Towards an integrative framework of strategic international human resource control: the case of Taiwanese subsidiaries in the People's Republic of China

Abstract

This study integrates the resource-based view of the firm, the resource dependence model, institutionalism theory and the cybernetic system model into a framework to investigate the determinants of international human resource (IHR) control at the subsidiary level. The effects of competitive strategies and the mediating effects of inter-organizational interdependencies on three different dimensions of IHR control (input, behaviour and output) were studied by using a sample of 101 Taiwanese subsidiaries operating in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Four notable associations were found: (1) a robust direct relationship between the adoption of a low-cost strategy and two dimensions of IHR control (behaviour and output) was testified; (2) an indirect effect of a low-cost strategy on IHR input control through dependence on the parent's resources was found; (3) the direct relationship between local differentiation strategy and IHR input control could not be testified because a positive mediating effect of dependence on local resources counteracted the negative mediating effect of dependence on parents resources; (4) the direct effects of dependence on local resources on the IHR input control and dependence on parent's resources on IHR input control and behavioural control were testified.