Developing an Integrative International Human Resource Model: The contribution of Chinese Multinational Enterprises

This study develops an integrative international human resource IHRM framework in Chinese MNEs mainly by examining the relationship between the intervening factors and IHRM policies and practices. It confirms that IHRM is associated with a variety of contextual and firm-specific factors, including political, legal, economic, socio-cultural factors, international strategy, organizational structure, organizational culture, stage and mode of internationalization, type and niche of industry, international experience, size of international operation, the reliance on international markets and top management perceptions of home HRM systems. These factors have differentiated impact and are changing over time. It also explores the impact of IHRM policy and practice on each other, arguing that there is interplay between IHRM policies and practices.     

Less speed more haste: The effect of crisis response speed and information strategy on the consumer−brand relationship

This paper investigates the relationship between firm crisis behavior and the resulting consumer–brand relationship (CBR) response. Drawing from theoretical traditions in brand transgressions, service failure, and crisis communications, we use longitudinal survey data combined with archival social media data to empirically test the effect of crisis response speed and crisis information strategy on the short-term consumer crisis response evaluations (1 month after crisis response), and the long-term CBR (1 year after crisis response). Results show that, contrary to intuitive expectations, a faster firm response is not always better, as a slower response was found to result in higher crisis response evaluations. We also show that this effect depends on the consistency of the communication strategy with the first active response. Specifically, when a firm prioritizes safety information (instructing strategy), a faster response is better. Whereas, when the firm prioritizes well-being information (adjusting strategy), a slower response is better. We argue the counterintuitive finding that a slower response is better implies that reacting too quickly may signal rashness and unpreparedness to the customer, leading to more negative evaluations. We term this distinction the difference between being responsive (fast but considered) and reactive (faster but rash).     

Developing a culturally synergistic approach to international human resource management

This paper offers international human resource (IHR) professionals guidelines how to decide which IHRM approach to choose. In choosing among an adaptive, exportive, or integrated IHR approach, IHR managers may want to consider three decision criteria, e.g. forces for global integration and local adaptation, the cultural component of HRM, and the power dynamics within the MNC. To develop an organization that values cultural differences, IHR professionals may choose a culturally synergistic approach to IHRM. This approach has the potential of designing new combinations of HRM practices and simultaneously attends to the three decision criteria.     

New perspectives on human resource management in a global context

In the past three decades or so, globalization/regionalization, migration and reverse migration (also referred to as “brain circulation”), the ascendancy of emerging markets, the demand for people with a global mindset, and the worldwide war for talent have brought about fundamental changes to the nature, magnitude, and raison d’etre for human resource management (HRM) in a global context. These changes require us to adopt new lenses to fully understand the dynamics that impact international human resource management (IHRM) policies and practices. This paper presents new perspectives on IHRM as they relate to research on multicultural teams under the three dimensions of diversity (separation, variety, and disparity) posited by Harrison and Klein (2007), and brain circulation in the context of movement of peoples across countries. These perspectives go toward the traditional approach of studying expatriates, whether company-sponsored or self-initiated assignments. The paper discusses how these new perspectives can set the agenda for future research on IHRM.     

Enhancing frontline employee support during a product-harm crisis: Evidence and strategic managerial implications for firms

Product-harm crises can negatively affect a firm's corporate image, reputation, and credibility. This research investigates antecedents and factors that can impact the extent to which frontline employees will be supportive of their organization when the firm faces such a crisis. Leveraging social exchange theory and its focus on reciprocal exchanges, we theorize and test processes using regression models, which shed light on how managers can solicit employee support during crises situations by providing the frontline employees with ethical and supportive working conditions. To offer convergent validity across multiple methodologies, we also test the influence of experimental effects of the relative severity of a crisis and whether a firm was quick or slow in its response on frontline employee support. Furthermore, our research demonstrates that the firm's strengths in corporate social responsibility, the employees' organizational citizenship behavior, and employee organizational identification serially mediate the supportive relationship, which provides a unique contribution to the marketing literature. Finally, we provide managerial implications to further enhance frontline employee support.     

