Firing Blanks? An Analysis of Discursive Struggle in HRM
用话语分析方法，探讨为何现代主义/实证主义的人力资源管理研究能成功构建其学科身份并嵌入学术话语，而批判研究者却难以有效反驳。
ABSTRACT We revisit Karen Legge's (2001 ) critique of HRM in which she argues that the attempt of modernist/positivist HRM research to show that HRM improves organizational performance is a ‘spent round’. We note that despite spirited challenges by Legge and others, the discourse of HRM is becoming increasingly dominant. Accordingly, we use discourse analysis to examine why this might be the case. Specifically, we analyse the texts produced in the engagement between Karen Legge and David Guest to show how modernist/positivist texts like those of Guest have been successful in constructing an identity for HRM and embedding it in the broader academic discourse concerning the employment relationship, while critical researchers like Legge face a number of difficulties in producing ‘counter‐texts’.