Human resource management practices in Oman: a systematic review and synthesis for future research

Harrasi, Nasser Al; Balushi, Badriya Al; Khayari, Samira Al; Rashdi, Maryam Al Article Human resource management practices in Oman: a systematic review and synthesis for future research Cogent Business & Management Provided in Cooperation with: Taylor & Francis Group Suggested Citation: Harrasi, Nasser Al; Balushi, Badriya Al; Khayari, Samira Al; Rashdi, Maryam Al (2024) : Human resource management practices in Oman: a systematic review and synthesis for future research, Cogent Business & Management, ISSN 2331-1975, Taylor & Francis, Abingdon, Vol. 11, Iss. 1, pp. 1-25, https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2337053 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/326222 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. 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If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Cogent Business & Management ISSN: 2331-1975 (Online) Journal homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/oabm20 Human resource management practices in Oman: a systematic review and synthesis for future research Nasser Al Harrasi, Badriya Al Balushi, Samira Al Khayari & Maryam Al Rashdi To cite this article: Nasser Al Harrasi, Badriya Al Balushi, Samira Al Khayari & Maryam Al Rashdi (2024) Human resource management practices in Oman: a systematic review and synthesis for future research, Cogent Business & Management, 11:1, 2337053, DOI: 10.1080/23311975.2024.2337053 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2337053 © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group Published online: 18 Apr 2024. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 4779 View related articles View Crossmark data Citing articles: 7 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=oabm20 ManageMent | ReseaRch aRticle Cogent Business & ManageMent 2024, VoL. 11, no. 1, 2337053 Human resource management practices in Oman: a systematic review and synthesis for future research nasser al harrasia , Badriya al Balushia, samira al Khayaria and Maryamal Rashdib aCollege of economic and Business administration, university of technology and applied science, Muscat, oman; bMiddle east College, Muscat, oman ABSTRACT this study is a systematic review of literature related to human resource management (hRM) practices in the sultanate of Oman. the study aimed to advance research and practice related to hRM practices in the context of Oman. the study evaluates the effectiveness of hRM practices in enhancing organisational performance and relationships with other variables. the study analyses and synthesis 117 relevant publications. the findings reveal that Out of the 117 relevant publications that were analysed, 85.4% comprised empirical studies, with the majority using quantitative research methods. the primary industry from where the data were collected was education, and sultan Qaboos University contributed the highest percentage of studies. the study found that hRM practices such as compensation management, training and development, and localisation policy face significant challenges and, therefore, require further research. Moreover, demographic factors such as gender diversity should be considered when designing hRM practices. effective hRM practices positively impact organisational performance, employee satisfaction, and retention. this study provide implications for theory, practices and future research in the field of hRM practices in Oman. 1. Introduction even since personnel management was rebranded as human resource management (hRM) in 1980, it has been widely debated and redefined. the most popular and meaningful definitions were provided by armstrong (2016) and Boxall and Purcell (2016). according to armstrong (2016), hRM is concerned with an organisation’s employment, employee well-being, and employee development through a strategic, coherent, and integrated approach. On the other hand, Boxall and Purcell (2016) suggested that hRM focuses on building the needed workforce for organisations through a systematic process of creating performances. hRM involves various practices that aim towards sustainably achieving organisational objectives (elshaer etal., 2023). these practices include recruitment and selection, human resources planning, training and development, compensation management, performance management, employee relations, health and safety, and many other practices that influence the behaviour, performance, and attitudes of employees (saifalislam et al., 2014). in 1990, it was felt that there was a greater need of aligning hRM with the organisation’s strategy to link and match the organisation’s interest with the hR policies and practices. this led to the creation of new terms such as ‘strategic hR’ and ‘hR business partner’ (Joanna, 2017). © 2024 the author(s). Published by informa uK Limited, trading as taylor & Francis group CONTACT nasser al Harrasi nasser[email protected] College of economic and Business administration, university of technology and applied science, Muscat, oman. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311975.2024.2337053 this is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. the terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent. ARTICLE HISTORY Received 16 June 2023 Revised 25 February 2024 accepted 25 March 2024 KEYWORDS human resource management; practices; systematic review; future research; Oman REVIEWING EDITOR huifen (helen) cai, Middlesex University Business school, United Kingdom SUBJECTS introductory Work/ Organizational Psychology; leadership; Personality and identity at Work; stress and emotion in the Workplace; Work and leisure; Work Motivation; industrial/ Organization Psychology tests and assessments 2 n. al haRRasi etal. the significance of hRM increased because globalisation and technological developments forced organisations to consider new strategies for employing and managing people. Besides, good hRM practices lead to the enhancement of organisational productivity (Kooli, 2023; Kooli et al., 2022), which was proven by the majority of research conducted in this area by demonstrating the contribution of hRM practices to staff motivation and commitment (Joanna, 2017). Further, there is a growing body of literature that recognises the importance of hRM practices in improving organisational performance (e.g. andrlić et al., 2023; Burma, 2014; Dogra & Priyashantha, 2023; gould-Williams, 2003; indermun, 2014; liu et al., 2020 scheible & Bastos, 2012). however, many organisations are suffering from the deficiency of hRM practices. For instance, employee engagement and retention have a significant impact on an organisation’s annual revenue growth. the 2017 statistics show that organisations with formal employee engagement have 26% higher annual revenue growth than those without. additionally, high-retention-risk employees tend to leave their current organisations to advance their careers. as regards recruitment and selection, poor performance and temperament issues are the main reasons why 22% of new hires leave their organisations within 45 days, while 46% leave within 18 months. Furthermore, performance management is another major concern for organisations, as statistics show that 30% of performance appraisals end up in reduced employee performance, and 92% of all organisations are distrustful of their performance management practices for driving business value (hR statistics for human Resource Management, 2017). thus, it is now well-established that hRM practices can impair organisational performance. in