The Role of Political Intelligence in Firms’ Export Decisions During the Euro Crisis

Inspired by the literatures on internationalization and absorptive capacity, we develop a model exploring how small firms—during crises—acquire and apply political information to export decisions. We test our model using data collected during the 2012 Eurozone crisis from a sample of 440 British, French, and Swedish SMEs. Findings indicate that firms dependent on the Eurozone for exports and heavily impacted by the crisis engaged in frequent political monitoring. In turn, frequent monitoring leads to the development of formal routines for exploiting political information. Firms with the most formal routines sought new export opportunities beyond the Eurozone. In contrast to previous research into small‐firm internationalization, our study stresses the significance of “shortcut” searching activities, non‐market information, and firms’ decisions to reduce prior investments in export markets.     

The great trade collapse and the Spanish export miracle: Firm‐level evidence from the crisis

We provide novel evidence on the microstructure of international trade during the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent global recession by exploring a rich firm‐level data set from Spain. The focus of our analysis is on changes at the extensive and intensive firm‐level margins of trade, as well as on performance differences (jobs, productivity and firm survival) across firms that differ in their export status. We find no adverse effects of the financial crisis on foreign market entry or exit, but a considerable increase in the export intensity of firms after the financial crisis. Moreover, we find that exporters were more resilient to the crisis than non‐exporters. Finally, while exporters showed a significantly more favourable development of total factor productivity after 2009 than non‐exporters, aggregate productivity declined substantially in a large number of industries in Spanish manufacturing. We also briefly explore two factors that might help explain the surprisingly strong export performance of Spain in the aftermath of the great trade collapse: improved aggregate competitiveness due to internal and external devaluation and a substitutive relationship between domestic and foreign sales at the firm level.     

Public Relations Autonomy, Legal Dominance, and Strategic Orientation as Predictors of Crisis Communicative Strategies

This article investigates the factors affecting how public relations autonomy, legal dominance, and strategic orientation affect crisis communicative response in corporate contexts. Communication managers, crisis managers, public affairs managers, and/or public relations managers were solicited from Taiwan’s top 500 companies to participate in a survey. The results revealed that, in contrast to public relations autonomy being the strongest and sole predictor of concession strategy, legal dominance could predict defensive and diversionary responses in crisis events. The article concludes with a discussion of practical applications and theoretical implications.     

Changes and continuities in South Korean HRM

The operating context of South Korean human resource management (HRM) has undergone radical shifts since we wrote our first piece in 1997 for a similar collection to this. This has undoubtedly influenced the practice of HRM. Therefore, the focus of this piece is to compare the current situation with the past and delineate the amount and type of such change vis-à-vis continuity in HRM. The contextual factors and issues, political and economic background, labour market situation, the 1997 Asian financial crisis and ramifications, are analysed. Then future possible scenarios and key issues are outlined.     

Corporate crisis advertising: A framework examining the use and effects of corporate advertising before and after crises

While corporate advertising has been widely studied as a promotional tool, few studies have examined how it can be used in a corporate crisis situation. In 2013, Kim proposed a conceptual framework for examining stakeholders’ evaluation of pre-crisis corporate advertising, using the inoculation and reactance theory. The framework, published in Journal of Marketing Communications, suggested that pre-crisis advertising can increase audience resistance towards negative news of an organization and decrease audience resistance towards future corporate advertisements from the organization. The present study expands on Kim’s work to develop the corporate crisis advertising (CCA) framework. In addition to the inoculation and reactance effects discussed in Kim’s model, CCA aims to discuss the effects of corporate advertising on improving organization’s prior reputation based on halo effect, and how post-crisis advertising messages can be evaluated based on crisis theories. Our proposed framework provides a comprehensive view of the use of corporate advertising both before and after a crisis and is useful for organizations to understand the impact of corporate advertising on stakeholders’ evaluation of the organization in a crisis situation. Potential applications of CCA are discussed and directions for future research suggested.     

