Control of subsidiary HRM policies by multi-national corporate headquarters: the role of institutional differences and labor unions

Article

Fenton-O'Creevy, M. and Gooderham, P. 2025. Control of subsidiary HRM policies by multi-national corporate headquarters: the role of institutional differences and labor unions. International Business Review. 34 (1). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2024.102323
TypeArticle
TitleControl of subsidiary HRM policies by multi-national corporate headquarters: the role of institutional differences and labor unions
AuthorsFenton-O'Creevy, M. and Gooderham, P.
Abstract

There is a lack of clarity about the institutional sources of variation in the control of multi-national enterprise (MNE) subsidiaries by corporate headquarters (CHQ). Applying comparative institutional theory, we focus on the control of HRM policies by CHQ. First, we argue that when there are substantial home-host institutional differences in national employment protection regulation the dissimilarity in CHQ-subsidiary mindsets increases the likelihood of CHQ control. Second, we argue that union influence within the subsidiary amplifies that effect. We analyze a sample of 708 MNE subsidiaries in 32 countries with CHQs distributed across 39 countries. Unlike some prior work on subsidiary autonomy, we account for the multi-level nature of country and firm-level data. The evidence for the first of our arguments is mixed. However, in that we find a significant three-way interaction effect of CHQ control on home country and host country employment protection regulation and union influence, the second argument finds support.

Keywordsmulti-national enterprises; subsidiary relations; human resource management; institutional context; labor union influence; multi-level analysis
Sustainable Development Goals9 Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Middlesex University ThemeCreativity, Culture & Enterprise
Research GroupInternational and Cross-cultural Management group
PublisherElsevier
JournalInternational Business Review
ISSN0969-5931
Electronic1873-6149
Publication dates
Online17 Jul 2024
PrintFeb 2025
Publication process dates
Accepted28 Jun 2024
Deposited01 Jul 2024
Output statusPublished
Publisher's version
License
File Access Level
Open
Copyright Statement

© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ibusrev.2024.102323
LanguageEnglish
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