RT Journal Article
SR 00
ID 10.1080/09585192.2016.1239118
A1 Martin, Graeme
A1 Siebert, Sabina
A1 Robson, Ian
T1 Conformist innovation: An institutional logics perspective on how HR executives construct business school reputations
JF International Journal of Human Resource Management
YR 2018
FD 2018
VO 29
IS 13
SP 2027
OP 2053
AB In this paper, we explore whether Legge’s classic 1970s criticism of human resource (HR) executives as ‘conformist innovators’ is still relevant. Drawing on institutional logics, we analyse HR managers’ rationales for choosing particular university business schools to provide senior executive development. Our mixed-methods study demonstrates that senior HR managers socially construct and enact business school reputations by drawing on strategic rationales. These rationales are embedded in societal, field and organizational logics, especially the extant reputational rankings of international business schools and an ‘ideal’ template of elite business schools. We find that these rationales, and the decisions they evince, tend to confirm the traditional picture of conformist innovation among HR executives. We discuss the implications for the reputation of HR as a profession, their employers and business schools.
PB Taylor & Francis
SN 0958-5192
LK https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/122571/