Growth Mindset for Human Resource Development: A Scoping Review of the Literature with Recommended Interventions

Abstract

Although the concept of mindsets is relatively ubiquitous in the common press and well-studied in the education literature, the idea of a growth mindset, rooted in implicit theories is less represented in human resource development (HRD) scholarly literature. Given that absence, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of a growth mindset on HRD outcomes. To achieve this purpose, we conducted a scoping literature review including research conducted globally and in a wide variety of organizations. Based on the empirical findings, we discuss three categories of HRD outcomes of mindsets: (a) individual-level outcomes (e.g., work engagement, creativity, task performance, job satisfaction), (b) dyadic-level outcomes (e.g., supervisor-employee relationship and conflict resolution), and (c) organizational-level outcomes (e.g., organizational citizenship behaviors and organizational growth mindset). We synthesize several suggestions for growth mindset interventions emphasizing career development, training and development, and organizational development for HRD practitioners. Research implications and future research suggestions for HRD scholars are presented.