Customer Involvement Crucial for HRM?

The research topics HRM and customer involvement are usually investigated separately. On the one hand, research shows that the spectrum of roles and functions of customers as key company stakeholders has changed dramatically in the last few years. In service companies, now more than ever, customers becoming active players, which can exert significant influence especially on customer contact employees. On the other hand, HRM research concentrates so far primarily on the relationships and configurations within organizations that lead to optimal human resource architecture, and not beyond organizational boundaries. The analysis of the interrelatedness of this two research topics shows that customers can actually significantly influence the success of a company's HRM. If the objective of the HRM function is to adapt and add value to the organization, it has to rethink its concepts to include new factors relevant to the organization. Corresponding implications and future directions for practice and research are outlined.