The evolution of HR governance: A systematic review and integrative framework for future research

Human resource (HR) governance has become an increasingly salient domain of inquiry, yet scholarship on the topic remains fragmented across disciplines and perspectives. To consolidate and advance understanding, this paper presents a systematic review of 43 peer-reviewed studies published between 2003 and 2025. The review shows that HR governance consistently converges on four interdependent governance dimensions-accountability, transparency, compliance, and strategic alignment-but that these have been theorized and operationalized unevenly across contexts, levels, and methods. Tracing the development of the field, we identify five dominant orientations in its intellectual evolution: early normative and compliance debates, institutionalization and legitimacy through governance codes, theoretical consolidation and conceptual clarification, disruption through digitalization, and, most recently, the emergence of an ecosystem perspective. Building on these insights, the paper develops an integrative framework that positions HR governance as a multi-dimensional and interdependent governance system located at the intersection of corporate governance and strategic HRM. The framework clarifies the conceptual backbone of HR governance while underscoring its importance for organizational legitimacy and performance by demonstrating how accountability, transparency, compliance, and strategic alignment operate as jointly necessary but individually insufficient dimensions of a coherent governance architecture. Finally, we outline a forward-looking research agenda that emphasizes cross-national comparison, multi-level and dynamic theorizing, deeper engagement with digitalization and algorithmic accountability, and stronger integration with ESG and HR analytics. In doing so, the paper establishes HR governance as a strategic governance capability and sets a clear agenda for advancing both scholarship and practice in the governance of people.