Human Resource Management rules and practices in the health sector : Why do disconnected forms of social regulation persist ?

International audience; This systematic review of the academic literature since 1994 on the application of HRM rules in health care sheds light on the persistence of gaps between institutional norms and standards related to human resource management (HRM) procedures and the actual practices in organizations. Contrary to the affirmation of Scandinavian institutionalism, “translation” processes do not eliminate “controversies”, nor put an end to “decoupling”. The very grounds of new public management (NPM) are brought under question. Though not well known among English-speaking academics, Reynaud’s theory of social regulation opens the way toward explaining this phenomenon and challenges neoinstitutional theory, which is much too deterministic and centered on “isomorphism”. A “disconnected” (or “disjointed”) form of regulation explains the persistence of the gap between institutional norms and organizational rules. A model of social regulation is proposed that opens onto new avenues of research.