Conclusion: changes in Asian HRM – implications for theory and practice

A number of significant events have impacted on Asian countries over the period sine 1997 and the Asian crisis. This means that much of what we know about Asia is outdated and may well be irrelevant. It is for this reason that this contribution re-examines a number of Asian countries to explore how human resource management (HRM) has changed over this period. A model that can be used for a comparative analysis of HRM, and one that allows the various levels of change to be assessed, is presented. This is followed by an overview of the volume's contents with the common focus on the changes that have occurred over this period.     

Professional HRM Practices in Family Owned‐Managed Enterprises*

This study examines determinants of professional human resource management (HRM) practices within a sample of approximately 700 small to medium‐sized firms. Predictions from the agency theory and the resource‐based view of organizations lead to alternate hypotheses regarding the direct and indirect negative effects of family ownership and management on the usage of professional HRM practices. Results support predictions for both direct and indirect effects. These indirect effects occur through intermediary variables that reflect organizational complexity, such as firm size, (the presence of a) formal business plan, and HRM specialization. The findings lend partial support to both theories.     

Can socially irresponsible firms benefit from corporate advertising?

Abstract

Can corporate advertising improve firm performance following a brand crisis borne out of corporate social irresponsibility (CSI)? This article investigates socially irresponsible firms and their corporate advertising expenditures, which can be used to counter negative opinions. First, we examine whether firms experiencing a negative brand image due to socially irresponsible behavior alter their corporate advertising expenditures. Next, we assess the resulting impact of corporate advertising spending by CSI firms on overall performance. Using a sample of firms engaging in socially irresponsible behavior between 1995 and 2011, we find that such firms tend to increase their corporate advertising. Such changes in corporate advertising expenditures ultimately impact firm performance. Specifically, an increase in corporate advertising helps to reduce the negative effect of CSI on firm performance.     

From OLI to OLMA: Incorporating Higher Levels of Environmental and Structural Complexity into the Eclectic Paradigm

Theorists using the eclectic paradigm have drastically restricted their analytic scope to the firm and its subsidiaries, rarely exploring more finely grained firm structures, such as business processes. By contrast, organisational theorists examining multinational firm behaviour have employed a richly differentiated array of firm structural forms though without developing a precise delineation of the international business environment. Eclectic researchers are adept at handling environmental, but not structural, complexity, while the reverse seems true for organisational theorists. This study extends the eclectic paradigm by incorporating higher levels of environmental and structural complexity through two methods: (1) a deconstruction of the multinational firm into business processes; and (2) a more complete definition of the international business environment, called geovalent elements. The paper argues that an enhanced eclectic paradigm called OLMA (for Ownership, Location, Mode of entry, and Adjustment) provides the complete set of concepts needed for studying the modern multinational firm.     

Internationalization of Smaller Firms: Opportunity Development through Networks

This article aims to contribute toward a better understanding of the opportunity development process that rapidly internationalizing small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) undergo. Little is known about how SMEs overcome challenges in the process of recognizing and exploiting market opportunities during their rapid expansion abroad. This article presents a longitudinal case study that illustrates how a firm's relationships with business, social, and political actors enhance its opportunity development during the internationalization process. The findings highlight that conducting matching activities at different levels helps the firm overcome challenges and succeed in developing new opportunities for continued expansion abroad. This study contributes to research on rapidly internationalizing firms by broadening the empirical and theoretical understanding of the opportunity development process for smaller firms. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Comparing international human resource management practices between Yaohan and Jusco in Hong Kong

The performance of Jusco and Yaohan in Hong Kong was examined and compared by exploring their international human resource management (IHRM) practices in terms of recruitment and selection, compensation, and training and development. Yaohan and Jusco employed different IHRM systems as a response to their contextual factors – history and background of the company, and competitive environment and business strategy, especially the use of retail technology. The results show that the IHRM systems employed by Yaohan and Jusco affect the performance of the company, and explain the factors contributing to Yaohan's bankruptcy and Jusco's increasing profitabiliry.     

