Call for Proposals of Articles for the Book Series Research in Human Resource Management
Special Topic: Strategic Benefits
Guest Editor: Steve Werner, University of Houston (swerner@uh.edu)
Series Editors:
Dianna L. Stone, Universities of New Mexico, Albany, and Virginia Tech;
James H. Dulebohn, Michigan State University;
Brian Murray, University of Dallas;
Kimberly M. Lukaszewski, Wright State University
Series Mission Statement: Research in Human Resource Management is an annual series designed to advance theory, research, and practice in Human Resource Management (HRM), and the related fields of Organizational Behavior, Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and Research Methods. The overall goal of the series is to publish articles that (a) improve the effectiveness of HRM processes and practices, (b) improve HRM theory, (c) provide critical reviews of HRM theory and research, (d) enhance the methods used in HRM research, and (e) increase the degree to which individuals have satisfying and fulfilling careers in organizations. Each volume contains articles that are consistent with these goals.
Special Topic: Strategic Benefits: It has been many decades since Human Resource Management was first looked at through a strategic lens (Schuler and Jackson, 1987). Since then Strategic Human Resource Management has received considerable attention from scholars and practitioners (see, for example, Wright and Snell, 1998; Greer, 2001; Lengnick-Hall, Lengnick-Hall, Andrade, & Drake, 2009; Jackson, Schuler, and Jiang, 2014). Around the same time as the strategic focus began on the functional area of human resource management, scholars started to look at sub-functions, such as compensation, strategically (Balkin and Gomez-Mejia, 1987; Gomez-Mejia and Welborne, 1988, Balkin and Gomez-Mejia, 1990). This new perspective on compensation also received considerable attention from scholars and practitioners (see, for example, Gomez-Mejia and Balkin, 1992; Gerhart and Rynes, 2003; Martocchio, 2020). Although benefits are approximately 30% of total labor costs, interestingly, there has been very little focus on the strategic aspects of benefits until very recently. We hope this volume of Research in Human Resource Management helps stimulate research and interest in this important area.
Theme of the Special Issue: This volume of Research in Human Resource Management welcomes high-quality research that aids the understanding of the strategic implications of employee benefits. Articles may be theoretical or empirical, but all should enhance our understanding of employee benefits using a strategy lens. Although a number of recent articles have explored the topic of strategic benefits (e.g., Balkin and Werner, 2023; Werner and Balkin, 2021; Murray and Dulebohn, 2021; Mitra and Shaw, 2021; Fulmer, Chen, and Li, 2021; Banks and Witt, 2021; Afonso, Franco-Santo, and Gomez-Mejia, 2021) many questions remain. We invite manuscripts that address, but are not restricted to, the following questions:
• How do employee benefits relate to organizational strategies and organizational outcomes?
• How do specific employee benefits relate to strategically important individual employee behaviors?
• Are there specific strategic benefit profiles, patterns, portfolios, or systems and how do they relate to internal and external environmental factors?
• Do different specific benefits attract different strategically important potential employees?
• How do specific benefit strategies fit within HR strategies and fit with other functional, business, and corporate strategies?
• What do benefits strategies signal to employees and what are the consequences of these signals?
• How does the composition of the workforce affect benefits strategies and their outcomes?
• How can the administrative decisions of benefits be incorporated into a strategic framework?
• What are the important aspects of the implementation of strategic benefits?
• What are the current trends in strategic benefits?
• How can benefits shape an organization’s identity, culture, and reputation?
• Are their specific organizational case examples that show the potential strategic effect of benefits?
Submission and Review Process: Authors can submit proposals between now and October 31st, 2023 to the Issue Editor, Steve Werner at swerner@uh.edu.
Proposals should detail the content and contributions of the full article. Proposals should be double-spaced and include no more than five pages of text. References, tables, and appendices do not count against this page limit. Please do not send complete papers, although you may note in the proposal that you have a draft. If you have questions about a potential submission, please contact Steve Werner via swerner@uh.edu.
Full papers will be double blind reviewed by at least 2 peer reviewers. Relevant Dates:
Proposals Due: October 31st , 2023.
Final Decisions on Proposals communicated by: December 1st, 2023
Full draft of paper due: August, 31st, 2024.
Feedback to authors on full paper: November 14th, 2024 (date may vary depending on receipt of reviewers evaluations)
Final paper submission due: February 1st, 2025.
References
Alfonso, D., Franco-Santos, M., and Gomez-Mejia, L.R. 2021. Revisiting Benefits Design Approaches: The Strategic Value of Identity-Base Benefits. Journal of Total Rewards, 30(1): 71-79.
Balkin, D. B., & Gomez‐Mejia, L. R. 1987. Toward a contingency theory of compensation strategy. Strategic management journal, 8(2); 169-182.
Balkin, D. B., & Gomez‐Mejia, L. R. 1990. Matching compensation and organizational strategies. Strategic management journal, 11(2); 153-169.
Balkin, D. B., & Werner, S. (2023). Theorizing the relationship between discretionary employee benefits and individual performance. Human Resource Management Review, 33(1), 100901.
Banks, C.G., and Witt, L.A. 2021. Leveraging Healthy Workplaces as a Strategic Benefit. Journal of Total Rewards, 30(1): 55-70.
Fulmar, I.S., Chan, Y., and Li, J. 2021. Strategic Idiosyncratic Deals (I-Deals) Policy: Individually Negotiated Arrangements as an Alternative Approach for Delivering Customized Benefits. Journal of Total Rewards, 30(1): 45-54.
Gerhart, B., and Rynes, S.L. 2003. Compensation: Theory, Evidence, and Strategic Implications. Sage Publications.
Gomez-Mejia, L. R., & Balkin, D. B. 1992. Compensation, organizational strategy, and firm performance. SouthWestern Pub.
Remainder of references supplied upon request