Abstract
This paper reviews existing Japanese human resource management (HRM) research that was published in 10 top-tier management journals from 1970 to 2007. Articles that were categorized as Japanese HRM research, ranging from macro HRM to micro organizational behavior (OB) papers that deal with Japanese organizations and/or employees as a research context or sample, were analyzed quantitatively by counting papers depending on several characteristics, including year of publication, research topics and context, and methodological approaches and so forth. The article count results over the total of 98 published articles related to Japanese HRM provide readers with evidence on how Japanese HRM research has evolved during the past four decades. The fmdings of this study are used to discuss directions for future Japanese HRM research that seem to have special potential for making contributions to the major international academic journals.
