Aoife McDermott

Dr Aoife McDermott is a Professor of Human Resource Management at Cardiff Business School.

Dr McDermott’s research interests concern the role of human resource management and change management in supporting service delivery and improvement through people, particularly in professional service and health/public sector contexts. She is particularly interested in employee expectations and experiences of work, employees’ responses to change and the role of the HR function in shaping/responding to these. She was coordinator of Cardiff Health Organisation and Policy Studies Group (CHOPS) from 2013-2019. Her work has been published in Human Resource Management, the International Journal of Human Resource Management, the British Journal of Management, Public Administration and the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory.

Dr McDermott previously worked as a Lecturer in Human Resource Management in Dublin City University. She received a BA (mod) in Business & Sociology from Trinity College Dublin, where she was awarded a gold medal. She completed her PhD as a Trinity Scholar and a Government of Ireland Research Scholar.

Publications

2019

• Humphries, N.et al. 2019. ‘Everything was just getting worse and worse’: Deteriorating job quality as a driver of doctor emigration from Ireland. Human Resources for Health 17, article number: 97. (10.1186/s12960-019-0424-y)
• Townsend, K. et al. eds. 2019. Elgar Introduction to Theories of Human Resources and Employment Relations. Elgar Introductions to Management and Organization Theory. Cheltenham,: Edward Elgar.
• Townsend, K.et al. 2019. Theories used in employment relations and human resource management. In: Townsend, K. et al. eds. Elgar Introduction to Theories of Human Resources and Employment Relations. Elgar Introductions to Management and Organization Theory Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 1-15.
• Ashworth, R. E., McDermott, A. M. and Currie, G. 2019. Theorizing from qualitative research in public administration: Plurality through a combination of rigor and richness. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 29(2), pp. 318-333. (10.1093/jopart/muy057)
• McDermott, A. M.et al. 2019. Performance management in context: Formative cross-functional performance monitoring for improvement and the mediating role of relational coordination in hospitals. International Journal of Human Resource Management 30, pp. 436-456. (10.1080/09585192.2017.1278714)
• Andrews, R., Beynon, M. and McDermott, A. 2019. Configurations of new public management reforms and the efficiency, effectiveness and equity of public healthcare systems: a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. Public Management Review 21(8), pp. 1236-1260. (10.1080/14719037.2018.1561927)

2018

• van Gestel, N.et al. 2018. Explaining the policy process underpinning public sector reform: The role of ideas, institutions and timing. Perspectives on Public Management and Governance 1(2), pp. 87-101. (10.1093/ppmgov/gvx020)
• Daunt, K. L. and McDermott, A. M. 2018. Authorship in action. In: Townsend, K. and Saunders, M. eds. How to Keep Your Research Project on Track: Insights From When Things Go Wrong. Edward Elgar Publishing

2017

• Costal Tirado, A.et al. 2017. Using patient-reported outcome measures for quality improvement in clinical genetics: an exploratory study. Journal of Genetic Counseling 26(5), pp. 1017-1028. (10.1007/s10897-017-0079-6)
• Fitzgerald, L. and McDermott, A. M. 2017. Challenging perspectives on organizational change in health care. Routledge Studies in Health Management. Routledge.
• Kitchener, M., McDermott, A. and Cooper, S. 2017. Critical healthcare management studies: green shoots. Journal of Health Organization and Management 31(5), pp. 530-541. (10.1108/JHOM-07-2017-0187)
• McDermott, A., Kitchener, M. and Exworthy, M. eds. 2017. Managing improvement in healthcare attaining, sustaining and spreading quality. Organizational Behaviour in Health Care. Charn, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. (10.1007/978-3-319-62235-4)

2016

• McDermott, A. M. and Conway, E. 2016. Organisational change and human resource management. In: Wilkinson, A., Redman, T. and Dundon, T. eds. Contemporary Human Resource Management: Text and Cases., Vol. 5th Ed. Harlow: Pearson, pp. 374-406.
• Andrews, R. W., Beynon, M. J. and McDermott, A. 2016. Organizational capability in the public sector: a configurational approach. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 26(2), pp. 239-258. (10.1093/jopart/muv005)
• McDermott, A. M. and Pedersen, A. R. 2016. Conceptions of patients and their roles in healthcare: insights from everyday practice and service improvement. Journal of Health Organisation and Management 30(2), pp. 194-206. (10.1108/JHOM-10-2015-0164)

