The distinctiveness of public sector HRM: A four-wave trend analysis

Eva Knies; R.T. Borst; Peter Leisink; Elaine Farndale

doi:10.1111/1748-8583.12440

The distinctiveness of public sector HRM: A four-wave trend analysis

Eva Knies, R.T. Borst, Peter Leisink, Elaine Farndale

University of Pennsylvania

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Given the rhetoric that human resource management (HRM) models adopted by public and private organisations are becoming more similar, this study questions whether the traditional distinction between public and private sector HRM is still relevant. Building from institutional theory, we study continuity and change using four-wave data from eight European countries. We find that the traditional public sector investment in employee well-being continues to be distinctive only for HRM practices aimed at equal opportunities. Private sector organisations, on the other hand, make greater use of performance-oriented HRM practices including compensation and benefits, performance appraisal data, and modern development and career management practices. Cross-sector convergence is explained through coercive and mimetic isomorphic change, while persistent differences indicate that time-honoured public sector values are less susceptible to change. This study provides a much-needed update of the public-private comparison and a trend analysis of developments over time.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	799-825
Number of pages	27
Journal	Human Resource Management Journal
Volume	32
Issue number	4
Early online date	2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12440
Publication status	Published - Nov 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We would like to acknowledge the efforts of CRANET partners worldwide in collecting the data used in this paper. We would like to thank the reviewers and editor Geoffrey Wood for providing rigorous feedback on previous versions of this manuscript. There is no funding associated with this manuscript.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Human Resource Management Journal published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Keywords

HRM practices
distinctiveness
employee performance
employee well-being
institutional theory
private sector
public sector
trend analysis

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Human Res Mgmt Journal - 2022 - Knies - The distinctiveness of public sector HRM A four‐wave trend analysisFinal published version, 1.22 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "The distinctiveness of public sector HRM: A four-wave trend analysis",

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The distinctiveness of public sector HRM: A four-wave trend analysis

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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