Autoethnography as a Legitimate Approach to HRD Research

Abstract

I believe the field of human resource development (HRD) is missing out on the opportunity to expand our methodological approaches and ignoring the calls from others to be rebellious and look beyond our standard operating procedures. The purpose of this article is to provide an evocative “conversation” on autoethnography and to explain how HRD researchers might conduct and represent autoethnographic work. Autoethnographic methods are highly suited to the task of exploring organizational and everyday work phenomenon that can lead to the development of new theories of HRD. Through talking about the challenges associated with using an autoethnographic approach and how HRD scholars might assess such reflexive ethnography, I hope to encourage the use of rich, but neglected sources of less traditional approaches to qualitative inquiry.