Editorial: April 2026 Issue

We are continuing to bring you articles of international interest to both scholars and practitioners in the areas of human resource development, people management, and beyond.We are particularly seeking HRD scholars doing research that generates instrumental knowledge for application and who want to get their published research findings into the world of practice, and evidence-based HRD/HRM professionals and managers who want to share their personal experiences of evidence-based practice.This month's issue is truly international, with research articles from Iran, Ghana, Sri Lanka, the UK, and the United States.The theory-practice nexus remains a critical feature of IJHRDPPR and in this issue, we have six research articles and three perspective articles, which bring together the identification of practice orientated challenges and solutions.Our first three articles in this issue concern using leadership to improve organizational performance.Hurtienne and Hurtienne explored Equity Leadership (EL) and its impact on employee engagement.Using thematic analysis of qualitative data, the authors found that there are three steps to synergizing the organization using EL: hiring for mission fit and EL capability; developing individual trusting relationships; and leveraging employee strengths.Hurtienne and Hurtienne's findings can be applied to leadership training to develop traits that will increase employee engagement.Alhassan and Bell explored Situational Leadership Theory (SLT) and its impact on staff development also using thematic analysis of qualitative data.The study's findings underscored the need of understanding context in choosing an SLT style when developing staff, especially when developing leadership training.Our third article by Halliday and Stewart used a unique analysis technique -Futures and Foresights Analysis (FFL) -to investigate leadership development of women.The authors concluded that influencing the direction of leadership development is a key challenge that HRD practitioners need to meet, and that FFL can help them do that.