Oman, several attempts have been made to evaluate hRM practices. it indicates several challenges and issues that impact various aspects of the labour market. One of the significant aspects of concern is challenges faced by women workers in Oman. Belwal and Belwal (2017) highlights the importance of work-life balance (WlB) issues in Oman, particularly focusing on women, WlB, and related policies, shedding light on the unique challenges faced by women in the Omani workforce. additionally, the implementation of family-friendly policies and adherence to the Omani labor law are relatively new areas in human resource management in Oman, especially in the private sector (Belwal etal., 2019). Furthermore, habsi et al. (2021) studies the current hRM practices in the oil and gas sector in Oman and explores strategies to retain human resources within these industries, shedding light on sector-specific challenges and practices. Moreover, the assessment of human resource management practices and employee loyalty in the Omani logistics sector reveals insights into the relationship between hRM practices and employee loyalty (saiari et al., 2020). thus, there is an urgent need to address the effectiveness of hRM practices and provide an overview of the gap existing in hRM practices in Oman. this urgently due the fact of high employee turnover which reached 16% by 2022 as well as the repaid growth of Oman’s economic (Ministry of Manpower, 2023; the World Bank, 2023). this study aimed to advance research and practice related to hRM by carrying out a systematic review of relevant literature to describe and analyse hRM practices in Oman, along with their effectiveness and relationships with other variables to enhance organisational performance. this review sought to shed light on the hRM practices in Oman and their effectiveness in enhancing organisational performance. the following objectives were designed for this review: (1) analyze the practise of hR professionals in various functions of hRM in the context of Oman and, (2) identify the research gap in the field of hRM in the context of Oman. the study adopted a systematic review methodology of relevant literature to address the effectiveness of hRM practices in Oman and its contribution to enhancing organisational performance. the analysis and synthesis identified 117 relevant publications. this review makes four main contributions. First, it advances the understanding of characteristics of the studies that have been published on the subject of hRM in the context of Oman. second, it provides a comprehensive understanding of how hR professionals practicese the various functions of hRM in the context of Oman. third, it highlights the research gap in this area in the context of Oman, which needs to be addressed in the future research. the study is organised as follows: section 1 explicates and defines the key terms and introduces the specific questions that guide the systematic review, section 2 presents the review methodology and data employment, and section 3 provides the discussion and data synthesis before concluding and providing recommendations for future research. cOgent BUsiness & ManageMent 3 2. Materials and methods content analysis is one of the primary methods used by researchers when conducting a systematic literature review as it is useful in evaluating the content as well as methodological choices. this review was designed based on previous reviews carried out on hRM and management research followed Preferred Reporting items for systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRisMa) guidelines (e.g. andrlić et al., 2023; Dogra & Priyashantha, 2023; Priyashantha etal., 2022). table 1 summarize the process of his review which drew upon studies on hRM in the context of Oman published between 2000 and 2022 to identify the trends and developments of hRM practices in Oman, along with their effectiveness in enhancing organisational performance throughout these two decades. For the year 2022, the review included all published studies at the time of review (i.e. June 2022). Further, the reviews included all studies related to the field of hRM practices. 2.1. Study selection process and methods the review begins by identifying the key features of each study to present an overview of the reviewed studies. table 1 shows the features that were considered for this included research areas across the years, year of publication, type of study, number of authors, affiliation, and gender of the first author. afterwards, content analysis was performed to provide an overview of the type of empirical research conducted in the field of hRM in Oman. the analysis focused on the topic of the study, theoretical framework, industry, sector of data collection, private and/or public sector, and research design. these selection criteria helped in capturing the state of hRM practices in Oman over the last 22 years. later, a search string related to hRM practices in Oman was developed, which included terms such as hRM, training and development, performance management, talent management, leadership, localisation, recruitment and selection, employee performance, employee productivity, employee engagement, motivation, compensation, payment, working culture, working environment, job satisfaction, turnover, retirement, commitment, empowerment work-life balance, and burnout. the search was conducted on electronic academic databases such as google scholar, Researchgate, academia.edu, and Masader. the searches resulted in 214 potentially relevant studies, which included peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, and dissertations. the aforementioned features were applied in the reviewing process and the full-text evaluation as illustrated in Figure 1. this leads to the exclusion of studies that did not meet determined criteria which are relevance to the research objectives, methodological quality, and publication type. this is resulting in identifying 117 relevant documents at the end. 3. Results and discussions 3.1. Characteristics of articles Figure 2 shows the research areas studied in the context of Oman between the years 2000 and 2022. human resource effectiveness and job satisfaction were the most studied, with 17 studies for each, Table 1. Review protocol. article selection method PRisMa guidelines search terms ‘HRM in oman’ ‘training in oman’ ‘training and development in oman’, ‘performance management in oman’ ‘talent management in oman’ ‘leadership in oman’ ‘localisation in oman’ ‘omanization’ ‘recruitment in oman’ ‘Recruitment and selection in oman’, ‘employee performance in oman’, ‘employee productivity in oman’ ‘employee engagement in oman’ ‘motivation in oman’ ‘compensation in oman’ ‘payment in oman’ ‘working culture in oman’ ‘working environment in oman’ ‘job satisfaction in oman’ ‘turnover in oman’ ‘retirement in oman’ ‘commitment in oman’ ‘empowerment in oman’ ‘work-life balance in oman’ ‘burnout in oman’ Year range 2000–2022 Language of article english Key words HRM, training and development, performance management, talent management, leadership, localisation, recruitment and selection, employee performance, employee productivity, employee engagement, motivation, compensation, payment, working culture, working environment, job satisfaction, turnover, retirement, commitment, empowerment work-life balance, burnout Publication source type Peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, dissertations type of the study empirical articles, Qualitative, Review analysis Methods PRisMa guidelines table by authors. 