Abstract
A decade after key theoretical developments in strategic human resource management (SHRM) in nonprofit organizations (NPOs), we still lack a comprehensive understanding of the disparate strands of empirical evidence. Furthermore, this growing field requires integration and synthesis of new themes and conceptual developments. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of SHRM studies in NPOs published between 2008 and 2017. Our review of 74 articles synthesizes a fragmented body of research and maps out the relationships into a more integrated whole. By mapping the research landscape, we provide insights into the tensions NPOs face between external pressures and values, highlighting the underexplored role of managerial discretion in shaping NPOs’ differing responses. Our review expands the resource orientation to include a social capital dimension and identifies new empirical manifestations of human resource management (HRM) types. We offer avenues for research on content, process, outcomes of SHRM, and discuss how the interplay across key themes can inform the development of the field.
Highlights
Research on strategic human resource management (SHRM) in nonprofit organizations (NPOs) is growing in importance, especially as these organizations seek to balance multiple, often competing demands in their operating environments (Guo et al, 2011; Ridder, Baluch, & Piening, 2012; Walk et al, 2014)
Scholarship on SHRM is home to both the contingency perspective in which HR systems are shaped by different contextual factors, the organizational strategy, and a configurational approach that focuses on the internal consistency of bundles of HR practices and their congruence with organizational goals as central to achieving performance (Delery & Doty, 1996; Lepak & Snell, 1999)
If we look to the field of SHRM in NPOs, there are only a few key theoretical approaches
Summary
Research on strategic human resource management (SHRM) in nonprofit organizations (NPOs) is growing in importance, especially as these organizations seek to balance multiple, often competing demands in their operating environments (Guo et al, 2011; Ridder, Baluch, & Piening, 2012; Walk et al, 2014). Ridder and McCandless (2010) introduced a model of HR architectures in NPOs that draws on the building blocks of the strategic and resource-based approaches in the SHRM literature. Akingbola (2013a, 2013c) emphasized the contextual factors that drive HR practices in NPOs. Subsequently, Akingbola (2013a, 2013c) emphasized the contextual factors that drive HR practices in NPOs These conceptual approaches highlight the contingencies, HR architectures, and their proposed relationships to outcomes, our understanding of SHRM in the nonprofit field remains limited in three respects:
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