Firm Size and Recruitment

Firm size and recruitment: staffing practices in small and large organisations in north Cyprus

Cem Tanova Faculty of Business and Economics, Eastern Mediterranean University, Gazimagusa, Turkey

Keywords

Recruitment, Small to medium-sized enterprises, Cyprus, Human resource management

Introduction

In both developed and developing countries small firms comprise a significant share of employers. However, human resource management (HRM) research has generally focussed only on large organisations (Barber et al., 1999). Particularly in research on recruitment, small firms are overlooked. Even though effective recruitment is consistently cited as a key factor influencing the success of small firms (Karpuzog Ælu, 2001; Williamson, 2000; Tanova, 1999), a review by Williamson (2000) of all the articles published in three academic journals that publish HRM research revealed that only seven of the 207 articles that addressed recruitment, personnel selection and hiring issues focussed on small firms or used small firms in their sample. What we learn from recruitment research conducted using large firms may not be applicable to small firms. There are empirical and theoretical reasons to expect differences in recruitment practices between small and large firms. The scarcity of research on small firms limits our ability to provide HRM advice to small firms. Furthermore, without a clear understanding of HRM and recruitment in small firms, we cannot provide guidance to those graduates who may prefer positions in small firms. This may be of particular importance in countries such as north Cyprus, where there are now fewer job opportunities in large public-sector companies, forcing graduates to look for positions in smaller, privately-owned organisations. Cultural differences may limit the implementation of some HRM practices. Many HRM practices developed in the Western world have been considered universally applicable and have been

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