Reflecting on human resource development international’s growth and impact at its 25th year juncture

Why has Human Resource Development International become an important voice for advancing HRD theory and practice for the past 25 years? For us, the journal has become a meeting point for scholars and practitioners across the globe to share different approaches on how we experience development. Over the years, the journal has played a significant role in advancing the field of human resource development by publishing high-quality research and perspective articles and providing a platform for scholars and practitioners to share their findings, theories, and insights as well as contributing to the development of new theories, models, and frameworks in HRD that can have implications for the field internationally. In doing so, the journal has nurtured a community of professionals, eager to probe, challenge, support, and discover new and innovative ways to meet the learning and growth needs of individuals in a changing world. This is evidenced in HRDI receiving a 6.3 Impact Factor this year!

As we now experience a growing maturity in HRD practice, it is instructive to look back at the first HRDI editorial written in 1998 and witness a group of committed academics establishing the need for the journal, setting out the contours for this new emerging field, shaping expectations for the journey ahead and positioning the journal within a crowded marketplace of ideas for advancing HRD practice. With characteristic style and confidence, its first editor, Prof. Monica Lee argued that the journal would set out ‘to inform, provoke, intrigue, enrage encourage and overall incite curiosity and debate’ (Lee 1998, p. 4). She asked us to ‘live with the fuzziness’ (p. 3) of the HRD concept, yet recognsied that ‘sometimes it is discovering about others and their situation that makes us reflect upon our own’ (p. 4). Through creating a forum for open, inclusive, and informed debate, it is our firm belief that HRDI has not only deepened our understanding of learning and development but has opened our horizons globally to a spectrum of possibilities for realising human potential in the workplace and beyond.

Over the last 25 years, HRDI has consistently served as a global hub for academics and professionals alike. Its role extends beyond being a mere publication platform; it serves as a beacon for those in search of contemporary literature that not only stretches the boundaries of knowledge but also courageously challenges prevailing norms, fostering an environment where diverse opinions can thrive. The global perspective offered by HRDI through the publication of research from scholars and practitioners around the world has helped to provide an understanding of cultural and contextual differences in HRD practices and the need to tailor them to specific organisational and regional needs. HRDI’s commitment to emphasising research that focuses on diversity, equity, and inclusion within HRD practices and organisations aligns with the increasing importance of these issues in today’s workplaces as research on cross-cultural HRD, inclusive leadership, and bias mitigation strategies becomes more prominent.

Moreover, HRDI does not only capture the operational aspects of HRD but engages with scholars and practitioners to address and explore contemporary issues with greater reach to society as is evidenced by our recent Special Issues on Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Work, Worker, and Workplace and Remote Working and HRD, the current call for our Special Issue focused on Global Feminism, Sustainability, and Human Resource Development and an upcoming Special Issue we are preparing on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and HRD. We firmly believe that the journal has carved out a distinct place, offering a space that stands apart in its ability to engage the research and professional communities in innovative ways. Within this unique platform, it has been the catalyst for producing numerous groundbreaking pieces of research, each leaving a lasting impact at individual, organisational and social level.

Reflecting on our own journeys as researchers, we continue turning to HRDI as our constant source of fresh, captivating literature. It is where we have sought inspiration, refined our thinking, and shaped our ideas. This enduring connection remains an integral facet of our professional identities, a testament to the enduring relevance and influence of HRDI. Serving the journal has been a privilege, and we have proudly embraced the responsibility of advancing Prof. Monica Lee’s vision for HRDI. Her vision encompasses HRDI as not just a repository of knowledge but as a dynamic forum, dedicated to fostering inclusivity, provoking discourse, and nurturing innovative research. In a truly enchanting manner, HRDI continues to shape the agenda within the field, consistently challenging the confines of conventional thought, and doing so with full commitment to ‘protect’ and showcase the vision set up back in 1998.

As a testament to that commitment, we are delighted to announce that we have received and approved a Special Issue idea on ‘Transformation of HRD’ proposed by Drs. Rob Poell, Yonjoo Cho, Peter Kuchinke, Henriette Lundgren, Gary McLean, Valerie Anderson, Ronan Carbery, and Chang-kyu Kwon. In this Special Issue, we will get an opportunity to take a comprehensive and reflective look at how HRD research might need to be challenged to represent the vast territory of HRD practice globally. This Special Issue is inspired by the Townhall Forum held at the 2023 Academy of Human Resource Development (AHRD) conference and a Symposium at the 2023 University Forum for Human Resource Development (UFHRD) conference. Being a flagship journal in the field of HRD that is co-sponsored by the AHRD and the UFHRD, HRDI is excited to be the platform for this Special Issue to stretch the boundaries of how we conceptualise and implement HRD research through calling into question our assumptions, norms, and values of what is worth researching, worth submitting, and worth accepting for presentation and publication. Most importantly, we are eager to explore how this Special Issue can guide our thinking on transforming the field of HRD through its broad scope on HRD education, research, and practice, the three fundamental foci of impact for HRDI.

As another testament of our commitment to stretch the field of HRD in non-conventional ways, after consulting with HRDI’s Managing Board, we are currently working on drafting a call to recruit an Associate Editor for Mixed Methods Research Methodology for HRDI who will complement the Associate Editor Roles for Qualitative and Quantitative Methodologies. We are determined to encourage methodological plurality in researching the vast array of HRD practices across the globe. Furthermore, we want to continue the conversation on Indigenous Research in HRD as a follow-up to our editorial on this topic (Ghosh, Nachmias, and McGuire 2023) in collaboration with other HRD-focused journals that have expressed interest such as Human Resource Development Review (Kuchinke et al. 2022). We believe that collaboration between journals can help to expand our views on what is possible when it comes to transforming our field.

As we look ahead towards the beginning of HRDI’s next 25 years journey, our vision is to actively engage with researches, authors, editorial board members, reviewers, and readers across the globe in discussions related to HRD and encourage the HRD community to participate in reflective conversations that can plant seeds of transformation. The future of HRDI is expansive. But we cannot realise that future without a reflective stance. And we cannot achieve that reflective stance without collaboration across regions, beliefs, and different worldviews. Thus, we take this juncture as a significant milestone in HRDI’s journey to think critically about its past, present, and future and invite everyone connected to our mission of bridging divides, whether it be across different levels of workplace learning (individual, group, organisational), or between theory and practice, or across different regional understandings around the globe, or between different research paradigms and methodologies to come together and join us in this journey of further enhancing HRDI’s impact and relevance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).