4 n. al haRRasi etal. followed by performance management (15 studies), training and development (12 studies), leadership (10 studies), and organisational behaviour (9 studies). the remaining research areas yielded between two and six studies. Further, strategic human resource yielded the lowest number of studies, as only one study on it was carried out in Oman. For a more detailed analysis, the period between 2000 and 2022 was divided into five periods. During the periods of 2000–2005 and 2006–2010, the number of studies published was four each (3.4%). however, in the periods of 2011–2015 and 2016–2020, the number of studies on hRM in Oman increased dramatically, going from 4 to 30 (25.6%) and 61 (52.1%), respectively. the first published studies (in the year 2000) in the context of Oman focused on training and development (al-lamki, 2000; Budhwar et al., 2022) and employee commitment (albelushi, 2004; Kuehn & al-Busaidi, 2002). Further, the earliest studies on hRM in the context of Oman covered most hRM-related concepts, including the recent phenomena of strategic hRM. Figure 1. PRisMa article selection flow diagram (figure by authors). Figure 2. Research areas of HRM studies conducted in the context of oman (figure by authors). cOgent BUsiness & ManageMent 5 Figure 3 presents the trend related to hRM studies in the context of Oman published between 2000 and 2022, which indicates that the number of studies on hRM has increased over the period. in summary, since 2000, the body of knowledge in the field of hRM in Oman has increased dramatically. Figure 4 shows the number of studies published over the aforementioned periods according to the gender of the authors. it was observed that studies authored by women increased significantly over time, going from 2 studies between 2000 and 2010 to 6 and 14 studies in the periods of 2011–2015 and 2016–2020, respectively. the first study with a female first author was published by al-lamki (2000) and focused on hRM and training in Oman, while the second study with a female first author was published by albelushi (2004) and focused on career choice and commitment in Oman. however, no studies on hRM in the context of Oman were published by female authors between 2005 and 2010. in comparison, male authors’ contributions to hRM studies were greater than those of female authors across the years, i.e. 100% in 2005–2010, 79% in 2011–2015, and 77% in 2016–2020. the analysis of gender in authorship is important due to the interesting findings of thelwall et al. (2018), who found that female authors focused more on ‘people’, whereas male authors focused more on Figure 3. trend of HRM studies (figure by authors). Figure 4. studies published by male and female authors (figure by authors). 6 n. al haRRasi etal. ‘things’. Moreover, they found that male researchers were more likely to use quantitative methods, whereas female researchers were more likely to use exploratory and qualitative methods (sanders & cieri, 2020). in our analysis, we found that male first authors published more reviews (16.1%) than female first authors (9%), although female first authors published more empirical studies (91%) than male first authors (83.8%). in contrast, no significant difference was observed between males and females in relation to research methodology (i.e. whether qualitative or quantitative methods were employed). these results are consistent with the finding of sanders and cieri (2020). Figure 5 presents the results in terms of author affiliations. these results indicate that authors were affiliated with international organisations more than domestic organisations in the first two periods (i.e. 2000–2005 and 2006–2010), while a dramatical increase was noticed in the next two periods (i.e. 2011– 2015 and 2016–2020), where authors affiliated with domestic organisations became double the number of those affiliated with international organisations (15 studies in 2011–2015 and 40 studies in 2016– 2020). in total, the authors of 65 studies were affiliated with domestic organisations, and those of 38 articles were affiliated with international organisations. Meanwhile, the authors of 13 studies were not affiliated with any organisation. in the last period (i.e. 2021–2022), eight and seven studies were authored by those affiliated with domestic and international organisations, respectively. in this review, the first examined study was by al-lamki (2000), who is an author affiliated with sultan Qaboos University, a domestic organisation. the following affiliations were carrdif Business school and the american University of sharjah, both in 2002. additionally, it was found that authors affiliated with sultan Qaboos University occupied the highest percentage of reviewed studies (21.5%), followed by those affiliated with Dhofar University (9.2%), sohar University (9.2%), and Waljat college of applied sciences (9.2%), while those affiliated with the remaining organisations were between 1% and 5%. notably, the analysis did not recognise significant differences between the research areas in terms of affiliation. the average number of authors for each study across the five periods demonstrated an increase, going from an average of 1.75 in the first two periods to an average of 2.62 in 2011–2015 and 2.22 in 2021–2022. this is consistent with the findings of sanders and cieri (2020), according to whom team publishing is more common in the field of psychology. it can be observed that the body of knowledge regarding the field of hRM in the context of Oman has increased significantly over time. Moreover, the number of studies published by female authors has also increased significantly over time, going from 2 studies between 2000 and 2010 to 6 and 14 in the periods of 2011–2015 and 2016–2020, respectively. Finally, it was found that more authors were affiliated with international organisations than domestic organisations in the first two periods (i.e. 2000–2005 and 2006–2010), while a dramatical increase was noticed in the next two periods (i.e. 2011–2015 and 2016–2020), where the number of authors affiliated Figure 5. authors’ affiliation (figure by authors). cOgent BUsiness & ManageMent 7 with domestic organisations became the double of those affiliated with international organisations (15 and 40, respectively). the trend regarding the type of studies published in the field of hRM in the context of Oman over the last 22 years shows that a higher percentage of empirical studies (85.4%) were published compared to review/conceptual articles (14.5%). in the early years, only two review/conceptual articles were published. however, the number started to increase, with five studies being published between 2011 and 2015 and nine between 2016 and 2020. On the other hand, empirical studies were dominant in Oman. it was found that the percentage of empirical studies increased significantly over time, going from 3 between 2000 and 2005 to 25 between 2011 and 2015 and then to 52 between 2016 and 2020. the present review analysed the choice of methodology in 100 empirical studies and found that 75% of them used the quantitative approach, 23% used the qualitative approach, and 2% used a mixed approach, Moreover, while comparing the data source (i.e. public vs. private sectors) and choice of methodology, the analysis did not show any significant differences, as both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used almost equally. Furthermore, it was observed that most empirical studies on hRM collected data from the education sector (29.9%), followed by the services (10.2%), oil and gas (6.8%), healthcare (5.1%), and other sectors (19.6%). however, 28.2% of the studies did not mention the sector they collected the data from. in summary, studies on hRM in Oman are more common in quantitative research. 