Strategic Human Resource Practices and Organizational Change: A Conceptual Framework of Leadership Mediation in SMEs

Abstract

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have to successfully handle organizational change in an ever dynamic business environment to remain competitive and be able to deliver in the long run. The study seeks to formulate a conceptual framework that will examine the connection between strategic human resource practices and organizational change with special emphasis on the mediating aspect of leadership. Based on the Resource-Based View (RBV) and Transformational Leadership Theory, the research theorizes strategic human resource practices as a multidimensional construct that includes recruiting talent, compensation systems, employee engagement, training and development, and employee motivation. The conceptual research design was the systematic review of the newest literature (2020–2025) that has been adopted to synthesize the existing knowledge and reveal the key relationships among the study variables. The results indicate that the strategic human resource practices have a great role in boosting organizational change through improvement of employee capabilities, commitment, and adaptability. Nonetheless, the correlation is not that direct as leadership is also a key mediating factor that allows implementing these practices effectively and defining how employees will react to change programs. This research adds value to literature by combining the human resource management and leadership theories in a single framework and provides a better insight on organizational change in SMEs. In practical terms, the results emphasize the fact that SME managers should be able to match HR practices with effective leadership to enhance positive change results. The proposed framework is advised to be tested empirically in future studies and to consider other contextual variables that can potentially affect such relationships.