Underlying Paradigms of Community Development: HRD Perspectives

Abstract

The field of human resource development (HRD) is evolving and the scope is getting wider. Today community development is becoming a popular topic which is explored in the context of HRD. Community development and HRD are two fields which emerged from multiple disciplines, and it is inherently needed to explore by multiple paradigms. This paper aims to present a critical literature review on different philosophical paradigms of community development in the context of HRD. A recent literature review demonstrated that action research is the most popular research method used in community development; hence, action research is discussed from epistemological point of view. In addition, critical theory, feminist theory, and race theory were discussed to explore the paradigms in relation to community development and HRD.