Human resource management practices in Nigeria: challenges and insights

This paper generated current knowledge on aspects of human resource management practices in Nigeria from a sample of 185 human resource management professionals employed in over ninety-six corporations located in three major cities in Nigeria. Furthermore, the convergence/divergence/cross-vergence perspective was utilized to provide theoretical insights on the human resource management practices. The findings support a cross-vergence perspective as evidenced by the blend of human resource management practices reflecting both generalized or standardized practices and localized practices. Implications and direction for further studies are discussed.     

How far has international HRM travelled? A systematic review of literature on multinational corporations (2000–2014)

This article reviews the present state of research on multinational corporations (MNCs) in the international human resource management (IHRM) literature. Drawing on 342 articles from 39 English journals in the business and management field published over the period of 2000–2014, we identify three key strands within this section of the IHRM scholarly field (MNC country of origin/domicile effects; expatriate management; and, intra-organizational knowledge and strategy flows). Building up on our detailed assessment of trends in the literature based on a systematic review, we propose areas where the field could be developed and extended through drawing on insights from, and building synthesis with, cognate fields. We conclude that major developments on the ground – the increasing numbers of unskilled expatriate workers, the rise of MNCs from emerging markets, and the growth of transnational alternative investors – have the potential to transform the field of enquiry, yet are only starting to appear in the IHRM literature. In developing new major areas of enquiry – and in extending existing ones – insights may be drawn from the literature on comparative institutional analysis to take fuller account of trans-national actors.     

Embedded in context: How time and distance affect the convergence of personnel selection practices

The debate on convergence versus divergence or stasis in human resource management (HRM) practices over time is still ongoing. We look at configurations of organisations' personnel selection practices and empirically analyse the role of geographic, cultural and regulatory institutional distance between countries for emerging similarity or dissimilarity in these practices. We also examine whether convergence occurred between 1995 and 2015. Based on the Cranet data of 25,869 organisations from 42 countries and statistical tests using energy distance, we find a pattern over time, moving from stasis to divergence. In addition, personnel selection configurations relate to cultural and regulatory institutional differences in the sense that smaller distances lead to higher similarity. This is not the case, however, for geographic distance. Our study adds to the debate on HRM convergence and offers a new method of analysis for other areas of HRM research where configurations instead of single HRM practices play a role.     

Convergence divergence thesis through sectoral lens: A study of India and China

Does the evolution of distinct practices influence the sectoral dominance of nations? In this review paper, we take an in-depth look at the convergence and divergence debate about HR practices in Asia. We extend the conversation to address specific competitive advantage of nations, such as China, in manufacturing and India, in information technology (IT) sectors. Drawing on the relevant literature and utilizing the lens of firm specificity, HR value creation, and competitive uncertainty, we try to explore the collective implementation of a bundle of HRM (human resource management) and IR (industrial relations) practices that have converged or diverged from western practices leading to such dominance.     

Customers cocreating value with the firm: implications for IHRM

The purpose of this article is to develop a theoretical framework for governing an organization's relationships with customers engaged as contributors to the organization's business processes (i.e. customers as quasi-employees). Based on our suggested framework, we explain how appropriate customer-centric HRM practices can support more cost-effective and accommodating adaptations in the organization's governance of its relationships with customers. We complement these propositions with practical examples illustrating how customers who take different cooperative roles will increasingly become valuable organizational assets. The collaborating customers not only provide the information necessary for the successful performance of the service exchange, but also contribute human and social capital in performing tasks that are a complement to or a substitute for employee tasks. In conclusion, we outline implications for international human resource management (IHRM), as well as future research directions for examining the relationships among customer governance, role configurations, and IHRM practices.     

A social institutionalist perspective on HR diffusion: historical and cultural receptivity to HRM in a post-communist context

This research considers cross-national diffusion of international human resource management (IHRM) ideas and practices by applying an emergent frame of sociological conceptualisation – ‘social institutionalism’ (SI). We look at cultural filters to patterns of diffusion, assimilation and adoption of IHRM, using Romania as a case study. The paper considers the former Communist system of employment relations, suggesting that through institutionalisation former ways of thinking have a residual influence on definitions and practice of people management in post-Communist Eastern Europe. The paper provides a new perspective on HRM by discussing the value of SI as a general model for understanding cross-cultural receptivity to HR ideas, sensitising the HR practitioner and academic to institutionalised culture as a historical legacy influencing absorption of international management ideas.     

