Oceans And Notions Apart? An Analysis Of The Us And European Human Resource Development Literature

A systematic content analysis of the human resource development (HRD) research articles published between 1990 and 2003 revealed notable differences in the underlying orientations and methodological approaches across the US and Europe. The US literature, in comparison to Europe, was observed to be more practice-oriented as reflected in a prescriptive and less critical approach to the study of human resource development (HRD). In terms of science orientation, the US literature was characterized to be more nomothetic and universalistic. While a subtle tendency towards becoming more prescriptive emerged in the US, over time the European literature had become less practice-oriented and more empiricist, although the latter trend did not reflect itself in the quantity but quality of quantitative research.