The Benefits of Human Resource Certification: A Critical Analysis and Multi-Level Framework for Research

Despite the huge success of marketing certification to human resources (HR) professionals, does it benefit individuals, employers, and the field of HR? We know very little about whether certification has an impact on any important individual- and organizational-level outcomes. This article provides a brief history of HR certification and its purported benefits. Then we review the literature on perceptions of HR certification, including a survey we conducted with about 190 HR professionals. Finally, we present a multi-level model of hypothesized HR certification effects. In this conceptual framework, which unifies both micro and macro levels of analyses (i.e., individual, unit, organization, and profession), we derive 13 testable propositions to guide future research on the benefits of HR certification.HR certification, Multi-Level Framework for Research

Using multilevel modeling and mixed methods to make theoretical progress in microfoundations for strategy research

The microfoundations research agenda presents an expanded theoretical perspective because it considers individuals, their characteristics, and their interactions as relevant variables to help us understand firm-level strategic issues. However, microfoundations empirical research faces unique challenges because processes take place at different levels of analysis and these multilevel processes must be considered simultaneously. We describe multilevel modeling and mixed methods as methodological approaches whose use will allow for theoretical advancements. We describe key issues regarding the use of these two types of methods and, more importantly, discuss pressing substantive questions and topics that can be addressed with each of these methodological approaches with the goal of making theoretical advancements regarding the microfoundations research agenda and strategic management studies in general

The anatomy of an award-winning meta-analysis:Recommendations for authors, reviewers, and readers of meta-analytic reviews

Meta-analyses summarize a field's research base and are therefore highly influential. Despite their value, the standards for an excellent meta-analysis, one that is potentially award-winning, have changed in the last decade. Each step of a meta-analysis is now more formalized, from the identification of relevant articles to coding, moderator analysis, and reporting of results. What was exemplary a decade ago can be somewhat dated today. Using the award-winning meta-analysis by Stahl et al. (Unraveling the effects of cultural diversity in teams: A meta-analysis of research on multicultural work groups. Journal of International Business Studies, 41(4):690-709, 2010) as an exemplar, we adopted a multi-disciplinary approach (e.g., management, psychology, health sciences) to summarize the anatomy (i.e., fundamental components) of a modern meta-analysis, focusing on: (1) data collection (i.e., literature search and screening, coding), (2) data preparation (i.e., treatment of multiple effect sizes, outlier identification and management, publication bias), (3) data analysis (i.e., average effect sizes, heterogeneity of effect sizes, moderator search), and (4) reporting (i.e., transparency and reproducibility, future research directions). In addition, we provide guidelines and a decision-making tree for when even foundational and highly cited meta-analyses should be updated. Based on the latest evidence, we summarize what journal editors and reviewers should expect, authors should provide, and readers (i.e., other researchers, practitioners, and policymakers) should consider about meta-analytic reviews

How to conduct valid social science research using MTurk – a checklist

The use of Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) for social science research has increased exponentially in recent years. Although there is great excitement about the practical and logistical benefits, there is justifiable skepticism about the validity of research using data collected with MTurk. In this post, Herman Aguinis, Isabel Villamor, and Ravi S. Ramani provide 10 actionable best-practice recommendations and a checklist that can serve as a catalyst for more robust, reproducible, and trustworthy MTurk-based research

Methodological challenges and insights for future international business research

Given the diverse, interdisciplinary, and multilevel nature of international business (IB) research, it is critical to address methodological challenges prior to data collection. Thus, we suggest that an ounce of methodological prevention is worth a pound of cure. We describe the following challenges: (1) researching an important and relevant issue; (2) making meaningful theoretical progress; (3) recognizing, anticipating, and resolving dilemmas in research design and execution decisions; (4) integrating quantitative and qualitative research by using mixed methods; and (5) reducing the “distal proxy fallacy” through measurement error management. We then offer specific and actionable recommendations and implementation guidelines for authors, journal editors, and reviewers for addressing each of these methodological challenges with the overall goal of advancing IB theory.Dada la naturaleza diversa, interdisciplinaria y multinivel de la investigación sobre negocios internacionales (IB por sus iniciales en inglés), es esencial abordar los retos metodológicos desde antes de la recolección de datos. Por ello, sugerimos que un gramo de prevención metodológica vale más que una libra de cura. Describimos los siguientes retos: (1) investigar un tema importante y relevante; (2) lograr un progreso teórico significativo; (3) reconocer, anticipar y resolver los dilemas en el diseño de la investigación y las decisiones de ejecución; (4) integrar la investigación cuantitativa y cualitativa mediante el uso de métodos mixtos; y (5) reducir la “falacia de la distancia entre constructos y sus proxies” mediante la gestión de los errores de medición. A continuación, ofrecemos recomendaciones específicas y prácticas, así como directrices de aplicación para los autores, los editores de revistas y los revisores, para abordar cada uno de estos retos metodológicos con el objetivo general de hacer avanzar la teoría de negocios internacionales