Liability of Asianness? Global talent management challenges of Chinese,Japanese, and Korean multinationals

Within a short time, China, Japan, and Korea have produced worldwide leading multinational enterprises (MNEs). As they expand globally, these companies face major challenges in global talent management (GTM). This article provides a comparative analysis of the major GTM challenges MNEs from these countries experience and the underlying reasons thereof. Our comparative overview reveals similarities in ethnocentric staffing, traditional headquarters-driven organizational cultures, and home-country language policies. While there are striking differences in performance appraisal, reward and compensation, and promotion and career advancement, these GTM practices of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean MNEs are converging to Western style global best practices, though at different levels. Building on and enriching the convergence debate and the distance literature, we identify organizational and country characteristics that help better understand the reasons for these similarities and differences.     

A contingency matrix approach to IHRM

The global economy is a reality. The challenge facing international human resource management (IHRM) is not whether to use widely recognized HR concepts and techniques but rather how to effectively adapt and fit them across cultures. The purpose of this article is to suggest and demonstrate a contingency matrix approach to IHRM. After first explaining what is meant by the contingency matrix approach, the remainder of the article uses a sampling of the HR research literature from Japan, Germany, Mexico, and China to show how a contingency matrix could be used for effective IHRM. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Human resource practices and discrimination in South Africa: overcoming the apartheid legacy

While there is some level of isomorphism and convergence in HRM practices, country-specific differences remain, notwithstanding globalization and the influence of increasingly powerful multinationals. Much work has occurred on diversity management and cultural aspects of management in South Africa (SA). This analysis finds that local institutional context in labour relations and particularism in practices remain important, although the influence of convergent forces such as globalization, information technology and increased competition has become much more prominent in post-apartheid SA. Human resource practitioners in SA see the most important workplace challenges as performance improvement, employment equity, training and development and managing trade union expectations. This article critically evaluates the effects of recent legislative measures, particularly labour court and arbitration awards aimed at addressing the adverse impact of past unfair discrimination on pay practices and skills development. The latter are found to be interrelated, sensitive and difficult areas of discrimination in respect of legal proof.     

A typology of international human resource management strategies and processes

This paper develops a framework of international human resource management (IHRM) that moves beyond strategy and structure to focus on processes. The results of six case studies of large German multinational corporations in three countries show different configurations of IHRM strategies and policies. International knowledge flows and coordination varied in intensity, content, direction and mechanisms used. With ‘cognofederate’ IHRM one type was identified that has been hitherto neglected.     

Auditing Human Resource Management in the Global Environment

The globalization of business is making it increasingly important to understand how multinational enterprises (MNEs) can operate more effectively. Human resource management can be a critical determinant of corporate effectiveness, particularly as it plays out in the global arena. This article discusses how MNEs enhance their ability to utilize human resources and internal labour markets for competitive advantage through audits of the international human resource management (IHRM) function. A multidimensional auditing framework is developed and applied to the strategic aspects of IHRM in MNEs and international joint ventures.     

The role of HR managers in international mergers and acquisitions: a multiple case study

The article departs from the existing research treatment of expatriation as an individual-level phenomenon, and looks at the expatriation of work teams. We examine the performance management of expatriate teams brought in from 17 independent organizations to work on a new-product development project. We find that the teams faced diverse stakeholder expectations and that these stakeholders' expectations were a source of tension for the teams. The teams responded by adopting performance management strategies that tended to prioritize their respective home organizations' expectations. We discuss the vulnerability of contextual performance and the relative insignificance of national cultural differences in this expatriation context. We propose practical considerations and an agenda for further international human resource management (IHRM) research on expatriate teams.     

