Robert Owen as an Undervalued Pioneer of Human Resource Management: Research Gap Based on State-of-the-art and Systematic Literature Reviews

Objective: The aim of the article is to diagnose whether there is a research gap in the work from the last two decades (on Robert Owen’s achievements) related to Owen’s contribution to the emergence of human resource management (HRM). Research Design & Methods: I followed a state-of-the-art review (SotA) and a systematic literature review (SLR). Findings: Robert Owen is widely recognised as a utopian socialist and/or one of the pioneers of management. He is also one of the first who underlined the importance of an organisation’s human resources. Nevertheless, I noticed that researchers underestimate Owen’s contribution to the development of human resource management, and their works do not devote much space to Owen’s achievements related to this subdiscipline of management. The results of the reviews prove the interdisciplinarity and multicontextual nature of Owen’s ideas, while highlighting the research gap related to his achievements in the field of HRM. Implications / Recommendations: I suggest that studies on Owen should be carried out by HRM experts, as they know the details of this subdiscipline best. Even if business history knowledge does not play a crucial role in management practice, knowledge of the origin of management methods and techniques may help HR managers to correctly apply them in organisations. Contribution: The article is one of the few (if not the only) in which texts devoted to Owen and his achievements in the field of HRM are analysed through SLR. It can be a source of inspiration for scientists, management teachers, and students who are looking for an insufficiently recognised research topic.