2. Statement Sorting and Rating: The 44 HR competencies were used in an anonymous online
questionnaire conducted in New Zealand to assess the HR competency requirements in different HR
role and organisational contexts. The questionnaire was administrated using the Concept System (CS)
Web-based interface. First, respondents were asked to indicate the degree of strategic orientation of
their roles on a 7-point Likert Scale, where 1 = mostly functional, 4 = an even mix between strategic
and functional, and 7 = mostly strategic. Respondents with ratings of 1 to 3 were categorised as
mainly functionally oriented, those with a rating of 4 were categorised as evenly mixed between
functional and strategic HR roles, and the remaining was categorised as strategically oriented. Then,
respondents were asked to sort the 44 HR competencies based on common themes and rate the
importance of each competency in relation to effective performance in their current role and
organisation. A 7-point Likert-type scale was used for measuring the HR competency ratings, where
1= not at all important, 4= moderately important and 7= highly important.
63 New Zealand HR practitioners completed the concept mapping questionnaire. The sample
included both HR generalists and specialists in various roles, with 39% in mainly functional HR roles,
26% in evenly mixed functional and strategic roles, and the balance (35%) weighted towards strategic
HR roles. Respondents’ organisational size ranged from 5 to 120,000 employees, with a median of
451.