Subsidiary Employees Research Articles

The Impact of Emotional Work And Work Stress On The Work-Life Balance of Employees In Private Banking Subsidiaries

Emotional labor is an integral part of many jobs, especially those that involve interactions with other people. Employees who perform emotional labor are required to manage their emotions and display emotions that are appropriate to the demands of the job. This research aims to analyze the impact of emotional labor on employees' work-life balance. This research uses quantitative research. The data collection technique used was a questionnaire. The data that has been collected is then analyzed in the validity test, reliability test, normality test, and regression test. The results showed that emotional labor and work stress affect employees' work-life balance. Employees who do emotional labor and work stress are more likely to experience fatigue, and difficulty separating work life and personal life. Companies need to overcome these negative impacts, including with various social support company policies that support work-life balance can help employees overcome the negative impacts of emotional labor and work stress.

Foreign language proficiency, career behaviors, and turnover‐related outcomes: A social cognitive career theory perspective of host country national employees in foreign subsidiaries

AbstractWhile the majority of employees in foreign subsidiaries are host country nationals (HCNs) who use English as a second language in their work tasks, little research focuses on the impact of English proficiency on their career‐related behaviors and outcomes. This paper applies social cognitive career theory (SCCT) to link HCN employees' English proficiency to their career‐related behaviors and outcomes in two time‐lagged studies in foreign subsidiaries. Study 1 conducted with 542 HCN employees in the Philippines suggests that career environment exploration mediates the positive English proficiency–turnover intention relationship. Study 2 conducted with 493 HCN employees in Japan suggests self‐initiated headhunter contacts to mediate the positive English proficiency–voluntary turnover relationship and job embeddedness moderate the self‐initiated headhunter contact‐turnover relationship.

Angry leaders and coworkers: Cross-cultural evaluation of anger expression through high-status and equal-status roles

Anger expressed in organizations conveys potent social information that influences social perceptions and determines subsequent relationships among employees. The present research examined how cultural contexts and hierarchical structure of a given relationship interact to shape perceptions of anger expression. Conducting a survey on subsidiary employees of a multinational high-tech company, Study 1 showed that employees from the Confucian Asian culture (specifically Korea) evaluate anger expressed by high-status counterparts (i.e., managers) more positively in terms of appropriateness and effectiveness compared to those from the Anglo culture (specifically the United States). Study 2, which was based on different samples from the same company, showed that employees from another Confucian Asian country (Japan), compared to those from the Anglo culture (the United States), provide more positive evaluations of the anger expressed by high-status counterparts. In contrast, Study 2 further showed that this cultural difference is reversed when anger is expressed by equal-status counterparts (coworkers). Finally, Study 3 replicated the findings of Study 2 using online-recruited samples and further demonstrated that Confucian Asian sample (Koreans) is more likely to decide to hire a job applicant who expressed anger as a leader than Anglo sample (Americans) is. In contrast, this pattern is reversed when considering a job applicant who expressed anger as a coworker. Theoretical and practical implications for social emotions and cross-cultural management are discussed.

Culture fit and employee engagement in foreign subsidiaries: Evidence from Chinese multinational enterprises in the United States

Engaging local employees in foreign subsidiaries has emerged as a critical concern for Chinese multinational enterprises (MNEs). This study employs the theoretical framework of culture fit to conduct an inductive multiple-case study of Chinese subsidiaries in the United States. We examine how culture fit between the organizational and societal levels is manifested through human resource management practices at the foreign subsidiaries of Chinese MNEs. Particularly, we demonstrate how culture fit or misfit influences the intellectual, social, and affective engagement outcomes of local employees at the individual level. This study extends the understanding of culture fit across multiple levels and its direct impact on employee engagement. The findings provide valuable managerial implications for global human resource managers to effectively engage their culturally diverse workforces.

How does the negotiation between “me” and “we” in professional identity influence interpersonal horizontal knowledge sharing in multinational enterprises: A conceptual model

Professional identity is an identity that includes two aspects, the personal self (“me”) and the social self (“we”), which are in constant negotiation with each other. The interplay of these two aspects is important because it can shift identity-related motivation and behavior but has received relatively little attention in international business research to date. Recognizing identity dynamics can enrich our understanding of the motivations and behaviors of subsidiary employees in sharing knowledge with overseas colleagues. We develop a conceptual model to reveal the relationship between identity dynamics and interpersonal horizontal knowledge sharing in multinational enterprises. Specifically,- we propose that the different negotiation states between the personal self and the social self of professional identity are related to with whom an employee shares knowledge and what type of knowledge they share. Our article contributes to the knowledge sharing literature by uncovering the psychological mechanisms that influence the behavior of individuals in horizontal knowledge diffusion.

