An investigation of paradigm choice in Australian international human resource management research

Mapping the terrain of international human resource management research over the past fifty years: A bibliographic analysis

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to offer a comprehensive overview of the field of international human resource management (IHRM) research by tracing its evolutionary development over a 24-year period. The study seeks to understand how the field has progressed by considering historical research themes and their subsequent integration into more recent scholarly work, thereby identifying current and emerging research trends.Design/methodology/approachThis paper employs bibliometric analysis to examine the evolutionary path of IHRM research from 1995 to 2019. A dataset of 1,507 articles from journals specializing in IHRM, international business and general management was created. Analysis at the keyword, thematic and network levels was conducted to identify trends, historical context and the interrelatedness of research themes.FindingsThe analysis reveals that IHRM research has gone through several phases of thematic focus, from initial emphasis on cultural differences and expatriate management to more recent topics like global talent management and digital transformation. Earlier research themes continue to be incorporated and re-contextualized in modern scholarship, highlighting the field’s dynamic nature.Originality/valueThis paper is one of the first to use a bibliometric approach to systematically examine the evolution of IHRM research. It not only provides a historical perspective but also outlines future research trends, incorporating the institutional logic perspective. The findings offer deep insights that are valuable for researchers, practitioners and policymakers interested in the development of IHRM research and its practical implications.

The explicit consideration of Research Paradigms in International Human Resource Management, the title of this Special Issue, helps us in analysing and systematising the field to show how research in international human resource management is typically conducted, what preferred perspectives prevail and which approaches have been rather neglected so far. In this introduction, we map the field, and after defining the contours of international human resource management, we use the distinction between positivism and interpretivism to outline implications for the goals of international human resource management studies and associated ontological and epistemological assumptions. Next, we analyse research methods, ways to construct research questions, researchers’ roles, sampling procedures, data collection techniques, key theoretical contributions, focus on context in theory construction, quality indicators of data analysis and evaluation criteria in each of the two key research paradigms when studying international human resource management issues. In so doing, we offer a framework for the contributions made to this Special Issue, including literature reviews focusing on the systematisation of international human resource management research, using various paradigm lenses and specific methods. We sincerely hope that the notions, typologies and contributions included in this Special Issue, all based on extensive literature reviews, will help advance research in international human resource management.

The goal of this article is to provide a fine-grained analysis of international human resource management research that addresses the different perspectives applied in that research. We coded 203 peer-reviewed international human resource management articles published between 2011 and 2018 with content analytical methods guided by the compass of management research developed by Sieben, which is rooted in critical management research. We were particularly attentive to the various discursive orientations international human resource management scholars have adopted, including ideologically critical, poststructuralist, functionalist and interpretive perspectives. We further examined which methods, theoretical perspectives and topics were common within and across different perspectives. This analysis indicated that critical research intending to politicize and question existing structures and ways of organizing is still marginal. Along with the dominance of functionalist and interpretive studies, papers in our dataset commonly use a strategic human resource perspective, are predominantly interested in the human resource management–performance link and focus rather narrowly on multinational corporations and expatriates. Furthermore, while international human resource management scholars increasingly account for the contextual embeddedness of organizations through macro-level theories, they mainly apply institutional perspectives that view organizations as adapting to institutional constraints. We propose a more diverse and reflexive approach – inspired by ideologically critical and poststructuralist perspectives – that may help to overcome these blind spots. Such an approach might, for instance, look at types of organizations other than multinational corporations and individuals other than highly skilled expatriates and might explicitly bring multiple, external stakeholders into the picture. We conclude by suggesting that international human resource management research and practice would benefit from more research diversity which enables more holistic analyses of phenomena, more innovative research and resultant insights, and more space for meta-theoretical reflections.

This paper aims to depict the evolution of international human resource management (IHRM) research by mapping the semantic structure of the literature over the last 25 years. We conduct a bibliometric analysis of 1,507 articles published in the field of IHRM at the keyword, thematic, and network levels. Our analysis reveals that IHRM research has a complex semantic structure that is socially constructed. We also identify the evolution of main research trends across three time windows and branch out key themes for each time window. This study employs the bibliographic coupling analysis to provide an accurate systematic interpretation of IHRM literature to identify the main research patterns in the field of IHRM and to interpret the core themes that contributed to the evolution of IHRM research.

