2022) , and the response provided by Wang and Doty (2022b) . I observe that the principal criticism of the current HRD framework proposed by Wang and Doty revolves around the significance of culture within the host institution system (HIS). They argue that culture holds little to no importance in the HIS. However, upon examining the definition of HIS presented in this paper, it becomes apparent that the role of culture cannot be easily dismissed in any discussion pertaining to HIS, thereby calling for further theorizing and research. The suggestions put forth in this article have the potential to contribute to the advancement of the current theorization into a genuinely dynamic framework for the HRD discipline.

Supporting adult working learners

“…For these reasons, adult learning professionals in both the education and workforce sectors must develop a more nuanced and sophisticated understanding of what it means to facilitate effective and meaningful learning opportunities for adult Working Learners. This is especially true in cross-cultural contexts (Jabarkhail, 2023). The purpose of this special issue, therefore, is to regenerate interest in the growing need to better serve adult working learners; to expand current discourse pertaining to the variety of contexts and factors that affect the success of working learners; and to present some current examples and perspectives from the field of lifelong learning and adult and continuing education.…”

Moving People Analytics From Insight to Impact

“…At a more micro level, analytics also informs the impact of choices and options of HR development practice areas (Jabarkhail, 2023) including training and development (Baldwin et al, 2017;Garavan et al, 2015), career development (Kenny et al, 2018), diversity, equity and inclusion (Byrd, 2018), cross cultural human resource development (Rahmadani, et al, 2019), employee engagement (Saks & Gruman, 2014) and sustainability (Egan & Kim, 2023). All of these HRD activities are going through change (Torraco & Lundgren, 2020) where analytics can help improve decision making.…”