National and firm-level drivers of the devolution of HRM decision making to line managers

Multinational companies must understand the influences on responsibility for managing people so that they can manage talent consistently thus ensuring that it is transferable across locations. We examine the impact of firm and national level characteristics on the devolution of HRM decision making to line managers. Our analysis draws on data from 2335 indigenous organizations in 21 countries. At the firm level, we found that where the HR function has higher power, devolution is less likely. At the national level, devolution of decision making to line management is more likely in societies with more stringent employment laws and lower power distance.

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Journal of International Business Studies. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Gooderham, P. N., Morley, M. J., Parry, E., & Stavrou, E. (2015). National and firm-level drivers of the devolution of HRM decision making to line managers. Journal of International Business Studies, 46(6), 715–723. doi:10.1057/jibs.2015.5 is available online at: http://doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2015.5

Published online 26 March 2015