“…The current integrative literature review seeks to clarify the practice of competency modeling through a critical analysis of its foundations, conceptual and definitional issues, and potential barriers to use, while providing the current state of the science and practice. Such a review is warranted largely due to the fact that, despite continued conceptual confusion and potential issues, competencies remain popular and continue to form the basis for a wide range of human resource development (HRD) activities, such as assessment centers (e.g., Chen & Naquin, 2006), employee development and training (e.g., Rothwell & Lindholm, 1999), career development (e.g., Gfroerer, 2000), leadership development (e.g., Naquin & Holton, 2006), managing organizational change (e.g., Vakola, Soderquist, & Prastacos, 2007), and the alignment of multiple HRD functions (e.g., Gagani, McLean, & Braden, 2006; Iles, 1993; Meriot, 2005). Despite the potential appeal among HRD scholars and practitioners, however, there has been little examination of what competencies are, how they should fit into an overarching competency model, and what the best practices for developing that model ought to be (for an exception, see Le Deist & Winterton’s, 2005, competency typology); for instance, fewer than 40 scholarly sources matched a recent keyword search for competency modeling and HRD, and of these, only a scant handful speak to understanding the process of competency modeling.…”