Institutional duality and human resource management practice in foreign subsidiaries of multinationals
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Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Abstract
We examine how institutional context affects the decisions
that subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs)
make in pursuing particular human resource management
(HRM) practices in response to institutional duality.
Drawing on Varieties of Capitalism, along with the concept
of intermediate conformity, we argue that the use of
particular HRM practices by MNC subsidiaries will differ
depending on both the combination of home and host
institutional contexts, and on the nature of the particular
practice under consideration. Using data from a survey of
HRM practices in 1196 firms across 10 countries, we
compare HRM practices in subsidiaries located and head quartered in different combinations of liberal and/or co ordinated market economies. Our study suggests MNC
subsidiaries conform only to the most persuasive norms,
while exercising their agency to take advantage of the
opportunities presented by institutional duality to adopt
practices that distinguish them from indigenous
competitors
Description
Keywords
HRM practices, intermediate conformity