How to seek help? A systematic literature review of help-seeking practices in organizations

This paper explores how socio-technical theory can offer an effective interpretive lens for understanding help-seeking behavior within contemporary organizations. Through a systematic review of 93 papers, we identify how existing research tends to focus predominantly on social and organizational factors, often neglecting the role of technical systems. Responding to this gap, our study aims to address the following question: How do help-seeking behaviours manifest across organizational contexts, and how are they shaped by the interplay between social and technical subsystems, particularly in evolving work models? The results reveal a strong emphasis on the social subsystem, while the technical dimension remains underrepresented. Based on our findings, we also propose an expanded socio-technical framework that introduces the managerial subsystem as a central coordinating element, aligning social and technical dynamics to foster effective help-seeking. Our conceptual contribution offers new directions for theory and practice in human resource management, particularly in light of digital transformation, evolving organizational structures and remote work.