Institutional theory and the cross-national transfer of employment policy: the case of 'workforce diversity' in US multinationals

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ferner, A; Almond, P; Colling, T
• 署名单位: De Montfort University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2506
• DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400134
• 发表日期: 2005
• 页码: 304-321
• 关键词: US multinationals; international HRM; employee diversity; policy transfer; INSTITUTIONALISM

摘要

This paper uses a comparative institutionalist approach combined with a power/interests perspective to examine the processes whereby diversity policy is 'internationalised' by US multinational companies. It argues that the process of policy transfer to UK subsidiaries is complicated by incomplete and contested 'institutionalisation' of diversity within the US itself, and by differing conceptions of diversity between the US and the UK. The ability of actors within the UK subsidiaries to mobilise and deploy specific power resources allows them to resist the full implementation of corporate diversity policy, leading to a range of compromise accommodations. It is argued that the findings have more general implications for analysing the transfer of HR practices between national business systems.