AMO Research in HRM: Integrating AMO at the Individual and Organisational Level

Despite the increasing popularity of the Ability, Motivation, Opportunity (AMO) framework in the HRM field, AMO research is at a crossroads in terms of theoretical and empirical development. This is due to the lack of clarity about how ability, motivation and opportunity need to be combined to elicit employee and organizational performance. In this study we aim to understand the way in which AMO variables at the individual and organisational level interrelate within themselves and with each other, and affect performance. Based on the analysis of 74 quantitative HRM articles published between 1997 and 2021, as well as two seminal studies in the field (Blumberg and Pringle 1982; Jiang et al. 2012), this study helps to draw clearer distinctions among AMO variables and levels of analysis. The review of the empirical literature supports the assertion that opportunity operates at a different level of analysis than ability and motivation, and that it also affects performance differently. While ability and motivation mediate the relationship between AMO-enhancing HRM practices and employee performance, opportunity moderates the relationship between ability and motivation with performance. Furthermore, HRM practices can be conceptualized as opportunities when analyzing individual or team level performance. The findings are summarised in a multi-level AMO framework that opens several relevant avenues for future AMO research within the field of HRM.