The AMO Model: Broadening our Sight to New Avenues for Research

The Ability, Motivation and Opportunity (AMO) model has been extensively adopted in HRM research to explain the complex relationship between people management and performance outcomes. To do so, HRM scholars have characterized individuals by their abilities, motivation and the opportunities they received to understand individual performance (Bos-Nehles, Van Riemdijk, & Looise, 2013; Kellner, Townsend, Wilkinson, Lawrence, & Greenfield, 2016). while at the organizational level, HRM scholars use three dimensions of HRM systems – ability-enhancing, motivation-enhancing and opportunity-enhancing HRM practices – to understand their effect on organizational performance (Boon, Den Hartog, & Lepak, 2019; Jiang, Lepak, Hu, & Baer, 2012; Lepak, Liao, Chang, & Harden, 2006). Some scholars have started to combine both approaches to comprehend how AMO-enhancing HRM practices influence the AMO of individuals and improve performance (Beltrán-Martín, & Bou-Llusar, 2018; Edgar, Zhang, & Blaker, 2019; Jiang, Lepak, Han, Hong, Kim, & Winkler, 2012). Within these attempts at theoretical development of AMO, Kellner, Cafferkey and Townsend (2019) identify inherent problems with the way AMO is operationalized in research, which they argue, limits theoretical development of the concept. This PDW involves scholars who have advanced the AMO debate in HRM research to discuss how we can “broaden our sight” to better conceptualize and measure AMO factors and implement them in such a way that they yield better organizational and individual outcomes. Equally, there will be discussion on integrating AMO research from various levels of analysis, and developing new avenues for AMO research by considering the role of line managers in AMO implementation.