The Intellectual Structure of HRD and HRM Research

Mapping what human resource development and management research studies, and who works with whom, using bibliometrics and networks.
Research
Bibliometrics
Published

January 1, 2017

Keywords

bibliometrics, keyword network, collaboration network, topic modeling, human resource development

The question

What does a field study, how do its topics move over time, and who works with whom? I ask these questions of human resource development (HRD) and human resource management (HRM), my home fields, so that scholars, practitioners, and students can see where the field has been and where it may be heading.

What we have done

Since 2017, this line has combined bibliometrics, keyword and collaboration networks, and computational topic modeling.

  • Definitions and identity. A study of evolving definitions of HRD traced the field’s historical development, the competition among its major paradigms, and the diversification of its topics.
  • Keyword networks. Keyword network analyses covered articles in the Academy of Human Resource Development journals (2006–2015) and HRM journals in South Korea.
  • Collaboration. A social-network analysis examined the structural determinants of HRD research collaboration in publications from 1990 to 2014.
  • Journal reviews. Reviews of Human Resource Development Review (2012–2021) and Human Resource Development International (1998–2022) described research topics and intellectual structure; the first showed the topic range widening to diversity, critical HRD, and equity issues.
  • Neighboring areas. Related papers reviewed 25 years of international HRM research, compared intervention and nonintervention research in HRD, and discussed meta-scientific inquiry as a way to make HRD research more useful for practice.

Selected publications

  • Yoon, S. W., Chae, C. I., & Feng, Y. (2025). Research topics and intellectual structure in Human Resource Development International 1998–2022: A bibliometric and topic modelling review. Human Resource Development International, 28(3), 323–345. https://doi.org/10.1080/13678868.2023.2279885
  • Lee, J., Chae, C., Lee, J. M., & Fontinha, R. (2024). Understanding the evolution of international human resource management research: A bibliometric review over the past 25 years (1995–2019). Journal of Global Mobility: The Home of Expatriate Management Research, 12(4), 691–714. https://doi.org/10.1108/JGM-09-2023-0062
  • Yoon, S. W., & Chae, C. (2022). Research topics and collaboration in Human Resource Development Review 2012–2021: A bibliometrics approach. Human Resource Development Review, 21(1), 24–47. https://doi.org/10.1177/15344843211068807
  • Chae, C., Yim, J.-H., Lee, J., Jo, S. J., & Oh, J. R. (2020). The bibliometric keywords network analysis of human resource management research trends: The case of human resource management journals in South Korea. Sustainability, 12(14), Article 5700. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12145700
  • Chae, C., Yoon, S. W., Jo, S. J., & Han, S.-H. (2020). Structural determinants of human resource development research collaboration networks: A social-network analysis of publications between 1990 to 2014. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 33(1), 7–30. https://doi.org/10.1002/piq.21314
  • Passmore, D. L., & Chae, C. (2019). Potential for meta-scientific inquiry to improve the usefulness of HRD research outcomes for practice. Advances in Developing Human Resources, 21(4), 409–420. https://doi.org/10.1177/1523422319870173
  • Han, S.-H., Chae, C., Han, S. J., & Yoon, S. W. (2017). Conceptual organization and identity of HRD: Analyses of evolving definitions, influence, and connections. Human Resource Development Review, 16(3), 294–319. https://doi.org/10.1177/1534484317719822
  • Park, S., & Chae, C. (2017). Intervention research and its influence on nonintervention research in human resource development. European Journal of Training and Development, 41(5), 410–433. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJTD-08-2016-0062
  • 채충일, 김정환, 한수정 (2017). 인적자원개발 연구동향(2006-2015): AHRD 학술지 논문의 주제어 연결망 분석. HRD연구, 19(1), 99–127. https://doi.org/10.18211/kjhrdq.2017.19.1.004