For more than a decade, in collaboration with Mark Huselid at Rutgers, my research interests have focused on the relationship between HR systems and firm performance. This work has focused on the strategic role that HR decisions can play in an organization, and has contributed empirical support for the emerging area of Strategic Human Resources Management.

Selected Publications

Mark A. Huselid and Brian E. Becker (2011).  Bridging Micro and Macro Domains: Workforce
Differentiation and Strategic Human Resource Management. Journal of Management (Special Issue), 37(2), 421-428.

Brian E. Becker and Mark A. Huselid (2010), "SHRM and Job Design: Narrowing the Divide", Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 31, 379-388.

Brian E. Becker and Mark A. Huselid (2006), "Strategic Human Resource Management: Where Do We Go from Here?", Journal of Management, Vol. 32, (December), pp. 898-925. (2011 JOM Scholarly Impact Award)

Mark Huselid and Brian E. Becker (2000), " Comment on Measurement Error in Research on Human Resources and Firm Performance: How Much Error Is There and How Does it Influence Effect Size Estimates? by Gerhart, Wright, McMahan and Snell.", Personnel Psychology, Vol. 53, 4 (Winter), pp. 835-854..

Brian E. Becker and Mark Huselid (1998), "Human Resources Strategies, Complementarities and Firm Performance"

Brian Becker and Mark Huselid (1998), "High Performance Work Systems and Firm Performance: A Synthesis of Research and Managerial Implications", Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, (Greenwich: JAI Press), Vol. 16, pp. 53-101.

Becker, Brian E. and Barry Gerhart. "Human Resources and Organizational Performance: Progress and Prospects."Academy of Management Journal (special issue: Human Resources and Organizational Performance), August 1996, vol. 39, 4, pp. 779-801.

Huselid, M.A. and Becker, Brian E. "Methodological Issues in Cross-Sectional and Panel Estimates of the Human Resource-Firm Performance Link." Industrial Relations, Vol. 35, no. 3 (1996), pp. 400-422.

Becker, Brian E., "Union Rents as a Source of Takeover Gains Among Target Shareholders," Industrial Labor Relations Review, Vol. 49, No. 1, (October, 1995): 3-19.

Becker, Brian E., and Craig A. Olsen. "Unions and Firm Profits." Industrial Relations, Vol. 31, No. 3, (Fall 1992): 395-415.

Becker, Brian E. and Mark A. Huselid. "The Incentive Effects of Tournament Compensation Systems," Administrative Science Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 2. (1992): 336-350.