A Comprehensive and Multi-Purpose Global Research Performance Information System

We develop a research performance information system that compares the volume and impact of peer reviewed business publications by 2720 institutions across 111 countries. We step away from traditional ranking-based ordinal scales, developing a system that facilitates assessment of research performance using methods that are reliably, validly, and transparently

Self-Reported Limitations and Future Directions in Scholarly Reports: Analysis and Recommendations

The authors content analyzed self-reported limitations and directions for future research in 1,276 articles published between 1982 and 2007 in the Academy of Management Journal, Administrative Science Quarterly, the Journal of Applied Psychology, the Journal of Management, and the Strategic Management Journal. In order of frequency, the majority of self-reported limitations, as well as directions for future research, pertains to threats to internal, external, and construct validity issues, and there is a significant increase in the reporting of these elements over time. Longitudinal analyses revealed that some of these increases varied across management subfields (i.e., business policy and strategy, organizational behavior, organizational theory, and human resource management), indicating unique research contexts within some research domains. Based on the analyses of self-reported limitations and future research directions, the authors offer eight guidelines for authors, reviewers, and editors. These guidelines refer to the need for authors to report limitations and to use a separate section for them and the need for reviewers to list limitations in their evaluations of manuscripts; authors and reviewers should prioritize limitations, and authors should report them in a way that describes their consequences for the interpretation of results. The guidelines for directions for future research focus on positioning them as a starting point for future research endeavors and for the advancement of theoretical issues. The authors also offer recommendations on how to use limitations and future research directions for the training of researchers. It is hoped that the adoption of these proposed guidelines and recommendations will maximize their value so that they can serve as true catalysts for further scientific progress in the field of management

Using Extreme Pedagogy toEnhance Entrepreneurship Education

We address the ongoing concern that entrepreneurship education (EE) is not preparing students sufficiently well for jobs in the 21st-century. We argue that many criticisms leveled against EE for not effectively addressing the entrepreneurial skills gap are due in part to EE’s emphasis on the roles of specific stakeholder groups separately (i.e., universities and their leaders, instructors, students, potential employers) rather than a shared focus on developing valuable graduates. Stated differently, there are competing and conflicting “ownerships” over the entrepreneurial skills gap. We enhance current pedagogical methods by offering a learning innovation called extreme pedagogy. Extreme pedagogy takes place when all stakeholders have a collective intention and ownership in producing graduates with relevant entrepreneurial skills. We describe extreme pedagogy’s conceptual foundation based on psychological ownership theory, the effective of use of extreme ownership in military contexts, and the role of universities and their leaders, instructors, students, and potential employers in the implementation of extreme pedagogy. We then summarize themes from a workshop involving entrepreneurial leaders across industries on EE challenges and the role of extreme pedagogy in addressing them. We close by describing anticipated benefits of extreme pedagogy for all EE stakeholders

International Perspectives on the Legal Environment for Selection

Perspectives from 22 countries on aspects of the legal environment for selection are presented in this article. Issues addressed include (a) whether there are racial/ethnic/religious subgroups viewed as "disadvantaged,” (b) whether research documents mean differences between groups on individual difference measures relevant to job performance, (c) whether there are laws prohibiting discrimination against specific groups, (d) the evidence required to make and refute a claim of discrimination, (e) the consequences of violation of the laws, (f) whether particular selection methods are limited or banned, (g) whether preferential treatment of members of disadvantaged groups is permitted, and (h) whether the practice of industrial and organizational psychology has been affected by the legal environmen