Brian is a Doctoral Candidate in Human Resource Management at the Institute with a special focus on Sustainable HRM and the societal impact of HRM.
He is particularly interested in how an “outside-in”, pro-welfare, Common-Good perspective with an increased focus on democratic governance, employee participation and wider stakeholder inclusion influences the attempt of HRM to address the multi-level challenge of sustainability.
His research is strongly influenced and embedded in the tradition of Critical Theory, characterized by reflexivity and the critique of established assumptions, with the declared goal of human emancipation and societal transformation. He however holds a pluralistic mindset which attempts to integrate both explanatory and normative narratives and which recognizes the value of multi-disciplinary dialogue, collaboration and diversity of viewpoints.
In addition, he considers HRM as an established applied science, uniquely positioned as an organizational function, which is however increasingly pressured from a dramatically changing  business environment driven by a process of social-acceleration and reflective modernization.
As a result, he takes a pragmatic, problem-focused, action-orientated approach to achieve the aim of making HRM more sustainable and suitable to meet the “Grand Challenges” (unemployment, inequality, human rights, climate change), of our times.
Finally, his research is motivated by a desire to address a perceived increasing trend within the discipline of HRM towards psychologization and promotionalism, a widening gap between HRM theory and practice, and a discrepancy between the potential of HRM and actual sustainable progress. His research and teaching is therefore critically positioned around the central question: How can HRM policy, strategies and practices be reframed in terms of a contribution to the Common-Good?

Teaching:
Personalentwicklung in Krisenzeiten

Selected Publications:

Common Good HRM: A paradigm shift in Sustainable HRM?
I Aust, B Matthews, M Muller-Camen
Human Resource Management Review 30 (3), 100705

Transformationen im Personalmanagement: Die Beispiele Sonnentor und Tele Haase
M Müller-Camen, J Weibler, B Matthews, C Riess
Chancen und Grenzen der Nachhaltigkeitstransformation, 79-93

Competing paradigms: Status quo and alternative approaches in HRM
B Matthews, L Obereder, I Aust, M Müller-Camen
Contemporary Developments in Green Human Resource Management Research, 116-134

Employee Capabilities, Workplace Resonance, and Common-Good HRM
B Matthews, M Muller-Camen
Academy of Management Proceedings 2022 (1), 13376