HR Professionals' beliefs about effective human resource practices: correspondence between research and practice

TLDR

The study proposes strategies to improve the dissemination of HR research findings. The authors surveyed 5,000 HR professionals about their agreement with various HR research findings. Survey results reveal substantial gaps between HR research and practitioner beliefs, especially in selection, with practitioners doubting intelligence and personality tests, though agreement increases among senior staff, SPHR‑certified professionals, and those who read academic literature. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Abstract

Abstract Five thousand human resource (HR) professionals were surveyed regarding the extent to which they agreed with various HR research findings. Responses from 959 participants suggest that there are large discrepancies between research findings and practitioners' beliefs in some content areas, especially selection. In particular, practitioners place far less faith in intelligence and personality tests as predictors of employee performance than HR research would recommend. Practitioners are somewhat more likely to agree with research findings when they are at higher organizational levels, have SPHR certification, and read the academic literature. Suggestions are made for more effective dissemination of HR research findings. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.