2015

• McDermott, A.et al. 2015. Scotland ‘Bold and Brave’? Conditions for creating a coherent national healthcare quality strategy. In: Boch Waldorff, S. et al. eds. Managing Change: From Health Policy to Practice. Organizational Behaviour in Health Care Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 189-205.
• McDermott, A. M.et al. 2015. Me, us and them? From bipartite to tripartite devolved HRM in professional service contexts: evidence from hospitals in three countries. Human Resource Management 54(5), pp. 813-831. (10.1002/hrm.21728)
• McDermott, A. M.et al. 2015. Hybrid healthcare governance for improvement? combining top-down and bottom-up approaches to public sector regulation. Public Administration 93(2), pp. 324-344. (10.1111/padm.12118)
• McDermott, A. M. 2015. Context. In: Flood, P. and Freeney, Y. eds. Organizational Behavior (3rd ed.). Wiley Encyclopedia of Management Vol. 11. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 1-2., (10.1002/9781118785317.weom110007)

2014

• McDermott, A. M. and Keating, M. A. 2014. HRM in healthcare: a focus on the hospital sector. In: Harney, B. and Monks, K. eds. Strategic HRM: Research and Practice in Ireland. Dublin: Orpen Press, pp. 191-208.

2013

• Keating, M. A., McDermott, A. M. and Montgomery, K. eds. 2013. Patient-centred health care: Achieving co-ordination, communication and innovation. Organizational Behaviour in Health Care. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. (10.1057/9781137308931)
• McDermott, A. M., Heffernan, M. and Beynon, M. J. 2013. When the nature of employment matters in the employment relationship: a cluster analysis of the psychological contract and organizational commitment in the non-profit sector. International Journal of Human Resource Management 24(7), pp. 1490-1518. (10.1080/09585192.2012.723635)
• McDermott, A. M.et al. 2013. Promoting effective psychological contracts through leadership: the missing link between HR strategy and performance. Human Resource Management 52(2), pp. 289-310. (10.1002/hrm.21529)
• McDermott, A. M., Fitzgerald, L. and Buchanan, D. A. 2013. Beyond acceptance and resistance: entrepreneurial change agency in policy implementation. British Journal of Management 24(S1), pp. S93-S115. (10.1111/1467-8551.12012)
• McDermott, A. M. and Keating, M. A. 2013. Managing people to manage care: From patient to people-centredness at OHBC 2012 [Guest Editorial]. Journal of Health Organization and Management 27(3), pp. 292-295.

2012

• Beynon, M. J., McDermott, A. M. and Keating, M. A. 2012. Qualitative comparison analysis: an example analysis of clinical directorates and resource management. In: Moutinho, L. and Huarng, K. H. eds. Quantitative Modelling in Marketing and Management. London: World Scientific
• McDermott, A. M. and O'Riordan, C. 2012. Clinical-managers in the primary-care sector: do the benefits stack up?. Journal of Health Organisation and Management 26(5)
• McDermott, A. M. and Keating, M. A. 2012. Making service improvement happen: the importance of social context. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science 48(1), pp. 62-92. (10.1177/0021886310388939)
• McDermott, A. M., Keating, M. A. and Beynon, M. J. 2012. Affording discretion in how policy objectives are achieved: lessons from clinician involvement in managerial decision making. In: Dickinson, H. and Mannion, R. eds. The Reform of Health Care : Shaping, Adapting and Resisting Policy Developments. Organizational Behaviour in Health Care Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 51-62.
• Beynon, M. J., Heffernan, M. and McDermott, A. M. 2012. Psychological contracts and job satisfaction: clustering analysis using evidential c-means and comparison with other techniques. Intelligent Systems in Accounting, Finance and Management 19(4), pp. 247-273. (10.1002/isaf.1334)

2011

• McDermott, A. M., Kidney, R. and Flood, P. 2011. Understanding leader development: learning from leaders. Leadership & Organization Development Journal 32(4), pp. 358-378. (10.1108/01437731111134643)
• McDermott, A. M. and Keating, M. 2011. Managing professionals: exploring the role of the hospital HR function. Journal of Health Organisation and Management 25(6), pp. 677-692. (10.1108/14777261111178556)

2010

• McDermott, A. M. and Flood, P. eds. 2010. Leadership in Ireland: insights from contemporary Irish leaders in the public, private and voluntary sectors. Dublin: Blackhall Publishing.

2009

• McDermott, A. M. and Keating, M. A. 2009. Creating a climate for service improvement through role structures. In: Braithwaite, J., Hyde, P. and Pope, C. eds. Culture and Climate in Health Care Organizations. Organizational Behaviour in Health Care Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 174-184.
• Coghlan, D. and McDermott, A. M. 2009. Creating value for scholars and practitioners: lessons from organizational development through action research and the processual approach. In: Brogger, B. and Eikeland, O. eds. Turning to practice with action research. Labour, education & society Vol. 15. Frankfurt: Peter Lang, pp. 217-231.

2008

• McDermott, A. M., Coghlan, D. and Keating, M. 2008. Research for action and research in action. Processual and action research in dialogue?. Irish Journal of Management 29(1), pp. 1-18.