More effective solutions? Senior managers and non‐routine problem solving

AbstractResearch SummarySolving non‐routine problems—problems for which current organizational, recurrent action patterns do not offer a predetermined, effective solution—can be an important source of value creation. When these problems occur in subsidiaries of multinational corporations, senior headquarters managers can potentially help solve them. However, whether their involvement is beneficial rests upon the assumptions that they know which knowledge is appropriate and that their involvement does not negatively influence the problem solving process. We challenge these assumptions and theorize that the involvement of senior headquarters managers is negatively related to solution effectiveness, unless senior subsidiary managers are also involved, and especially if problems have an external locus (i.e., primarily relate to the firm's products and services). Our robust results are consistent with our theory.Managerial SummaryCompanies are often faced with new problems, which represent an opportunity for organizational improvements. But how different types of senior managers influence problem solving effectiveness has remained unclear. Studying problems occurring in foreign subsidiaries of multinational corporations, we find that the involvement of senior headquarters managers is negatively related to problem solving effectiveness. Two reasons explain this result: senior headquarters managers often lack necessary understanding of their subsidiaries' contexts; and their involvement diminishes active participation of subsidiary employees. The negative relationship is especially strong when problems relate to products and services (as opposed to internal processes). Furthermore, we find that senior subsidiary managers can mitigate the negative consequences related to senior headquarters managers' involvement.

Subsidiary closures and relocations in the multinational enterprise: Reinstating cooperation in subsidiaries to enable knowledge transfer

Subsidiary closures and relocations, a process whereby a multinational enterprise (MNE) closes down a subsidiary and relocates its activities, are commonplace and increasing. Yet we lack an understanding of how knowledge in such situations can be successfully transferred to prevent loss and provide for future knowledge recombination in the MNE. Compared to periods of normal operation, knowledge sharing during subsidiary relocations is likely compromised by diminished sender motivation. In a detailed case study of a subsidiary closure and relocation, we find that the announcement of a subsidiary closure can lead to a break in cooperative behavior that inhibits knowledge transfer. It is therefore critical to reinstate cooperative behavior among subsidiary employees. Reinstatement can be achieved through a set of subsidiary leadership practices that affect the emotions of employees and subsidiary identity. This finding contributes to our understanding of knowledge transfer dynamics in MNEs during subsidiary relocations and closures, extends theory on the practices of subsidiary leadership in subsidiary death and adds to our understanding of identity in MNEs.

Discontinuity of required oral and literacy skills across job roles in achieving high work performance: An fsQCA approach

This study explores how the English proficiency of local employees in foreign subsidiaries of multinational enterprises mitigates language barriers and improves their work performance. A research framework is developed by introducing the multidimensionality of foreign language proficiency and employing insights from applied linguistics, the brain-drain model, and media synchronicity theory. By using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis for data analysis, this study finds that the relative importance of English literacy skill to oral skill in achieving high work performance varies across positions in foreign subsidiaries. Discontinuity of required linguistic skills between managerial and nonmanagerial positions implies that incremental development of a skill set required for lower positions does not assure successful capability development toward upper positions. This study also finds that competence that supports appropriate usage of English in a specific context plays an important role in mitigating language barriers and achieving high work performance.

Retaining Marketing Professionals in Foreign MNC Subsidiaries: The Role of Learning Opportunities

Skilled marketing professionals are of strategic importance for foreign MNC subsidiaries because they understand the particularities of local customers and can balance them with the MNC’s global marketing strategies. However, the factors keeping them from leaving for other career opportunities are hardly understood. We reason that MNC subsidiaries are more likely to retain marketing professionals if they can offer valuable learning opportunities. We suggest that these arise when subsidiaries have digital expertise that enables professionals to deploy digital technologies in a creative way for innovative marketing. Integrating the learning opportunities from digital expertise for innovative marketing with strategic hu-man capital mechanisms explaining retention, we argue that digital expertise creates non-monetary incentives and hence voluntary mobility constraints for marketing professionals. Moreover, we argue that the retention effect from digital expertise is stronger than for a subsidiary’s R&D expertise and in subsidiaries specialized in marketing activities. We test and support all hypotheses using employer-employee data for 5181 marketing professionals working for 539 foreign MNC subsidiaries in Denmark from 2010 to 2012. Our findings have important implications for the persistence of marketing capabilities in MNC subsidiaries and the effect of digital expertise for the retention of skilled subsidiary employees.

