Human Capital Measurement, Ambiguity, and Opportunism: Actors between Menace and Opportunity

Gotthard Pietsch

Zeitschrift fuer Personalforschung. German Journal of Research in Human Resource Management, 2007, vol. 21, issue 3, 252 - 273

Abstract: Under the growing influence of economic normative thoughts (as for example the spread of shareholder value philosophy in the 1990s) and therefore under pressure to justify themselves, human resource management professionals are searching for con-cepts to measure the effects of their decisions and activities on business objectives. Especially, the concepts of human capital measurement attract far-reaching attention. However, that performance measurement of human resource management faces con-siderable methodical problems leading to the distinctive ambiguity of human capital information. In the face of this ambiguity, the paper points out that human capital measurement tends to promote opportunistic patterns of behavior by offering oppor-tunities to evade personal responsibility. Referring to the model of organizational an-archy, the paper shows that human capital measurement is in danger to evoke a dilu-tion of responsibilities in organizations. But a comprehensive institutionalization and a deliberate “framing” of human capital measurement can contribute to the limitation of opportunism.

Keywords: Human Capital Measurement; Opportunism; Organizational Anarchy; Value Based Management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 M12 M50 M54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.hampp-verlag.de/hampp_e-journals_ZfP.htm#307 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rai:zfpers:doi_10.1688/1862-0000_zfp_2007_03_pietsch

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
Rainer Hampp Verlag, Journals, Vorderer Lech 35, 86150 Augsburg, Germany. A subscripton is required to access pdf files. Pay per article is available at
http://www.hampp-verlag.de/Hampp_Recherche_e.htm

Access Statistics for this article

Zeitschrift fuer Personalforschung. German Journal of Research in Human Resource Management is currently edited by Marion Festing, Christian Grund, editor-in chief, Axel Haunschild, Michael Mueller-Camen, editor-in chief and Thomas Spengler

More articles in Zeitschrift fuer Personalforschung. German Journal of Research in Human Resource Management from Rainer Hampp Verlag
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Rainer Hampp ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).