3.2. Results of the articles to answer this question ‘how do hR Professionals Practise the Various Functions of hRM in Oman?’, the present study classified the various hRM practices into the following categories: (1) performance management, (2) training and development, (3) compensation management, (4) localisation, and (5) organisational behaviour (including leadership, commitment, turnover, satisfaction, work stress, engagement, motivation, quality of work life, work-life balance, working environment and culture, employee performance and productivity, power, and burnout). the last category includes many practices due to the low number of published articles on them. there are e-hRM, recruitment and selection, hR planning, talent management, and strategic hRM. 3.2.1. Performance management the first study on performance management in the context of Oman was by al-ghanabousi and idris (2010), who evaluated the performance appraisal practice of school principals. they analysed the data collected from principals of government schools and found that all governmental schools followed the same practices due to centralisation. they utilised two models in the evaluation process: the performance evaluation model of Brent (2007) and the instructional leadership model by alig-Mielcarek’s (2003). their study highlighted the effect of centralised educational authority in setting goals, monitoring instruction, and providing feedback. additionally, the study highlighted many other variables as hindrances to effective performance appraisal, such as insufficient time as well as lack of training regarding evaluation techniques and methods (al-ghanabousi & idris, 2010). a study conducted by alyahmadi (2012) collected data from government school teachers and found that teachers were sceptical of the effectiveness of performance appraisal in enhancing and developing their careers due to factors such as centralisation, lack of time, confidentiality, and lack of incentives (alyahmadi, 2012). al hijji and cox (2012) investigated the method of performance appraisal in academic libraries in Oman and found that these libraries performed internal and external evaluation of staff performance. internally, they utilised a standard form for conducting performance appraisal, along with using surveys, reports, KPis, statistics, and interviews. externally, the staff was assessed by a national institution (the Oman arbitration centre) and many other international bodies. however, their study focused on investigating the methods used in evaluating the overall performance of libraries in Oman, and performance appraisal was only one of them. al Fazari and Khan (2016) evaluated the accuracy of performance appraisal results in Majan electricity company by collecting data from 106 of its employees. they found that, according to the staff, the results of the performance appraisal were not accurate and rater errors were the main factors affecting their accuracy. Further, the majority of the staff members reported not being motivated by the 14 n. al haRRasi etal. suggested that Oman’s labour law contains some articles for the protection of employee interests. the interviewed employers also claimed that in their organisations, most benefits provided under familyfriendly policies were provided informally through understanding, arguing that formal family-friendly policies would increase the cost in the short run. a study by Jalagat and Jalagat (2019) sought to rationalise the idea of remote work and its ramifications, as well as the problems and trends related to it, its benefits and drawbacks, and the degree to which it is used in Oman. the researchers discovered opposing viewpoints regarding the idea of remote work among people and businesses. al Raisi et al. (2019), who examined the impact of cultural diversity on employee performance and productivity at shell Oman Marketing company (saOg), concluded that having a diverse workforce has a good impact on employee performance, which would increase productivity and creativity thanks to variances in educational background, ethnicities, cultures, and other diverse backgrounds. al-Zwamri and hussain (2017), who conducted a study on the effects of smartphones in the workplace at the governmental departments, in salalah, Oman, discovered that cell phones provide several advantages for the growth and facilitation of work, which may result in improved work performance in organisations. al Zadjali and ibrahim (2021) identified workload and work pressure as the primary causes of absenteeism in Oman’s baking sector. in future research, several critical points in relation to work-life balance and quality of work life in Oman should be considered. the literature review identified that both publicand private-sector employers in Oman lack formal policies regarding work-life balance and family-friendly practices. this highlights a need for organisations to formalise and implement policies to ensure that employees can maintain a healthy work-life balance. Further, the studies suggest that women in Oman face challenges in achieving work-life balance, which could be indicative of gender disparities in the workplace. thus, hRM practices should aim to address gender inequalities and promote equal opportunities for all employees. employers in Oman claimed that in their organisations, family-friendly benefits were provided informally through understanding rather than through formal policies. While this may be true to some extent, it is important for organisations to have formal policies in place to ensure that all employees are aware of the benefits available to them. hRM practices should also consider the benefits and drawbacks of remote work and develop policies that enable employees to work remotely while maintaining a healthy work-life balance. additionally, hRM practices should aim to promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace to enhance organisational performance. Besides, hRM practices should reduce work pressure and workload to minimise absenteeism and ensure employee well-being. 3.2.5.4. Personality and team performance.amir and Khan (2020) used the five-factor model of personality to examine the impact of personality on team performance among private higher education faculty members and administrative employees. the result indicated a positive and significant relationship between team performance and the four factors of personality model, namely, agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, and openness to experience, whereas a negative relationship between team performance and neuroticism was observed. the study also highlighted the moderating role played by employee engagement on the relation between the five factors and team performance. in their study, hans et al. (2015) reported that the quality of work life among management teachers in private higher educational institutions was negatively affected by occupational stress. sanyal and hisam (2018) conducted a study to explore the effects of teamwork on faculty members at Dhofar University, Oman, and their performances, as well as to investigate the aspects connected to the notion of teamwork in the workplace. they found a significant relationship between the independent variables of teamwork, an atmosphere of trust, leadership and structure, performance evaluation and rewards, and the productivity of the faculty members. Overall, the reviewed studies provided valuable insights into the relationships between personality, team performance, occupational stress, and teamwork in the context of Oman. however, it is