The HRD Intuition Dominance Cycle: A Process Theory of the Displacement of Evidence-Based HRD

Evidence-based and translational human resource development (HRD) seek to connect research with practice, yet availability does not ensure influence. This article develops the HRD Intuition Dominance Cycle, a four-stage, multilevel process explaining how research-based HRD evidence may lose influence after entering decision contexts. Experience-based intuition directs attention toward familiar cues; sensemaking privileges experience-consistent explanations; conflicting evidence may be discounted, reinterpreted, or dismissed; and repeatedly enacted, socially reinforced decisions may become organizational routines shaping subsequent framing. Time pressure and uncertainty amplify initial intuitive framing but are neither necessary nor sufficient for the Cycle. Intuition is not inherently inaccurate; displacement occurs when evidence loses its capacity to influence decisions independently of its consistency with prior experience. This post-translation knowledge-weighting mechanism connects individual cognition to organizational retention and feedback, extending evidence-based and translational HRD theory and identifying opportunities to interrupt displacement.