Abstract:
This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices and
firm performance relationship, by conceptualizing an integrated framework to explain the mediating linkage
through sequential analysis of individual, job, and unit level outcomes whilst exploring contextual factors
influencing this relationship. This aim is achieved by critically reviewing different strands of literature. There is
an on-going debate that empirical explanations of how HRM practices influence firm performance are
inconclusive, abstract, and lacking theoretical justification. In response, literature highlights a dire need of
developing comprehensive integrated frameworks to explain this relationship. Thus, a theoretically and
empirically driven framework is proposed by employing employee work effort, job performance, and unit
performance in sequence as the intervening/mediating linkage of the proposed HRM-firm performance
relationship. Future researchers may find the proposed integrated framework as a template to articulate a holistic
view of this relationship.
