HR have the final ‘No’: Advising, persuading and overruling to navigate the institutional logics in HR practice

Mortimore, Helen; Mackintosh, Catherine O.

Abstract

Institutional logics of the market, profession, and state act upon and define success in HR practitioners' work. We examine how
HR professionals respond to these co‐existing logics in their day‐to‐day interactions with line managers. Findings based on
interviews with 41 HR professionals reveal their navigation of logics as they choose whether to advise, persuade, or overrule line
managers. This decision‐making is guided by their combined knowledge of regulation and their organisational context, as well
as their perceptions of the line manager with whom they are interacting. Theoretically, we propose a spectrum of HR practitioners' involvement in line managers' enactment of HRM. We argue that HR practitioners' combined organisational and
occupational knowledge enables them to balance the multiple institutional contexts acting upon people management, offering
an inimitable contribution to organisations. However, we also highlight the challenges this balancing act creates for building
credibility and legitimacy with organisational stakeholders.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 10, 2025
• Online Publication Date: Mar 16, 2025
• Deposit Date: Mar 18, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 20, 2025
• Journal: Human Resource Management Journal
• Print ISSN: 0954-5395
• Electronic ISSN: 1748-8583
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12600
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/13955614
• Additional Information: Received: 2022-09-02; Accepted: 2025-03-10; Published: 2025-03-16