Human capital is dead; Long live human capital resources is an article written by Ployhar, Nyberg, Reilly, and Maltarich, issued in the Journal of Management in 2014. In the paper, the authors reconceptualized the idea of human capital resources, differentiating their approach from the common theory of human capital. According to the authors’ idea, human capital consists of individuals or units characterized by different aspects, such as skills and knowledge.
After researching the existing definition of the term human capital resources, the authors were able to distinguish three primary elements contributing to the topic of human capital resources: their structure, functions, and level. Through the differentiating process, the authors separated knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) from individual differences and human capital resources from the human capital (Ployhar et al., 2014). The article also provides information about multiple types of existing human capital resources on both collective and individual levels. The authors state that significant distinctions of these types are more diverse in practice than suggested by their historical specifications.
The article’s main contribution to the topic of human resources capital is the authors’ suggestion that several types of human capital resources at both individual and collective levels could be combined. Therefore, different types of human capital resources could be used in a firm to attain a more complex and thorough strategy that is specific to the firm and the market that it operates in. The framework constructed by the authors includes several aspects of human capital resources and presents a fresh multidisciplinary perspective. Moreover, it provides valuable input on how combinations of different types of human resources capital could be used to establish a broader understanding of human capital.
Reference
Ployhard, R. E., Nyberg, A. J., Reilly, G., & Maltarich, M. A. (2014). Human capital is dead; Long live human capital resources!Journal of Management, 4(2), 371-398.