IR journal and conference literature from the 1960s to the 1990s: What can HR learn from it? Where is it headed?

Abstract

The industrial relations (IR) literature has changed notably from the early 1960s until the late 1990s. Yet it has retained an externalist flavor — a sense that the key variables determining outcomes are often outside the control of firm-level actors. However, the kind of externalism found in the modern IR literature differs notably from that of the past. Externalism today is seen as labor market and personal variables — often in an econometric formulation — rather than grand social forces. Generally, the IR literature has moved toward sophisticated empiricism and toward a labor economics paradigm. To the extent that the older grand themes remain, they are more likely to be found in IR books rather than in academic journals. Human resource (HR) academics and practitioners can nonetheless benefit from the IR approach, even though the tyranny of tenure review has made journal articles in IR less readable. The IR literature emphasizes that labor–market forces, sometimes stemming from product and financial markets, matter to HR outcomes. And it regards conflict more as a source of information rather than just a cause of lost productivity.