Foundations of Knowledge and Professional Skills

Locate, read and review the following article:
Jiang, K., Lepak, D.P., Ju, J., and Baer, J.C. (2012) ‘How does human resource management influence organizational outcomes? A meta-analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms’, Academy of Management Journal 55(6): 1264—1294
Further Guidance for Students:
How to find the article
The full-text copy of the article is available on-line via the University of Leicester Digital Library.
For further guidance please refer to Section 3 Learning Resources of the module Study Book.

How to read the article for the purposes of this assignment
To understand and be able to summarise and evaluate the article you need to read the article several times, highlighting the core points and making notes. When reading the article, you need to consider the study presented in the article in the light of the four core components of research in management studies, as described in the module Study Book, namely, epistemology, theory, methods, and ethics.
For further guidance please refer to Section 4 “Reading” (particularly subsections “Research reading”, “Reading critically”, and “Note taking”) of the module Study Book.
What does an article review entail?
Your review should:
1. Identify the research question(s) addressed by the study.
(Hint: The research question is usually formulated in the introductory to the article.)
2. Outline the theoretical framework underpinning the study.
(Hint: The framework is usually presented in the introductory and the literature review sections of the article.)
3. Describe the research design and methods of data collection and analysis used by the authors to investigate the question.
(Hint: The methods are normally presented in the methodology section of the article.)
4. Summarize the results of the study and assess the author(s)’ contribution to knowledge.
(Hint: The results are normally presented in detail in the analysis/results section and are also summarized in the discussion/conclusions section.)
5. Critically examine the study. Here you may consider the following issues:
a. Were the research questions interesting, original, and significant?
b. Could there be other ways to explore the research questions?
c. Did the study results help to answer the question?
d. What are the limitations of the study? (When considering the limitations, please, do not rehearse the limitations already noted by the author(s) in the article, but try to identify other limitations, from your point of view.)
For further guidance, please, refer to Section 4 “Reading” (in particular, the subsection “Reading Critically”) of the module Study Book.
Additional readings
Your paper should demonstrate:
(a) solid knowledge of the required readings, including the Study Book and the companion textbook;
(b) familiarity with the relevant Further Readings identified on the module pages on Blackboard.
Some students may also wish to undertake additional research and reading into the matters related to the article review, and such initiative is encouraged.
Note, however, that a review of additional literature should be considered only as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, a proper review of the assigned article.
How to present the assignment paper: Structure, format and style
Your paper should be formally structured, properly formatted and written in a formal academic style.
For guidance on structure, format and style requirements, please, refer to Section 5 “Writing” (in particular, the subsections “Drafting”, “Formatting”, and “Writing style”) of the module Study Book.
You may wish to structure your paper along the lines identified in the section “What does an article review entail?” above or, alternatively, you may organise your paper to best fit your review; in any case, you need to ensure that your paper should cover the relevant points.