Adam Smale

University of Vaasa · School of Management

Drawing on human capital theory, our study examines the relationship between international work experience and individuals' career success in terms of promotions and subjective financial success. We propose that these relationships are mediated by external employability and hypothesise a moderating role of national‐level economic freedom. Using dat...

Subjective career success continues to be a critical topic in careers scholarship due to ever changing organizational and societal contexts that make reliance upon external definitions of success untenable or undesirable. While various measures of subjective career success have been developed, there is no measure that is representative of multiple...

This study provides a new perspective on servant leadership research by examining the social influence of the servant leadership of individuals who are not in a supervisory position. Drawing on servant leadership and social learning theories, we examine how the servant leadership of managers in support roles can initiate a social learning process t...

Employees can enhance their human capital through participation in organizationally‐sponsored development activities. However, there is little research on the extent to which the effects of such practices vary depending on national context. Adopting a human capital theory perspective, we hypothesized a positive relationship between human capital de...

Purpose This paper aims to illustrate why an understanding of how levels of analysis interact is an essential part of multilevel research in the field of international business (IB). Using research on strategy implementation (SI) in multinational corporations (MNCs) as an example, this paper develops a taxonomy and research agenda that demonstrates...

As an editorial to the special issue “new avenues in international careers research” this article discusses the roots of the international careers research stream, which sits at the intersection between career studies, HRM and international management. In order to support future studies in this emerging area of enquiry, we attempt to lay down the f...

Careers exist in a societal context that offers both constraints and opportunities for career actors. Whereas most studies focus on proximal individual and/or organizational level variables, we provide insights into how career goals and behaviors are understood and embedded in the more distal societal context. More specifically, we operationalize s...

Given the sensitive nature of communicating talent status in an ‘exclusive’ talent management system and the complexity involved in simultaneously sending signals of exclusivity and inclusivity, some organisations avoid open communication and instead opt for ‘strategic ambiguity’ – intentionally maintaining an element of secrecy and information asy...

Although career proactivity has positive consequences for an individual's career success , studies mostly examine objective measures of success within single countries. This raises important questions about whether proactivity is equally beneficial for different aspects of subjective career success, and the extent to which these benefits extend acr...

Whilst career proactivity has positive consequences for an individual’s career success, studies mostly examine objective measures of success within single countries. This raises important questions about whether proactivity is equally beneficial for different aspects of subjective career success, and the extent to which these benefits extend across...

Career studies have, at best, partly kept pace with the enormous rise of international work. While on virtually all accounts such as volume of international business transactions, importance of organizations operating across national and cultural boundaries or individuals pursuing an international or global career indicators point towards growth, t...

How to manage talent effectively is a key question in organisations. Yet we still know relatively little about talent's psychological reactions to their exclusive status. Based on psychological contract theory and research on status, this study analyses a sample of 321 employees identified as talent by their organisations, only some of whom were aw...

This paper examines the differences between the stream of international HRM that focuses on comparative HRM and the one that focuses on HRM in multinational enterprises (MNEs). More specifically, we review how the aspects of time, process and context have been treated within the two streams and argue that the streams have largely developed in isola...

Dual organizational identification – with both the whole corporation and the local subsidiary – is considered valuable for subsidiary employees, international assignees, and multinational corporations (MNCs). While extant research has examined antecedents of separate targets of identification, it has not fully addressed the challenge of identifying...

We study HRM practice implementation in subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs) and diverge from extant research by focusing on alignment, which we conceptualize as the degree to which subsidiary implementation of HRM practices corresponds with the subsidiary-specific transfer intentions of corporate headquarters. In explaining alignment...

Due to organizational concerns about the effects of openly communicating employees' talent status, employees may not be aware of having been identified as talent. In this paper, we examine how talent status self-awareness on the part of the individual influences the social exchange relationship between the employer and the talent. We propose that t...

Against the background of Bowen and Ostroff's (2004) human resource management (HRM) process theorization, this study explores influences on individual employee perceptions of the visibility, validity, and procedural and distributive justice of performance appraisal in subsidiaries of multinational corporations, and at what levels these influences...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop an “HRM-as-practice” research agenda. The authors suggest that the HRM-performance literature would benefit from an actor-centric approach and a focus on activities, and that the HR roles research needs to shift its attention toward a more dynamic perspective of HR work and link this further to perf...

Dual organizational identification – with both the whole corporation and the local subsidiary – is considered valuable for subsidiary employees, international assignees, and multinational corporations (MNCs). While extant research has examined antecedents of separate targets of identification, it has not fully addressed the challenge of identifying...

In this study, we examine factors that influence the alignment between corporate intentions for, and subsidiary reported implementation of parent HRM practices. We view practice transfer as a bi-directional, social process involving interaction between headquarters and the subsidiary. Based on a sample of 105 subsidiaries from 12 Nordic MNCs we dev...

We applied a diachronic analysis to explore the presence of stickiness factors at difference stages in the transfer of HRM practices from four Taiwanese multinational corporations (MNCs) to their British subsidiaries over a five-year period. Based on a total of 201 interviews with managers and employees from headquarters and the subsidiaries, the f...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to use a diachronic analysis to explore the influence of country of origin effect and country of management effect on the adoption of human resource management (HRM) practices at different stages. Design/methodology/approach The methodology starts with an intensive literature review to establish an analytical f...

This paper examines how functional and line-management stakeholders evaluate operational human resource management capabilities in multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiaries. We suggest that such evaluations are a function of two key structural factors: (1) that focal subsidiary human resource (HR) departments respond differentially to the expect...