important to be aware of the limitations and context-specific nature of these findings when considering their broader implications. For instance, the five-factor model of personality used in the study by amir and Khan (2020) to examine the impact of these factors on team performance is a well-established and valid approach in psychological research. however, it is important to note that the results of this study may not be valid for other populations as the sample consisted only of private higher education faculty members and administrative employees. Furthermore, a positive and significant relationship between team performance and agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, and openness to experience is cOgent BUsiness & ManageMent 15 consistent with previous research. however, it is important to note that the negative relationship between team performance and neuroticism is also consistent with previous research, although this does not necessarily mean that individuals high in neuroticism cannot contribute positively to a team. the consideration of employee engagement as a potential moderator of the relationship between personality and team performance is a useful addition to the study, as it suggests that individuals who are more engaged in their work may be more likely to utilise their personality traits effectively in a team setting, although the causal direction of this relationship is not clear from this study. the finding that occupational stress negatively affects the quality of work life among management teachers in private higher educational institutions is also consistent with previous research on occupational stress and its effects on workplace outcomes. notably, the specific factors contributing to occupation stress among management teachers may be different from those in other professions, and, therefore, this study may not be generalisable to other populations. the emphasis on the effects of teamwork on faculty members and their performances is a valuable contribution to the literature on organisational behaviour and team dynamics, even though the specific context of Dhofar University, Oman, may limit the generalisability of these findings to other settings. additionally, the specific aspects of teamwork that are relevant in this context may not be the same as those in other contexts. 3.2.5.5. Employee performance. sawant and Pise (2021) examined the influence of high-performance work systems (hPWs) on service quality in the telecommunications industry in Oman by gathering data from 300 randomly selected customer-care executives employed by Oman’s telecommunications carriers and 300 telecommunications users. they found that there was a positive relationship between hPWs and the level of service quality offered to clients in the Omani telecommunications sector. Khan and Mashikhi (2017) investigated how teamwork affects employee productivity in the banking industry. Following an investigation of 500 employees at one of the bank’s main branches in Muscat, Oman, a regression analysis was performed, which revealed that teamwork had a strong impact on employee performance. in their study, alobaidani and Kolluruo (2020) attempted to determine how cooperation affects employee performance at Orpic while also identifying the obstacles to collaboration there. the findings indicated that there were both beneficial and detrimental correlations between employee performance and teamwork. Moreover, al hakmani and Bashir (2014) investigated issues related to the productivity of employees in the oil and gas sector in Oman, discovering that employees in public organisations are significantly less satisfied with their employers than those in private companies, which explains the high turnover levels in state-owned organisations. Overall, while these studies provided some useful insights into employee performance in Oman, they did not provide a complete picture of all the factors that could influence performance or the best strategies for improving it. For example, the study by sawant and Pise (2021) focused only on one industry (i.e. telecommunications) and used a relatively small sample size of 300 customer-care executives and 300 telecommunications users. this could limit the generalisability of their findings to other industries and populations. similarly, the study by Khan and Mashikhi (2017) only looked at teamwork as a factor influencing employee performance, which may not provide a comprehensive understanding of all the factors that could impact performance. Further, the study by alobaidani and Kolluruo (2020) suggested that teamwork can have both beneficial and detrimental impact on employee performance, but it did not provide clear guidance regarding how organisations can maximise the benefits of teamwork while minimising the drawbacks. Finally, the study by al hakmani and Bashir (2014) focused on the differences between the job satisfaction and turnover rates of public and private organisations, but it did not explore other factors that could influence productivity or provide recommendations for improving it. 3.2.5.6. Human resources management.Many studies that were reviewed discussed hRM practices in the context of Oman. the present review of literature found that the number of published research increased dramatically after 2019. the first such study was by Budhwar et al. (2002), who investigated the Omani government’s initiatives for human resource development (hRD). the study praised the top management’s high level of awareness regarding hRD, but it indicated the low involvement of employees in the decision-making process. this was followed by a study conducted by al-hamadi et al. (2007), which examined the issues related to hRM and hRD in the state-owned enterprises of Oman. they found that international managers are implementing Western models without considering the local culture, economic 16 n. al haRRasi etal. condition, political ideology, civil service laws, and religion (given that islam has significant influence in Omani). then, for almost three years, no studies related to hRM in the context of Oman were published. Moideenkutty et al. (2011) conducted a study analysing the relationship between the highly involved hRM practices such as hiring, skills development, and motivation with the overall organisational performance in Oman. the findings indicated these practices had a positive impact on the subjective and quantitative measures of organisational performance. Khan (2011) examined the macro-level role of hRM in Oman, pointing to the lack of hR competency and knowledge that led to confusion while dealing with business challenges. however, al-Kindi and Bailie (2013) explored the impact of cultural values on management styles and practices in organisations and argued that tribality and traditions had a strong influence on Omani managers’ performance, which led to a decreased role of the main managerial practices. Mamman and al Kulaiby (2014) assessed the role of Ulrich’s model (which emphasises the need for developing manpower and enhancing hR practices as a strategic partner, change leader, and expert in administrative function) in understanding hRM practices in the private and public sectors of Oman. Mamman and al Kulaiby (2014) argued that fewer practices were performed by hR in the public sector than in the private due to the presence of more regulations. in the same year, the researchers started involving demographic data in the analysis. For instance, Kemp and Madsen (2014) investigated the presence of women in the private sector of Oman and found that most companies prefer to hire more men than women, especially