� Consider the two papers from your degree field in the Required, specifically thinking about how you
may evaluate their strengths and weaknesses.
� In approximately 550 words, critically evaluate ONE of the sample research articles provided from your
degree field, addressing its strengths and weaknesses.
� In formulating your essay, consider the following questions:
� What motivated the research?
� What research questions were explored?
� What was the methodology followed by the researcher(s)?
Research Study Review 2
� How did the findings contribute to academia?
Human resource management (HRM) practices refers to those aspects of organizational
culture aimed at improving the welfare of employees as well as boost their performance (Jisung
et al. 2015). Sendogdu, Kocabacak and Guven (2013) carried out a research and their principle
objective was to link the HRM practices with organizational commitment. The latter was defined
as the “…psychological attachment to the organization” (Sendogdu, Kocabacak and Guven
2013). Business life has become very complex in the contemporary world and the traditional
methods no longer provide the desired competitive advantage. The human resources is
considered the most valuable organizational resources and can enable it to gain competitive
advantage over its competitors. Through organizational commitment, these businesses would
have the capability to appraise the suitability of their HRM practices. Following previous
researches on the same topic, only single HR practices were considered while it has been argued
that many practices have to be instituted to increase organizational performance (Muhammad
Masum et al. 2015). The researchers were therefore motivated to measure the link between HRM
practices and organizational commitment.
The key question in this research study was seeking to identify any relations or
association between the human resource management practices of an organization and
Research Study Review 3
organizational commitment. This is attributed to the fact that the latter has been considered a
method to assess the HRM practices and their ability to foster psychological attachment between
the organizational goals with those of the employees (Khan, Masrek and Nazdar 2015). The
other research question that has been pointed out in this research is whether HRM practices
teamed with organizational commitment have a significant contribution to the operational
performance or not. Very few research has been carried out on HRM practices influencing the
success of an organization warranting these researchers to explore the research question even
further (Jun-Cheng et al. 2015).
The research aimed to investigate the relationship between HRM practices and
organizational commitment in companies found in Konya, Turkey. The scales used to measure
the variables were the Pfeffer (1998) scale of human resources management practices and the
organizational commitment scale by Mowday and Steers (1979), translated into Turkish for
convenience purposes (Sendogdu, Kocabacak and Guven 2013). A pilot study was carried out in
10 companies and the final questionnaire designed after the recommendations were put in place.
The whole population to be covered by this study was 2,815 companies and a sample of 250 was
chosen via random sampling from four major industries, namely, machinery, electrical,
automotive and food. Data was collected via interviews of the managers from the sample
companies coupled with a standard questionnaire. The data was analyzed using SPSS software
version 13, and Cronbach’s Alpha test.
Following the results of this study, there was a significant association between HRM
practices and organizational commitment (p < 0.05). In this sense, organizations have the ability
to gain competitive advantage once again with their complex business models. This study has
contributed significantly to the academia where professional scholars can understand the link
Research Study Review 4
between these two aspects of businesses (Karve and Dias 2016). Scholars can appreciate this
association and provide newer and innovative ways for businesses to incorporate the human
resource management practices to gain organizational commitment from their employees. In
other words, scholars can provide organizations with the support they need to merge their
organizational goals with their employees’ achieving their commitment. Therefore, in academia,
this research will provide the needed motivation to research further into organization
commitment in relation to operational performance and competitive advantage (Jun-Cheng et al.
2015). As the number of employees increases in an institutionalized business, the organizational
performance has been deemed to positively affect the business performance.
Research Study Review 5
References
Jisung, P, Soo-Young, S, Sangmin, L, & Se-Ri, N 2015, ‘Human Resource Management
Practices and Organizational Creativity: The Role of Chief Executive Officer’s Learning
Goal Orientation’, Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 43, 6, pp.
899-908.
Jun-Cheng, Z, Wen-Quan, L, Zhao-Yi, Z, & Jun, X 2015, ‘Organizational Commitment, Work
Engagement, Person-Supervisor Fit, and Turnover Intention: A Total Effect Moderation
Model’, Social Behavior & Personality: An International Journal, 43, 10, pp. 1657-1666.
Karve, S, & Dias, S 2016, ‘HRM Practices and Retention of Employees in Hotel Industry in
South Mumbai’, International Journal of Multidisciplinary Approach & Studies, 3, 3, pp.
13-19.
Khan, A, Masrek, M, & Nadzar, F 2015, ‘Analysis of competencies, job satisfaction and
organizational commitment as indicators of job performance: A conceptual
framework’, Education For Information, 31, 3, pp. 125-141.
Muhammad Masum, A, Azad, M, Hoque, K, & Beh, L 2015, ‘Domestic Banks in Bangladesh
Could Ensure Efficiency by Improving Human Resource Management Practices’, Plos
ONE, 10, 7, pp. 1-17.
Research Study Review 6
Sendogdu, A.A., Kocabacak, A. & Guven, S. 2013. The relationship between human resource
management practices and organizational commitment: A field Study. Social and
Behavioral Sciences, 99, pp. 818-827.