When consumers struggle: Action crisis and its effects on problematic goal pursuit

When pursuing goals, consumers often face setbacks that force them to reevaluate their goals. Yet, current goal theory offers limited explanations for how people respond to recurring challenges and disengage from their goals. Through five experiments investigating three primary theoretical aims, this research extends the field's understanding of action crisis, a possible goal pursuit stage marked by internal conflict over whether or not to continue, and investigates it in consumption contexts such as patient–physician relationships, weight loss diets, and environmentally friendly purchasing. Experiments 1A–1C show that consumer action crisis encourages more disengagement‐related and less continuation‐supportive cost–benefit thinking than nonproblematic action phase. Experiment 2 replicates this cognitive shift, and connects action crisis to diminished goal‐related evaluations and weakened commitment. Experiment 3 further clarifies action crisis’ influence on consumer goal pursuit by revealing decreased cognitive and behavioral engagement that does not involve a shift in construal level when compared to action phase consumers. Extending understanding of action crisis as a possible mindset and action phase, these five experiments advance goal disengagement theory by connecting changes in cognition, motivation, and behavior to action crisis.     

A systematic review of the relationship between international diversification and innovation: A firm-level perspective

We conduct a systematic review of the relationship between international diversification (ID) and firm-level innovation (I), considering articles published between 1989 and 2020. The relationship between international diversification and innovation strategies is dynamic and complex, and recent evidence challenges the traditional notion that upgrading firm-specific advantages through technological innovation can be sufficient to guarantee international firm growth and performance. We develop a unified framework that integrates findings from extant ID-I research while also proposing new avenues for further research on topics such as: how firms deal with potentially conflicting ID-I goals, how underlying firm motives shape the interactions between these goals, and how new technologies and institutional dynamism increasingly influence the ID-I relationship. We also discuss how and why the new contexts in which decisions are made, together with the prevalence of relatively newer types of firms (e.g., those associated with global value chains, latest wave of emerging market multinationals, digitalized service MNEs), require a more modern conceptualization of the ID-I relationship.     

Constrained Morality in the Professional Work of Corporate Lawyers

In this article, we contribute to sociological literatures on morality, professional and institutional contexts, and morally stigmatized ‘dirty work’ by emphasizing and exploring how they mutually inform one another in lawyers’ work activities. Drawing on interview data with 58 practitioners in the commercial legal industry in Singapore, we analyze how they experience professional and institutional constraints on the expressions of morality in their work. Our findings illustrate how a dominant managerial and economic focus maintains and reproduces a constrained form of morality, limited to instrumental, utilitarian and commercial ends, and subordinated to lucrative client and firm interests. We discuss our findings in terms of the need to research and reform professions in ways that support more rounded and unconstrained moral reflexivity and autonomy in how work is undertaken and valued. This in turn has implications for how organizations and professions might achieve alternative moral institutional orders, and for legal work to avoid the moral and social taints of dirty work.

     

企业能力、竞争优势与人力资源管理关系研究——基于能力的人力资源管理和战略人力资源管理的比较与整合

与员工能力与员工绩效关系的研究相比,目前对企业人力资本和员工与企业绩效和竞争优势关系的研究要抽象、模糊的多.论文在对基于能力的人力资源管理和战略人力资源管理研究分析的基础上,结合企业战略管理相关理论,将企业视为一个能力系统,阐明了员工能力,企业能力、企业竞争优势、企业绩效与人力资源管理的相互关系,进而将从个体视角探讨员工能力与员工绩效关系的基于能力的人力资源管理与从企业视角探讨人力资本、人力资源管理与企业绩效、竞争优势关系的战略人力资源管理二者有机联系起来,并指出企业可以通过构建和应用基于企业战略的员工胜任力模型来实施战略人力资源管理.