for managerial roles. Further, al-Mahdy et al. (2016) investigated the impact of demographic differences on Omani school teachers’ perception of their job satisfaction and the servant leadership style. the findings of the study showed the positive impact of school principals’ servant leadership style on the perception and satisfaction of women and private school teachers. al Marhoobi and atan (2018) also investigated the influence of hRM on the performance of governmental institutions in Oman, finding a strong relationship between hRM practices and organisational performance. the study also highlighted the positive influence of employee training, incentives, and job security on organisational performance, along with the negative influence of selective recruitment and decentralisation. thumiki et al. (2019) assessed the role of hR practices during the economic crisis in Oman, finding the performance of the hR department during the crisis to be weak and recommending managers to rise employees’ knowledge about management and communication activities instead of cost-cutting policies. altyar etal. (2020) examined the relationship between knowledge, hRM, and the economic growth of arab countries, finding that the more knowledge was transferred from developed countries to arab countries, the more effective the hR functions became, leading to higher levels of economic growth. sulaiman et al. (2020) identified ways to overcome challenges faced by retail stores with regard to hRM during the cOViD-19 pandemic. the study suggested implementing hygienic training, fair succession planning, and incentive planning at all levels to motivate employees during the crisis. al habsi etal. (2021) evaluated the impact of hRM practices on employee retention in the oil and gas sector of Oman, praising the effective role of hR practices in retaining employees. Kooli and abadli (2021) assessed the relationship between the accreditation of private institutions of higher education and their hRM performance. they found that hRM practices had no relation with the accreditation, and there was no improvement in the selected accredited institutions. Vicencio (2021), who described the predicted performance of hRM towards staff designation and residential status in private institutions of higher education in Oman, found that there was a high consideration of the staff’s demographic profile in hRM practices. al-Busaidi et al. (2021) evaluated the impact of hRM practices on employee performance in Oman’s private sector, finding the impact to be positive. aro-gordon and al-Raeesi (2022) explored the role of hRM practices in improving organisational excellence towards sustainability and reported that the impact of hRM practices on organisational development was weak. it can be observed that, in the context of Oman, hRM has been a topic of interest for researchers in recent years. the reviewed studies examined various aspects of hRM practices, such as employee involvement, cultural values, gender diversity, job satisfaction, economic crisis, the cOViD-19 pandemic, and employee retention. Moreover, the studies showed that hRM practices have a positive impact on organisational performance, job satisfaction, and employee retention. however, hRM also faces challenges in cOgent BUsiness & ManageMent 17 Oman, such as a lack of hR competency and knowledge, selective recruitment, and decentralisation. some studies pointed out the need for considering the local culture, economic condition, political ideology, civil service laws, and religion when implementing Western hRM models in Oman. Further, the studies also highlighted the importance of demographic factors such as gender diversity and staff profile in hRM practices. their findings suggest that companies in Oman should focus on creating a more diverse workforce, especially in managerial roles, and consider demographic factors when designing hRM practices. additionally, some studies addressed the impact of external factors such as economic crises and the cOViD-19 pandemic on hRM practices, suggesting that organisations should focus on enhancing employees’ knowledge regarding management and communication activities instead of cost-cutting policies during such crises. Overall, the present literature review provided a comprehensive understanding of hRM practices in Oman, emphasising the importance of developing hRM practices that are tailored to the local context and demographic factors. the reviewed studies suggested that effective hRM practices can have a positive impact on organisational performance, employee satisfaction, and retention. however, there are certain challenges that hRM faces in Oman that need to be addressed, such as a lack of hR competency and knowledge, selective recruitment, and decentralisation. 3.2.5.7. Leadership. several reviewed studies on hRM began discussing the role of leadership in Oman after 2015. however, there was one study conducted in 2011 that assessed the barriers to leadership development in Oman (common, 2011). this study stated that tribality and family interdependence are the main barriers to leadership development in Oman. al-Mahdy et al. (2016) examined the impact of demographic differences on Omani school teachers’ perceptions of their job satisfaction and the servant leadership style, finding that the school principals’ servant leadership style had a positive impact on the perception and satisfaction of women and private school teachers. this was followed by a study conducted by al Zefeiti (2017), which evaluated the influence of transformational leadership style on the performance of the government sector. the results of the study pointed to the importance of applying a transformational leadership style for enhancing employee performance. hans et al. (2018) examined the impact of leadership style on managerial creativity in middle-level employees in selected public organisations, suggesting that the democratic leadership style (i.e. the preferred style) had a positive impact on managerial creativity, whereas, the autocratic style had a negative impact. in short, the applied leadership style in the selected organisations has a moderate impact on managerial creativity. after 2019, the number of studies on hRM that focused on leadership rose to five. al-Bahrii and Othmani (2019) explored the role of leadership style in enhancing employee motivation and productivity in Oman’s water sector, finding that the leadership style had a strong impact on employee productivity. in addition, it indicated that the work environment and employment contracts were the most important drivers of high-level employees’ productivity. al harrasi etal. (2020) evaluated the relationship between expert power and employee productivity in the public sector of Oman, illustrating that the more expert power is utilised, the higher the level of employee productivity will be. thomas (2020) evaluated the influence of leadership styles on employee performance in the oil and gas sector of Oman, highlighting leaders’ supportive strategies. however, it also pointed to the lack of employee engagement in the decision-making process. Padmakumar and Dwivedi (2021) evaluated the impact of the transactional leadership style on employee performance in the private sector of Oman. they reported that the transactional leadership style had a negative impact on the performance of private-sector employees. al harrasi (2021) evaluated the impact of leaders’ information power on employee productivity in the government sector of Oman, finding that the level of employee productivity was low due to the big gap between each employee and the organisational