The Mirages of Strategic Workforce Planning: A Critical Inquiry Into an Elusive HR Process

Jemine, Grégory; Roche, Fanny

doi:10.1111/1748-8583.70060

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The Mirages of Strategic Workforce Planning: A Critical Inquiry Into an Elusive HR Process

Jemine, Grégory; Roche, Fanny

In press • In Human Resource Management Journal

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https://hdl.handle.net/2268/347959

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10.1111/1748-8583.70060

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Keywords :

critical realism; HR strategy; implementation failure; strategic workforce planning; workforce forecasting; swp; planning

Abstract :

[en] Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP) has become a widely adopted HR process that aims to forecast workforce and skills changes in alignment with organizational strategy. Both academic and professional literature often assumes that SWP mechanically enhances HR efficiency and legitimacy, leading to increased organizational performance. However, this view overlooks the practical challenges that organizations face when implementing SWP. On these grounds, this paper investigates the mechanisms that constrain the implementation of SWP in organizations. Drawing on critical realism, we develop a stratified explanatory model that emphasizes SWP's structural contingency, procedural fragility, and political nature. We identified six interconnected mechanisms that explain why SWP projects fail to be realized in practice, providing a critical and pragmatic perspective on how SWP unfolds within organizations.

Research Center/Unit :

LENTIC - Laboratoire d'Études sur les Nouvelles Formes de Travail, l'Innovation et le Changement - ULiège

Disciplines :

Human resources management
Sociology & social sciences
General management, entrepreneurship & organizational theory

Author, co-author :

Jemine, Grégory ; Université de Liège - ULiège > HEC Liège Research > HEC Liège Research: Changing workplace and strategic HRM

Roche, Fanny; Faculty of Social Sciences, Université de Liège, Liège, Belgium

Language :

English

Title :

The Mirages of Strategic Workforce Planning: A Critical Inquiry Into an Elusive HR Process

Publication date :

In press

Journal title :

Human Resource Management Journal

ISSN :

0954-5395

eISSN :

1748-8583

Publisher :

John Wiley and Sons Inc

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/1748-8583.70060

Available on ORBi :

since 18 August 2026

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