Myths among personnel (HR) professionals

Abstract

In this paper we share our experience and examine some myths that exist among personnel (HR) professionals. In order to get an overview how deep is the gap be¬tween academic knowledge and everyday truths regarding personnel management we carried out the study in two phases. In the first phase we interviewed outstand¬ing Estonian personnel managers as an expert group, and the second phase inter¬viewed personnel professionals and non-HR professionals from different occupa¬tions (engineers, bookkeepers, lawyers, civil servants, and teachers). We explored issues of knowledge in the field by look¬ing at the levels of agreement regarding the quality of research evidence in Work and Organizational Psychology (WOP). The study revealed that the work done in many personnel management fields is based on similar myths that exist among non-personnel professionals.