7. Defining HRM Process
The HRM process approach had its debut with Bowen and Ostroff (2004, see also Ostroff& Bowen, 2000); therefore, it is common to find these authors in most of our selected papers (it is the cornerstone in nine out of 15, but it is also mentioned in the remaining six articles). Other relevant works referencing the process approach include Nishii et al. (2008), Sanders et al. (2008), and Delmotte et al. (2012). Although most papers use Bowen and Ostroff's concept of HRM strength, some other articles look at employees' attributions and interpretations of their surrounding environments. Process variables (namely, HRM strength) are mainly used as independent (in five of the empirical studies), where employees' final behaviors are the dependent ones. In a few cases, process variables are either used as dependent or as mediating variables.