Should practical usefulness be considered for theory building in HRD? Traditional versus pragmatism approach

Abstract

Globalization has led to an increasing emphasis on the critical role of the workforce in the success of organizations. This has resulted in the shift of focus on human resource development (HRD) as the center of attention in the current paradigm. Hence, this article suggests a need to use a comprehensive philosophical paradigm to develop practical theories in HRD and compares the usefulness of positivism, interpretivism and pragmatism philosophies in the theory-building process. Based on fragmented literature in philosophy and HRD disciplines, this theoretical manuscript has assembled and thoroughly reviewed the existing literature to propose new ways of theory building in HRD. The findings guide that despite the usefulness of positivism and interpretivism philosophical paradigms in knowledge generation, these philosophies lead to practically weak theories. Hence, theory building in HRD should be driven by a problem-solving approach rather than only relying on plausibility criteria. It further guides how multi-method and mixed-method research designs might help provide answers to complex and newly emerged challenges in HRD. Overall, this research adds value to a body of knowledge by proposing a unique five-stage framework to develop new theories in HRD using the pragmatism approach. The use of the proposed framework might be beneficial in developing practically and theoretically useful theories in the future.