Looking back to look forward: Disruption, innovation and future trends in international human resource management

International human resource management (IHRM) represents an important dimension of international management. Over the past three decades, there has been considerable growth in research and practice in IHRM. While there have been extensive developments in this field, numerous scholars have identified aspects requiring review and revision. Hence, this paper reviews and interrogates the progress in IHRM's theoretical development. The review leads to the conclusion that research in IHRM has tended to emphasize integration over other forms of progress. In response, and in provocation, imitation rather than integration is suggested as an approach for the development of future theoretical and conceptual directions in IHRM.

This article calls for the inclusion of multinational non-profit organizations in the research and pedagogy of strategic international human resource management. Multinational non-profit enterprise is increasingly influential, both economically and philosophically, as economic and socio-cultural boundaries become more interdependent. Yet the multinational non-profit sector has been ignored by international human resource management scholars. When research and pedagogy overlook practice, a concern exists with regard to their relevance. By outlining the international development of multinational non-profit enterprise, the article contextualizes strategic international human resource management in multinational intermediate private aid and development agencies. Analysis of a particular example, World Vision Australia, illustrates the discussion.

This paper includes a summary of selected research results on International Human Resource Management (IHRM) in Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). Within the analysis and discussion, the focus is on specificities of SMEs, implicitly compared to Multinational Enterprises (MNEs). This paper first addresses the importance of the SME founder's profile in designing the internationalisation process. Then, particular features of HR practices in SMEs such as recruitment, selection and retention issues, human resource development practices and associated learning processes as well as expatriate management are analysed. Furthermore, the major problem of SMEs, the scarcity of resources, is discussed in the context of HRM. This analysis leads to implications for practice and for future research, mainly calling for more empirical studies and for a different approach to the strategic international management of human resources than in MNEs.

The increased internationalization of business in recent years has made the understanding of international human resource management problems more important for executives in multinational companies. In recent years researchers have paid considerable attention to the issues of adjustment to international assignments, while comparatively little research activity has been paid to the topic of repatriation, i.e. re‐entry and adjustment back to the home country. Despite the growth in the number of women in international management there are very few studies of the repatriation of female corporate executives. The focus of this paper is directed at understanding repatriation from the perspective of senior female expatriates whose voice has been silent for too long in international human resource management research.

The international human resource management (IHRM) field naturally lends itself to spotlighting the importance of internal and external organizational contexts to help understand how to manage employees in organizations effectively. However, we argue that the range of opportunities that the field creates to understand this context has not yet been fully embraced by IHRM scholars. To address this gap, this special issue explores: (a) the variety of approaches to theorizing how contexts promote or constrain organizational practice; and (b) relevant methodologies that might allow us to unearth novel context‐dependent theory in international HRM. We propose a distinction between variable‐oriented theorizing (that explains the effects of internal and external contexts on the phenomena under study) and context‐dependent theorizing (that requires researchers become intimately familiar with the setting under study to understand context as a shaper of meaning). This editorial also highlights how the articles in the special issue contribute to stimulating further context‐dependent IHRM research.

Short-term international assignments. Military perspectives and implications for international human resource management