Country‐of‐origin,localization, or dominance effect? An empirical investigation of HRM practices in foreign subsidiaries

This article contributes to two recurring and very central debates in the international management literature: the convergence vs. divergence debate and the standardization vs. localization debate. Using a large‐scale sample of multinationals headquartered in the United States, Japan, and Germany, as well as subsidiaries of multinationals from these three countries in the two other respective countries, we test the extent to which HRM practices in subsidiaries are characterized by country‐of‐origin, localization, and dominance effects. Our results show that overall the dominance effect is most important (i.e., subsidiary practices appear to converge to the dominant U.S. practices). Hence, our results lead to the rather surprising conclusion for what might be considered to be the most localized of functions—HRM—that convergence to a worldwide best practices model is clearly present. The lack of country‐of‐origin effects for Japanese and German multinationals leads us to a conclusion that is of significant theoretical as well as practical relevance. Multinationals might limit the export of country‐of‐origin practices to their core competences and converge to best practices in other areas. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The challenge of international human resource management: balancing the duality of strategy and practice

Over the last two decades there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of organizations that have internationalized their operations. The international movement of labour that has been concomitant with such expansion of international business has meant that issues associated with the management of human resources across international borders are increasingly important to international human resource managers and academics. The research presented in this paper examines international human resource management (IHRM) pedagogy and practice in Australia. It reports IHRM academicians' and practitioners' understanding of the major issues for teaching and practice in IHRM and elucidates current developments and directions for this field.     

Recruitment and selection in Chinese MNEs

This article explores HRM issues in Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs), in particular, the recruitment, selection and repatriation of expatriate management in ten Chinese MNEs. Owing to the rapid growth of internationalization of Chinese firms, IHRM in the Chinese context has been attracting both academic and practitioners' interest. The approach of Chinese MNEs to IHRM has become an urgent area of management study. This article represents one part of the results of a recent study of Chinese IHRM. It concludes that, even though recruitment and selection policies and practices in Chinese MNEs are more progressive in adopting modern HRM concepts than is the case in domestic Chinese firms, current practices are still divergent from those of major Western MNEs.     

Able,willing, and knowing: the effects of HR practices on commitment and effort in 26 European countries

This study extends previous studies of human resource (HR) practices by examining how organizational commitment and work effort are related to the use of HR practices enhancing discretion and skills based on international comparative survey data from 26 European countries. By analyzing individual level data instead of the organizational level data that are examined in prior studies, this article allows investigating whether and how employee perceptions of HR practices are related to their attitudes and behavior. The multilevel analyses largely support the hypotheses that both the intensity and the consistency of these HR practices contribute to organizational commitment and work effort since they enhance the ability of employees and their willingness to cooperate and inform them about the expectations of the organization.     

Managers' employment issues

The authors compare the employment issues in relation to managers in Britain and Australia, within a wider international context. Using the convergence/ divergence debates about the internationalization of management as a point of departure, the article analyses managers' education and development, employment trends, unemployment, recruitment and selection processes, human resource planning, job mobility, career success routes, pay and fringe benefits, and managerial unionization, which is more widespread in these countries than in the USA. The authors note both convergence and divergence between patterns of managerial employment in Britain and Australia compared with Japan, the USA and other countries, but draw attention to the need for more comparative research.     

Flexible work practices and human resource management: a comparison of South African and foreign owned companies

This study compares the use of flexible work practices in wholly owned South African (SA) companies with that in foreign-owned companies. Data were obtained from questionnaire results of a study conducted by Horwitz and Franklin (1996) of flexible work practices in SA organizations. The questionnaire was used as part of a collaborative research project involving three countries (Brosnan et al ., 1996). It was found that SA-owned companies use certain flexible work practices to a lesser extent than foreign-owned companies. This was found to be the case particularly in the use of numerical forms of flexibility, such as sub-contractors/consultants and the use of temporary employees. Use of subcontractors/consultants and temporary staff agencies was found to be the greatest in partially foreign-owned companies. A larger proportion of foreign-owned companies have lower labour costs than do SA-owned companies. This has, however, not been as a result of the greater use of flexible work practices. Foreign-owned companies make more joint decisions with unions than do SA-owned companies when changing work practices.     

An integrative framework for understanding cross-national human resource management practices

Currently, debate in the area of cross-national human resource management (HRM) suggests that both “culture-bound” and “culture-free” factors and variables are important determinants of HRM policies and practices. HRM is presented as being context-specific and it is argued that with the growth of new markets world-wide, and increased levels of competition and globalization of business, there is a strong need for more cross-national HRM studies. However, the literature shows the absence of an integrated framework, which can help to highlight the different role that context-specific facets of HRM practices play. The nature of different determinants in different national and regional settings is rarely analyzed. This paper develops an integrated framework. It delineates the main distinctive facets associated with national factors, contingent variables, and organizational and human resource (HR) strategies and policies, that may be used to evaluate cross-national comparative HRM policies and practices.