Building Blocks of Contemporary HRD Research: A Citation Analysis on Human Resource Development Quarterly between 2007 and 2013

Abstract

Human resource development is known to encapsulate a collection of social science disciplines including communications, psychology, and economics. Since these and other similar areas are the cornerstones of HRD, the changing nature of HRD demands constant reflections on the value and building blocks of contemporary HRD inquiries. This article presents a citation analysis of articles published in Human Resource Development Quarterly from 2007 to 2013 to provide an overview of the various disciplines contributed to contemporary HRD research. A total of 5,807 citations were reviewed. An analysis of the citations was conducted to identify the most frequently cited articles, major themes, and contributing fields to HRD. Psychology remains to be a prominent building block to current HRD research while the presence of other major disciplines such as economics and systems theory was not evident. Further details of key findings, implications of this study for research and practice, and limitation of this study are discussed. Human resource development is known to encapsulate a collection of social science disciplines including communications, psychology, and economics. Since these and other similar areas are the cornerstones of HRD, the changing nature of HRD demands constant reflections on the value and building blocks of contemporary HRD inquiries. This article presents a citation analysis of articles published in Human Resource Development Quarterly from 2007 to 2013 to provide an overview of the various disciplines contributed to contemporary HRD research. A total of 5,807 citations were reviewed. An analysis of the citations was conducted to identify the most frequently cited articles, major themes, and contributing fields to HRD. Psychology remains to be a prominent building block to current HRD research while the presence of other major disciplines such as economics and systems theory was not evident. Further details of key findings, implications of this study for research and practice, and limitation of this study are discussed.

Exploring teachers’ career self-management. Considering the roles of organizational career management, occupational self-efficacy, and learning goal orientation.

“…Employees' career development is seen as one of the topics central to HRD (Park and Rothwell 2009;Mehdiabadi et al 2017;Shuck et al 2018). That is, as the range of possible occupational and educational choices in Western societies has increased dramatically (OECD 2011), employees are expected to engage in lifelong learning in order to stay broadly employable (Baruch, Szűcs, and Gunz 2015).…”

Mapping human resource development: Visualizing the past, bridging the gaps, and moving toward the future

“…Cho et al, 2013). More recently, Hedayati et al (2017) identified disciplines that have contributed to contemporary HRD research through citation analysis of articles published in HRDQ from 2007 to 2013. Analysis of 5807 citations showed that psychology remains a prominent building block for current HRD research, while the presence of economics and systems theory is less evident.…”

HRD Scholarship: Trends, Reality, and Opportunities

“…Over the years, HRD researchers have made a consistent effort to capture a panoramic view and dynamic nature of HRD scholarship (e.g., Jeung, Yoon, Park, & Jo, 2011; Mehdiabadi, Seo, Huang, & Han, 2017; Ruona, Lynham, & Chermack, 2003; Sleezer & Sleezer, 1998; Sun & Wang, 2013; Torraco, 2005; van der Veen, 2006). Here, I highlight the two most recent and more inclusive efforts.…”