The article presents an introduction, foreword, and speech from Charles Zhang, chairman of SOHU.com Inc. to the Academy of Management Executives on August 8, 2004. Zhang discusses the need for cross cultural understanding and mutual respect for cultural difference, SOHU.com's role in the development of the Internet in China, and the emergence of China as a global economic power. Dr. Charles Chao Yang Zhang is the founder of SOHU.com Inc. He has served in the positions of chairman of the board, president, and chief executive officer of the NASDAQ-listed company since its founding in 1996. His Chinese name, "Chao Yang," means "sunrise." SOHU.com Inc. is the first Chinese-language search engine in the world and a leading internet portal in China. At the end of 2002, China had overtaken Japan to become the second most wired nation in the world, after the United States. At present, there are over 100 million Internet users in China. This represents approximately ten per cent of that country's population. SOHU offers the most comprehensive matrix of Web properties in China. According to the Motley Fool, a leading provider of investment advice, because SOHU's portfolio of services/products is very diverse, it resembles an amalgam of Yahoo!, Amazon, and Google.1 As such, it has tremendous potential for further growth and development in China, the world's most populous nation. Dr. Zhang was born in 1964 in Xian, the ancient capital of China. After graduating with a bachelor of science degree at Qinghua University in Beijing, he won a prestigious scholarship under the China-U.S. Physics Examination and Application (CUSPEA) program to study in the United States where he earned a Ph.D. in experimental physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In late 1996, with an initial investment of $225,000, Dr. Zhang founded Internet Technologies China, subsequently renamed SOHU.com Inc. "Sohu" stands for "search fox" in Chinese. The reason for the choice of "fox" as a name for a search engine is that the fox is swift and good in searching for its prey. Within three years of its startup, the company's revenues reached $1 million, most of which came from online advertising by leading multinationals such as Hewlett Parkard, Intel, Nokia, Compaq, and Audi. In July 2000, the company's shares were listed on NASDAQ. In October 1998, Dr. Charles Zhang was named by Time Digital to its Cyber Elite top 50. In July 2003, he was featured by Time Magazine as one of 15 Global Tech Gurus. In September 2003, Business Week listed Dr. Zhang as one of 25 global E-biz CEOs. He has been recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Global Leader of Tomorrow. Dr. Zhang regularly participates in leading international conferences, including the Fortune Global 500 Forum, Fortune Magazine roundtables, and World Economic Forum meetings. In July 2001 Zhang co-led an executive delegation to support Beijing's successful 2008 Olympic bid at the 112th International Olympic Committee Meeting in Moscow. In December 2001, upon the invitation of former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright, he joined the International Advisory Board of the Pew Global Attitudes Survey as an inaugural member. In March 2003, Zhang became a member of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. Because of his celebrity status in China, Zhang was recently appointed by the Chinese Ministry of Health as one of three ambassadors to raise AIDS awareness to stem the spread of that disease in China. His visibility both at home and abroad has led to his being dubbed "China's Bill Gates." Furthermore, similar to Steve Case, the public face of America Online, Charles Zhang is very much the public face of SOHU.com. In May 2003, as part of the SOHU-sponsored China Mount Everest team to celebrate the 50th anniversary of human conquest of the world's tallest mountain, Dr. Zhang climbed Mount Everest to an elevation of 6,666 meters (18,198 feet) above sea level. In his address, he explains why he stopped at 6,666 meters. Dr. Charles Zhang is a particularly appropriate executive for the Academy of Management to honor. He is a self-made man who was born in the waning years of the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). From his very humble beginnings in Xian, through education, vision, hard work, an indomitable will, and perseverance, Dr. Zhang has emerged as China's first true Internet celebrity. Dr. Zhang represents the new breed of executives in China (a country that has experienced the fastest growth rate in the world in the past two decades)—young, enterprising, adventurous, and believing that China's economic future does not rely solely on low-cost manufacturing but, more importantly, on rapid development in the information and high-technology sectors. In reflecting upon Dr. Charles Zhang's presentation, I could not help but realize how many of his observations about management and cross-national culture closely parallel much of what I have written and taught in the past two and one-half decades, some of which can be summarized below: We need cross-cultural understanding and mutual respect of cultural differences. My studies of business negotiations between East Asians (the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans) and western firms have revealed that while knowledge of cultural differences is not a critical factor to success, its absence can contribute to failure. Charles Zhang's allusion to the problems encountered by foreign multinationals in China supports this point. In my studies on the role of guanxi (connections), I found that, in general, the need to build good connections or relationships is more important to business success in China than it is in western societies. The examples that Dr. Zhang provided in his speech about how he overcame some of the challenges his company encountered, particularly in the initial years of operation, support the need to build such relationships. However, as I have concluded in my studies, reliance upon guanxi alone cannot guarantee success in China. Charles Zhang is a living testament to this fact—he is not related by birth to the influential government elite in China. He relied on technical competence instead to establish credibility in the world of business. Yet he has never failed to recognize the significant and complementary role that guanxi can play in facilitating and enabling efficient operations in China. As one who writes and researches about similarities and differences across cultures, I have surmised that one of the most salient differences between east and west is the eastern (Asian, perhaps) belief that management is more of an art or craft than a science. In his presentation, Charles Zhang emphasized the need to be a good craftsman to succeed in China. More importantly, he has demonstrated that despite his lack of knowledge of theories and principles of management, he has succeeded by just doing it. Charles Zhang's assertion that the Chinese can embrace western principles yet remain Chinese supports my conviction that modernization is not synonymous with westernization. Dr. Zhang himself epitomizes this fact. Despite his MIT education and U.S. work experience, his management philosophy and approach are heavily influenced by Confucianism, Taoism, and Chinese stratagems as exemplified in the 36 Stratagems and Sun Zi's Bingfa (translated as the Art of War). Often times, westerners and western companies err by assuming that if a country is modernized, then by definition it is also westernized. Developing corporate strategies and behavior based on such a misguided assumption can lead to very costly mistakes. Last, but certainly not least, Charles Zhang's success at a young age can be attributed in large part to his visionary skills. He wanted to build a company based on two major trends that he projected. He went out on a limb regarding this conviction, and his conviction paid off handsomely. As researchers and management educators, we ought to possess similar visionary skills and recognize future trends. Often times, to meet the publication standards of our journals, we are constrained by evidence-based research dealing with phenomena that have already occurred. This constraint can limit our ability to pay due attention to what is important in the future. While evidence-based research is undoubtedly important and has its role in management research and literature, Charles Zhang has shown in the case of China that there are alternative paths rather than the one best way. We too as researchers and management educators should entertain a diversity of research topics and/or approaches. In my opinion, as researchers and management educators, we too should try to envision the future and attempt to project what will constitute important topics worthy of investigation even though they might not be in the mainstream at this point. These projections should, of course, be based on well-informed and educated opinions. For example, I started to engage in research on international human resource management and cross-cultural management research long before they became "hot" topics. My current research on ex-host country nationals (EHCNs), while constituting a continuation of my earlier research on international human resource management, represents yet another such projection. EHCNs are individuals who share the same ethnic background as the people in the target culture to which they are assigned, be they self-initiated assignments or relocations by the corporate head office of multinational firms. The trend toward the use of EHCNs is growing in popularity among many transitional economies and some newly industrialized countries, such as China, many countries in Central and East Europe, and South Korea. Dr. Zhang is an outstanding example of an EHCN who has done well, both from his own career standpoint as well as service to his country of origin (China) and the country that played host to him for many years (the United States).

