Foreign investment sensitivity to employment regulation: reassessing what really matters

Abstract

PurposeDrawing on the international business and IHRM literature, this study investigated the effects that employment regulation and its nature of enforcement have on foreign investment in emerging markets.Design/methodology/approachPanel regressions with time fixed effects were conducted for the period 2002–2017 using regulatory, human capital, and economic data for 34 developing nations. Robustness checks also were performed by varying the measures for key predictors along with the modes of analysis (i.e., Pooled OLS with clustered standard errors, generalized estimating equations (GEE), and instrumental variable (IV) regression with the generalized method of moments (GMM) approach).FindingsAlthough the totality of restrictions did not have an impact, FDI inflows were negatively related to the process strength of enforcement. This suggests investors place greater emphasis on de facto exposure than on de jure enactments, favoring nations less willing or able to push for compliance. In addition, while GDP growth had a positive impact on inward investment, the opposite was found for licensing restrictions and labor productivity. The remaining controls failed to display consistent relationships with foreign investment.Research limitations/implicationsData constraints precluded the inclusion of additional economies and years before 2001. It also was not possible to directly evaluate the influence of labor costs without a standardized measure for developing nations. This entered at best indirectly in GDP per capita, which was tested.Practical implicationsThese findings have important implications for social responsibility, suggesting more aggressive monitoring is needed of investment criteria and government relations. At a minimum, social auditing and reporting should better document overt commitments to rights-adherence and compliance-partnering. CSR stakeholders can work in tandem, tracking enforcement more closely and lobbying governments to discourage policies of lax enforcement.Originality/valueThis is the first study to assess how legal stock and its manner of enforcement influence FDI inflows. Improving on earlier studies, employment law was measured with a broad legal scale that was annually adjusted. Enforcement was evaluated in two different forms, both as process strength and administrative capacity – the former drawing investors' attention.