Commentary on Han et al.’s meta-analytic work on high-investment human resource practices: through the 3P lens for workforce management

Abstract

Han, Kang, Allen and Pan’s (2026) meta-analysis integrates human capital resources (HCR) theory and institutional theory to examine how educational systems and labor market institutions jointly influence the effectiveness of high-investment human resource practices (HIHRPs). Contrary to their theoretical prediction, low–low educational system and labor market configurations relate to firm performance as positively as high–high configurations do, and that puzzle remains unresolved. This combination describes the institutional profile of many host economies, which makes it an international business problem: should multinational enterprises transfer their HIHRPs abroad or adapt to local practice? This commentary outlines substitution effects, drawn from the institutional voids literature and organizational support theory, as an alternative mechanism that may better account for its effect. We reflect that theoretical parsimony, while elegant, could oversimplify and obscure complex phenomena that span multiple levels of analysis, the types of topics that strategic international human resource management (SIHRM) aims to research. We then propose a people–places–practices (3P) lens to note the theoretical directions Han et al.’s work addresses and those it leaves for future work. The commentary illustrates how deliberate theory integration, guided by the specific research question and institutional context, can enhance explanatory power in SIHRM research.