Theory Building in Applied Disciplines

In light of the recent calls for increased theory building in Chinese human resource management research, this text will serve as a particularly useful resource for understanding, developing and advancing theories. In his recent editorial on Chinese human resource management (HRM) research, Wang (2012) has called for more focused theory building research around several critical Chinese organizational phenomena, specifically through indigenous methods. Rather than imposing organization development (OD) or HRM methods established to fit one context, this process works from the ground up, generating theories from within the lived experiences of those closest to them.