The article departs from the existing research treatment of expatriation as an individual-level phenomenon, and looks at the expatriation of work teams. We examine the performance management of expatriate teams brought in from 17 independent organizations to work on a new-product development project. We find that the teams faced diverse stakeholder expectations and that these stakeholders' expectations were a source of tension for the teams. The teams responded by adopting performance management strategies that tended to prioritize their respective home organizations' expectations. We discuss the vulnerability of contextual performance and the relative insignificance of national cultural differences in this expatriation context. We propose practical considerations and an agenda for further international human resource management (IHRM) research on expatriate teams.

PurposeThis study aims to examine the role of returnee managers that can affect the strategic-divestment decision of emerging-market firms (EM firms). Drawing on arguments from the upper echelons theory and international human resource mobility perspectives, this study aims to propose that returnee managers influence corporate divestitures when the business outlook is negative. In addition, this study aims to examine the interplay between returnee managers and CEOs, whose characteristics can foster or undermine the efforts of returnee managers to engage in corporate divestments.Design/methodology/approachThis study examines 278 firms from nine emerging economies. The negative binomial regression was employed to estimate the model. In the robustness checks, the logistic regression was adopted to confirm the earlier findings.FindingsThe empirical results support the notion that returnee managers strengthen the relationship between firm performance and divestments. Because of the limited liabilities of foreignness and outsidership, returnee managers can gain social trust and credibility through communication and social interaction. Furthermore, the results provide mixed support for the moderating effect of CEO characteristics on the performance–divestment relationship.Practical implicationsThis study reveals that returnee managers are a great asset for EM firms that aim to find synergies and upgrade their capabilities through asset reconfiguration, which is an essential activity of emerging market firms to integrate themselves into the global competition. Meanwhile, CEO characteristics can foster (through their education level) or hinder (due to their age) divestment attempts, influenced by returnee managers.Originality/valueThis study explores an understudied phenomenon in international business (IB): strategic divestment of EM firms. The literature that examines strategic divestment and corporate refocusing in emerging markets is extremely limited. Furthermore, this study explores the novel topic that intersects the international business (IB) and international human resource management (IHRM) research areas. Specifically, this study investigates the impact of returnee managers on strategic divestments.