The HR Evidence Base: Improving Research Utilization for HR Professionals

1. What is the HR Evidence Base and How Should HR Professionals Make Better Use of Research? David E Guest Department of Management King’s College, London CRF Presentation: September 2011

2. The Starting Point (Using the Evidence!) • Rynes, Colbert and Brown (2002) survey of 959 senior USA HR practitioners found widespread ignorance and/or disagreement with 35 well-established relevant findings • Replicated by Sanders, van Riemsdijk and Groen (2008) in The Netherlands with 626 Dutch HR managers • Obtained very similar results • So it is potentially an international problem that the research evidence-base is not well understood by practitioners • Partly because HR managers do not read or know the evidence and tend to rely on unreliable sources • But – how good is the HR evidence?

3. The Strength of the Evidence Base • Prior research ignores issue of whether experts/academics agree on the evidence • Rynes, Gulik and Brown (2007) asked 85 top USA academics to describe the “five most fundamental findings” that every HR manager should know. • Found limited consensus • We conducted a European replication

4. The Rynes et al “Top 6” General mental ability is the strongest, or one of the strongest, predictors of performance 22 Setting goals and providing feedback is a highly effective motivational practice 22 HR practices are important to organizational outcomes 21 Structured interviews are more valid than unstructured ones 16 Valid selection practices are very important to performance outcomes 15 Personality is related to performance 11

5. The ENOP Study: • Survey of top European Professors of Work/Organizational Psychology to find out what they agreed were the key findings. • Two rounds: About 75 responses from 15 countries in each round • Rounds 1: A single question (almost identical to Rynes et al) “In your opinion, what are the five most fundamental findings in W/O psychology that every informed human resource manager should know?”

6. Most Frequently Cited Areas of Established Knowledge • Selection, assessment and personality • Employment relations including psychological contract, fairness and trust • Motivation and rewards • Stress, well-being, health and safety 26 Leadership • Job design 17 Groups/teams • Goal setting 11 Job satisfaction and related attitudes

7. But Experts Do Not Always Agree • General mental ability tests are a strong (generalised) predictor of individual performance • Psychological testing is futile and dangerous • Assessment centres are the best predictors of management performance and should be used for management selection • Assessment centres provide little added value • A well-structured interview is almost as good as general mental ability or assessment centres in selection • The selection interview has little predictive validity

8. ENOP Survey Round 2: Summary Overview • Round 2 Survey again sent to all ENOP members with a request to distribute to five W/O professors • 24 statements included in a questionnaire; those most consistent and clear from Round 1 • Response categories: • Strongly agree that there is good evidence to support this statement • Tend to agree that there is good evidence to support this statement • Uncertain about the quality of the evidence • Tend to disagree that there is good evidence to support this statement • Strongly disagree that there is good evidence to support this statement • I do not know enough about this topic to provide a judgement

9. Overview of Round 2 Results • 18 out of 24 statements with which 50%+ agreed • These included 7 with which 75%+ agreed • These included 4 with which 50%+ strongly agreed • Agreement was highest on issues that HR managers may not view as top priority (participation, insecurity, fairness) • Disagreement was highest on issues that HR managers may view as top priority (pay, leadership, personality)

10. Round 2: High Consensus Statements % ++ + - ?/DK • Participation in decisions improves commitment to the decisions 57 33 0 10 • Job insecurity causes stress and reduces well-being 51 37 4 8 • Procedural justice/fairness has a positive influence on work-related attitudes and behaviour 51 39 1 6 • Violation of the psychological contract has a negative impact on work-related attitudes and behaviour 50 37 1 12 • Goal setting is a motivational technique that works 41 47 1 11

11. Statements With High Disagreement Among Respondents % ++ + ? - -- DK • Personality predicts most important work attitudes and behaviours 7 33 26 17 12 5 • Pay is not a good motivator of performance at work 5 22 22 30 18 1 • Transformational leadership is more effective than other forms of leadership 4 30 20 22 7 13

12. Implications for HR • If the “experts” often cannot agree, be very sceptical about those who claim to know • Ask for or seek out the best available evidence from independent sources. Get used to scanning the academic literature or hire people who can (ask academic researchers!) • Be wary of case study and anecdote despite their appeal • Change habits and start “reading” the evidence • Accept that you often have to satisfice in HR decision-making – so constantly review the decision outcomes • Undertake your own evidence-building through good information and data systems and through research – remember the origins of CRF