The Role of Recruitment and Selection Practices in the Organizational Performance of Iraqi Oil and Gas Sector: A Brief Literature Review

Oil and gas sector forms the backbone of Iraqi economy with more than 80 percent of all businesses in Iraq related to oil and gas. The sector also employs a bulk of the workforce, playing a crucial part in economic and social development in Iraq. Therefore, the health of this vital sector is very important to up keep the health of the overall economy. However, for the past two decades, this sector has shown a sluggish growth and performance in achieving the expected goals. Many businesses seem to have gone out of business due to various reasons but mainly due to lack of competent workforce. The firms entering into businesses are much less as compared to firms going out of business. One of the reasons for the high rate of business failures among oil & gas sector is due to its lack of attention on the human resource aspects. Therefore, the broader objective of this study is to review the role of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) practices in oil & gas related firms in Iraq. Specifically, this study attempts to review the relationship between recruiting and selection practices and firm performance in oil & gas sector Search depends in test hypotheses on the theoretical analysis in the study of the relationship between recruitment and selection and organizational performance in the Iraqi oil and gas sector. Based on the literature review, a strong relationship between recruitment & selection and firm performance of oil and gas sector in Iraq is found. Therefore, the researchers hereby recommends future research in the field of study to deeply look into the role HRM practices in iraqi oil and gas sector.