The Evidence Behind HR: An Open Evaluation of Contemporary HR Practices

The Evidence Behind HR: An Open Evaluation of Contemporary HR Practices is a critical take on the assumptions and strategies used within modern HR practice. This book takes a detailed look at some of the latest academic and practitioner work used to justify mainstream HR practices. Chapters evaluate specific HR practices, including diversity training, organisational change management, and emotional intelligence-based selection. This work’s engaging and informative tone presents quality and transparency as a priority for research to inform future directions for modern HR practice.

Using an open scholarship perspective, The Evidence Behind HR questions the quality of evidence used to inform modern HR practices, such as diversity training, stress management interventions, and in-house evaluations. This book simplifies, summarises, and synthesises the latest research developments into accessible and actionable recommendations. Perfect for practitioners, students, and academics alike, this work provides practical support to help readers explore how to evaluate evidence, improve practices, and change thinking.

This book supports criticality surrounding taken-for-granted HR assumptions, and encourages reflective practitioners, academics, and students to be more interested and critically engaged with "evidence", and to change ways of thinking surrounding day-to-day practices.

Thomas R. Evans is an Associate Professor in Occupational Psychology at the University of Greenwich, UK.