Psychological capital and the intent to pursue employment with developed and emerging market multinational corporations

Abstract

The entrance of emerging market multinational corporations (EMNCs) into developed markets and their subsequent demand for western talent is an important new research topic in the field of human resource development (HRD). Upon entering developed markets, EMNCs will find themselves competing with a host of well-established western firms for the same limited pool of talent. Due to possible liability of origin issues, EMNCs may be perceived as less attractive employers. Human resource development professionals tasked with helping these newly arrived firms to recruit necessary talent will find the ability to identify those individuals most likely to pursue employment with an EMNC highly beneficial. In pursuit of this goal, five hypotheses were tested on 703 American and European respondents. Specifically, we examined the interaction between the level of psychological capital of western job seekers and their intent to pursue employment in order to identify possible predispositions for finding EMNCs as attractive employers.