goals. thus, the study emphasised the selected Muscat government organisations to review their leaders’ competencies. it appears that leadership in Oman has become a topic of interest in recent years, with a focus on exploring the impact of different leadership styles on employee performance and productivity. the study by common (2011) identified tribality and family interdependence as key barriers to leadership development in Oman, which suggests that cultural factors may play a significant role in shaping leadership practices in the country. several studies (e.g. al Zefeiti, al-Mahdy et al., 2016; hans et al., 2018) also explored the impact of leadership styles on employee performance and creativity in government and school settings, suggesting that transformational and democratic leadership styles are 18 n. al haRRasi etal. generally more effective than the autocratic leadership style, although the impact may vary depending on the context and specific organisational goals. More recent studies (e.g. al-Bahrii & Othmani, 2019; Padmakumar & Dwivedi, 2021; thomas, 2020) focused on the private sector and highlighted the importance of leadership styles in motivating employees and improving productivity. however, some of these studies (e.g. Padmakumar & Dwivedi, 2021) also pointed out the potential negative effects of certain leadership styles, such as the transactional leadership style, on employee performance. Overall, these studies suggested that leadership in Oman is influenced by cultural and contextual factors and that effective leadership styles may vary depending on the organisational context and goals. the findings also highlight the importance of leaders’ competencies in shaping employee performance and productivity. 4. Discussion the present study aimed to advance research and practice related to hRM practices by carrying out a systematic review of the literature related to hRM to describe the hRM practices in the context of Oman, as well as their effectiveness in enhancing organisational performance and relationships with other variables. the study adopted a systematic review methodology, and the analysis and synthesis identified 117 relevant publications. the study found that over the past 22 years, empirical studies (85.4%) dominated all hRM publications in Oman, while only 14.5% comprised review or conceptual articles. however, the number of review/ conceptual articles increased from 2011 onwards. the majority of empirical studies employed the quantitative approach (75%), followed by qualitative (23%) and mixed approaches (2%). education was the primary industry from where the data were collected (29.9%), followed by services (10.2%), oil and gas (6.8%), and healthcare (5.1%) sectors. Moreover, sultan Qaboos University had the highest percentage of studies (21.5%), followed by Dhofar University (9.2%) and sohar University (9.2%). the number of female authors increased significantly over the years, going from two studies between 2000 and 2010 to 14 studies between 2016 and 2020, although male scholars still contributed more to hRM publications than female scholars over the years. the average number of authors per study also increased over the years. thus, it can be observed that hRM publications in Oman have contributed significantly to the body of knowledge in the field. Performance management in Oman utilises various methods, but employee feedback indicates flaws in their accuracy and development. therefore, further research is needed to explore the effectiveness of these methods in various sectors. training and development in Oman also face challenges related to needs analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. in the reviewed studies, issues such as the accuracy of training analysis, training design and content suitability, and lack of guidance and counselling were reported. although the effectiveness of some training courses was reported as well, there is a research gap in the area of training evaluation. compensation management in Oman requires more comparative analysis and a deeper exploration of relevant findings. Only three studies were found that highlighted the importance of factors such as salary, performance appraisal, and payment and promotion in improving employee motivation. Oman’s localisation policy was found to have varying degrees of success in different sectors, with positive changes for Omani women in certain sectors but barriers related to local training, compensation, social security, employee development, and working hours in others. successful predictors for Omanisation in certain industries were also identified, highlighting the challenges and opportunities for the Omanisation policy. employee motivation, engagement, job satisfaction, and commitment are influenced by factors such as pay, promotion, job security, recognition, working conditions, development opportunities, organisational culture, supervisory commitment, and training. hRM practices such as monetary compensation, work relations, and use of skills positively contribute to job satisfaction, while factors such as workload, responsibilities, and work activities negatively impact job satisfaction and lead to turnover. Furthermore, women in Oman face challenges in achieving work-life balance; therefore, organisations should address gender inequalities and promote equal opportunities for all employees. Personality traits such as agreeableness, conscientiousness, extroversion, and openness to experience were found to be positively related cOgent BUsiness & ManageMent 19 to team performance, while neuroticism was reported to have a negative impact. however, some studies were found to have limitations, such as small sample sizes and narrow geographic coverage, which limit the generalisability of their findings. thus, it is important to be aware of these limitations and the context-specific nature of these findings when considering their broader implications. therefore, Demographic factors such as gender diversity should also be considered when designing hRM practices, as effective hRM practices can have a positive impact on organisational performance, employee satisfaction, and retention. Moreover, challenges such as a lack of hR competency and knowledge as well as selective recruitment should be addressed. in Oman, hRM has been found to positively impact organisational performance, job satisfaction, and employee retention. Further, cultural and demographic factors should be considered when implementing Western hRM models in Oman, as hRM practices tailored to the local context and demographic factors are crucial. leadership in Oman is also influenced by cultural and contextual factors. the reviewed studies suggested that transformational and democratic leadership styles are generally more effective than autocratic leadership styles, although their effectiveness may vary depending on the context and specific organisational goals. the competencies of leaders are crucial in shaping employee performance and productivity. thus, the study provided a detailed implications for future research. 