Institutionalism and its effect on HRM in the ASEAN context: Challenges and opportunities for future research

Abstract The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has emerged as a dynamically developing market with remarkable economic achievements. However, HRM research in this bloc seems to lag behind Western countries. We conduct a systematic literature review to examine the development of HRM in ASEAN in accordance with its historical and institutional attributes and conditions. To do so, our analysis is mainly rooted in the relevant literatures on the core themes that are searched from a variety of databases such as ProQuest, ESBCO, books and webpages of relevant journals. This analysis helps to identify institutional constraints that may influence HRM practices in ASEAN, and thus develop an ASEAN-based HRM framework, and accordingly propose important directions for future research in this promising and under-researched context. This integrative framework would lay the useful foundation for researchers to theorize and examine the determinants of HRM and their effects on organizational performance.