In this study, we problematise the role of expatriates in transfers of parent HRM knowledge since expatriates, argued to be key actors in this process, are rarely HR professionals and seldom have much education or experience in HR. In the light of scant empirical research on the impact of individual attributes of expatriates in the transfer of know...

This paper examines how multinational corporations use different mechanisms to integrate four HRM practices in their foreign subsidiaries: financial compensation, performance appraisal, training and development, and recruitment and selection. Our analysis of 76 European-owned subsidiaries located in China reveal systematic differences in the use of...

In this article, we examine the effect of talent identification on employee attitudes. Building on social exchange theory, we analyze the association between employees' perceptions about whether or not they have been formally identified as “talent” and the following attitudinal outcomes: commitment to increasing performance demands, building skills...

Purpose The present study sought to shed light on the antecedents of HRM integration mechanism usage in MNCs and to establish the extent to which antecedents differ in importance across different mechanism types. Design/methodology/approach A set of hypotheses was developed and tested on a sample of 76 European‐owned subsidiaries located in China....

Purpose –– The aim of the present study was to shed light on the role of Western expatriates in knowledge transfer processes in foreign subsidiaries in Central and Eastern Europe and the impediments they face in these roles in the context of socio-economic transformation. Methodology/approach –– The findings are based on qualitative data collected...

Electronic human resource management (e-HRM) systems are argued to be transforming the role of HR by facilitating the transfer of transaction processing responsibilities to employees, managers and other third parties. In multinational corporations, e-HRM systems must achieve this whilst accommodating regulatory and cultural differences, one of whic...

This chapter introduces the issue of language into the already complex nature of e-HRM system implementation in multinational corporations (MNCs). In the light of scant empirical research on language in international business in general and e-HRM in particular, this chapter reviews the research on language issues in the MNC context. The chapter the...

In this study, we investigated factors that influence the attitudes of line managers towards HRM. Using a sample of the general managers of 123 subsidiaries, we tested whether the general manager's level of HRM internalisation – the extent to which he or she values and is committed to the subsidiary's HRM practices – is influenced by two sets of fa...

See full text at: http://www.uva.fi/materiaali/pdf/isbn_978-952-476-374-5.pdf

As the supply of talented employees fails to keep up with demand, a growing number of multinational firms have responded by putting in place global systems to identify and develop talent. However, many of these firms have begun to acknowledge the host of challenges involved in the design and implementation of such systems. In this article we discus...

Dado que la oferta de empleados con talento no es suficiente para abastecer la demanda, cada vez hay más empresas multinacionales que responden creando sistemas de ámbito mundial para identificar y desarrollar el talento. Sin embargo, muchas de estas empresas han comenzado a reconocer la gran cantidad de retos que supone diseñar e implementar tales...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that have influenced the strategic role of the HR department in Western MNC subsidiaries in China between 1999 and 2006. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on two sets of quantitative questionnaire data collected in 142 subsidiaries in 1999 and 2006. Qualitative interview data...

The design and implementation of a globally integrated e-HRM system within a multinational corporation (MNC) requires different parties to reach some form of agreement on which HR processes must be standardised and which must be locally adapted. In this respect, the IT-based integration of HRM presents an intriguing setting in which to study micro-...

In this study we examine the influence of involvement in internal and external social networks on HRM capabilities. We distinguish between technical and strategic HRM capabilities and focus on the capabilities of the HR department relating to four HRM practices – recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation, and performance app...

New career realities appear to be reshaping the necessary tools, skills and attitudes individuals must possess in order to establish a successful career in the international business arena. In particular, the boundaryless career perspective provides an interesting point of departure from which to analyze the kinds of competences future global caree...

This study examines the HRM practices and the role played by the HR department in foreign-owned units located in China and India. The study of 170 Western-owned subsidiaries analyses the extent to which the HRM practices associated with the local professionals and managerial-level employees resemble those of local firms versus those of the (main) W...

This study investigated the changes taking place in HRM practices found in European-owned units in China between 1996 and 2006 in conjunction with the transformation of the context in which they are operating. Our study presents clear evidence for the convergence of HRM found in local Chinese firms with those of European MNC units in China. The res...

Often in connection with the integration-responsiveness dilemma, research on HRM in multinational corporations (MNCs) speaks more to explaining the appearance of HRM practices in foreign subsidiaries than to the mechanisms through which such practices are globally integrated. Accordingly, and adopting a subsidiary perspective, the present study has...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the literature on HRM in MNCs from a knowledge transfer perspective, to identify some of the key weaknesses in extant research and to outline a future research agenda. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper key contributions to the literature on HRM in MNCs are reviewed and discussed in connect...

Whilst the extant diversity management literature has provided a comprehensive array of theoretical frameworks and empirical studies on how organizations can and have approached the management of a diverse workforce, the same cannot be said about the literature on diversity in an international setting. Indeed, from a diversity management perspectiv...

Building on recent theoretical developments on the notion of expatriates as knowledge transferors, the objectives of this quantitative study were (1) to identify the types of knowledge being transferred and the corresponding levels of expatriate participation in these transfers, and (2) to apply the theoretical model of stickiness factors presented...

The following sections begin by discussing the increasing strategic significance of knowledge and its effective transfer within a multinational network. The theoretical foundations of the knowledge stickiness framework to be applied in this study are then introduced as well as the theoretical developments which have come to conceptualise expatriate...