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hrm-theory-development

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Use when the theoretical argument and hypotheses are the bottleneck for a Human Resource Management (Wiley "HRM") manuscript — building an HRM/OB mechanism (AMO, HR-system strength, signaling, social exchange) and deriving testable predictions a priori. Builds the theory; it does not run the analysis (hrm-data-analysis).

Human-Resource-Management-Skills/skills/hrm-theory-development/SKILL.md

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# Theory Development (hrm-theory-development)

## When to trigger

- Hypotheses read as bald predictions ("HPWS is positively related to performance") with no mechanism
- You have results and are tempted to write hypotheses around them (HARKing risk)
- The argument leans on one borrowed citation rather than a developed HRM logic
- A mediator (the "black box" between HR practices and outcomes) is in the data but not theorized
- A reviewer says "the theory is thin," "why would this practice produce this outcome?", or "the mechanism is a label, not an argument"

## The HRM theory bar

HRM publishes work that **explains how HR practices and systems shape attitudes, behavior, and performance — and under what conditions.** The contribution must be theoretical, empirical, and/or methodological, but even an empirically driven paper needs an articulated mechanism written *before* the results are known. Crucially, the theory should sit close enough to HR design that a **practice implication** falls out of it; pure psychological process with no HR-system anchor drifts toward PPsych/JAP.
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