5. Conclusion the study aims to contribute in the understanding of hRM practices in Oman through a systematic literature review, exploring their effectiveness in enhancing organizational performance and relationships with various variables. Over the past 22 years, empirical studies have dominated hRM publications in Oman, with a noticeable increase in review/conceptual articles post-2011. Quantitative approaches are prevalent, followed by qualitative and mixed methods. education emerges as the primary sector for data collection, and sultan Qaboos University has the highest study percentage. While the number of female authors has increased, male scholars still contribute more to hRM publications. the study identifies challenges in hRM practices, emphasizing the need for further research. Performance management exhibits flaws in accuracy and development, training and development face issues in analysis, design, and content suitability, creating a research gap in training evaluation. compensation management requires more comparative analysis, and Oman’s localization policy exhibits varying success, particularly impacting Omani women. employee motivation, engagement, and job satisfaction are influenced by various factors, including organizational culture and training. however, limitations in some studies, such as small sample sizes and narrow geographic coverage, impact generalizability. the study advocates considering demographic factors, addressing hR competency challenges, and tailoring Western hRM models to Oman’s cultural context. Despite the positive impact of hRM on organizational performance, job satisfaction, and retention in Oman, challenges persist. the study recommends addressing gender inequalities, promoting equal opportunities, and considering cultural and demographic factors in hRM practices. leadership styles, influenced by cultural and contextual factors, are discussed, with a preference for transformational and democratic styles. 6. Implications to theory, practicality, and future research the implication to theory from this systematic review, refers to the dominance of empirical studies, particularly quantitative approaches. it indicates the significance of empirical research in shaping hRM practices in Oman. the identification of key factors influencing employee motivation, engagement, and satisfaction contributes to the theoretical understanding of hRM dynamics in the Omani context. Moreover, the recognition of limitations in existing studies emphasizes the need for more strong research methodologies and broader geographic coverage to enhance the generalizability of findings. Practically, this study highlights specific challenges and areas for improvement. Performance management, training and development, compensation management, and the effectiveness of Oman’s localisation policy emerge as critical focal points. Practitioners should pay attention to the reported flaws in 20 n. al haRRasi etal. performance management methods and address challenges in training and development processes. the insights on compensation management call for a more comparative analysis to inform better practices. the nuanced success of localization in different sectors suggests the need for tailored approaches. additionally, the study underscores the importance of considering demographic factors, such as gender diversity, when designing effective hRM practices in Oman. the identified research gaps facilitate the way for future research. areas such as training evaluation, comparative analysis in compensation management, and the impact of localization in different sectors offer rich avenues for further exploration. the study emphasizes the importance of addressing gender inequalities, understanding the impact of personality traits on team performance, and delving into the contextual factors influencing leadership styles. Future research should aim to overcome limitations, such as small sample sizes and narrow geographic coverage, to enhance the applicability of findings. Moreover, exploring the adaptability of Western hRM models to the Omani context and investigating the cultural and demographic factors shaping leadership effectiveness represent promising areas for future inquiry. 7. Limitation of the study • the study recognizes a limitation concerning the small sample sizes and restricted geographic coverage present in some of the analyzed studies. this limitation raises concerns about the generalizability of findings to broader contexts beyond the specific samples and geographic locations included. • the emphasis on the unique Omani context implies that certain hRM practices identified may be inherently tied to the specific cultural, economic, and social conditions of Oman. this contextual specificity limits the extrapolation of findings to dissimilar contexts.the study’s outcomes should be viewed through the lens of their relevance primarily to the Omani business environment. Disclosure statement the authors of this research paper declare no conflicts of interest. the research conducted independently, and no financial support received or relationships with organizations that impact the objectivity or integrity of the research. About the author Dr. Nasser Al Harrasi, a senior lecturer in Business studies at the University of technology and applied science-Muscat, is a distinguished expert in human Resources Management (hRM). a Fellow of the UK higher education academy and holder of a Ph.D. from Binary University, Malaysia, his diverse background includes over 10 years of collaboration with multinational corporations in Oman. Dr. al harrasi’s expertise spans teaching, consultancy, and corporate management. his research focuses on hRM Practices, Organization Behavior, and higher education. With a successful track record in attracting external funding, Dr. al harrasi leads and supervises research teams, contributing to numerous publications in the Journal of social science and Business Management. this paper aligns with his broader commitment to advancing knowledge in hRM practices, enriching both academia and corporate spheres. Ms. Badriya Al Balushi serves as a lecturer at the University of technology and applied science-Muscat. she has earned a Master’s degree in Business administration and information technology from Middle east college and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business administration with a specialization in Marketing from Majan college University college. her professional background is marked by diverse roles in various organizations, where she has made significant contributions to administration, management, and academia. Badriya has a keen interest in human Resources Development, Marketing, and entrepreneurship. she is actively involved in delivering workshops on topics such as effective cV creation, Job interview techniques, Marketing and Digital Branding, self-Development, and entrepreneurship and new Venture creation. Ms. Samira Al Khayari is an esteemed lecturer and researcher at the University of technology and applied science (Utas) in Oman. she possesses a Master of Business administration (MBa) with a focus on strategic human Development from the University of nizwa and a Bachelor’s degree in international Business administration from Utas. her experience spans over six years in teaching and research in higher education, where she specializes in various aspects of human resource management. her research interests encompass education, leadership, sustainability, performance management systems, organizational development, employee engagement, and training and development. samira is also renowned for her active participation in national and international conferences, which underscores her prominent position in the field of human resource management. cOgent BUsiness & ManageMent 21 Ms. Maryam Al Rashdi is a lecturer at Middle east college. she holds a master’s degree in Business administration from sultan caboos University and has obtained her bachelor’s degree in human Resource Management from University of technology and applied science-Muscat. she has worked in companies in different fields since 2014. 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