Purpose: This paper seeks to address the recent challenges in the international human resource development (HRD) research and the related methodological strategy. Design/methodology/approach: This inquiry is based on a survey of literatures and integrates various comparative research strategies adopted in other major social science disciplines. Findings: Based on comparative strategies found in other disciplines, the authors propose a framework to advance comparative HRD research and theory development. Research limitations/implications: The proposed framework emphasizes methodological consistency in HRD research and improving the relevance and rigor in theory development. It also highlights the required qualities of comparative researchers. Originality/value: This is an initial effort in analyzing the emerging comparative HRD literature for an alternative framework to advance methodological research on HRD theory building. (Contains 1 table and 1 figure.)