Headhunter-assisted recruiting practices in foreign subsidiaries and their (dys)functional effects: An institutional work perspective

This paper applies the institutional work perspective to elucidate how and why dysfunctional effects are reproduced by HRM practices. Our analysis of headhunter-assisted recruitment of local employees in foreign subsidiaries demonstrates how mutual dependence, self-interests, and a stratified labor market lead to specific candidate search criteria and limit the scope of search. It also shows how these practices result in limited positive effects from the key actors’ perspective, but in the long run reproduce voluntary turnover, communication-competence misalignment, and limited use of local talent pools. However, because these practices have become commonly used, the actors are unwilling and/or unable to change the system.

Managing Foreign Subsidiaries Remotely: The Role of Culture in Techno-Stress Appraisal and Well-Being

Multinational enterprises’ increased dependence on work-enabling technologies to manage global operations may contribute to foreign subsidiary employees’ techno-stress (i.e., stress from interacting with technology). However, techno-stress may have either a positive or negative effect on employee and customer engagement, depending on the employee's appraisal of the techno-stressors. Drawing on transactional stress theory, the authors provide a conceptual model and research propositions to introduce the concept of techno-stress to international marketing scholars. The authors explore the role of the information systems environment and culture in employees’ appraisal of techno-stressors and their ultimate effects on employees’ well-being and performance. These propositions aim to encourage research that provides a fuller context of the technology-related challenges that multinationals may face in building employee and customer engagement across their subsidiary networks.

Dual Organizational Identification in Multinational Enterprises and Interpersonal Horizontal Knowledge Sharing: A Conceptual Model

How does a subsidiary employees' dual organizational identification (DOI) – with both the local subsidiary and the overall corporation – shape the pattern of interpersonal horizontal knowledge sharing (IHKS) in multinational enterprises (MNEs)? This conceptual article develops a conceptual model demonstrating the relationships between subsidiary employees' DOI and their IHKS patterns (i.e., quantity, quality, and timing). We propose that subsidiary-oriented DOI is negatively associated with IHKS, while MNE-oriented DOI has the opposite effect. Building on this central argument, we posit that the geographic distance, relative competence, and interpersonal similarity between employees and colleagues at other subsidiaries can moderate the relationship between DOI and IHKS and cause unevenness in IHKS patterns that may aggregate at the corporate level, resulting in uneven knowledge flows in the whole MNE system. Our theorizing advances understanding of intra-MNE knowledge sharing by yielding novel propositions about the predictors of IHKS and uneven knowledge flows in MNE. • Subsidiary-oriented dual organizational identification hampers interpersonal horizontal knowledge sharing in MNEs • MNE-oriented dual organizational identification facilitates interpersonal horizontal knowledge sharing in MNEs • Geographic distance, relative competence and interpersonal similarity moderate the impact of subsidiary- or MNE-oriented DOI on interpersonal horizontal knowledge sharing in MNEs • The aggregate effect of the uneven patterns of interpersonal horizontal knowledge sharing may result in uneven knowledge flows in the whole MNE system

Here today, gone tomorrow: A mixed-method study on headhunter-intermediated recruitment practices

While unsolicited job offers are the strongest pull factor driving turnover, little is known about headhunters’ candidate contacts and outcomes. Drawing on the unfolding model of voluntary turnover (Lee & Mitchell, 1994) and research on headhunters, this study examines what kind of employees are contacted by headhunters and why some of them leave. Using the case of Japan, where subsidiaries of foreign multinational corporations use extensively headhunters to recruit host country national employees (HCNs), we first conducted interviews with 131 expatriate managers (clients), contingency-based headhunters, and HCN employees (candidates). The findings suggest that headhunters’ contacts were guided by HCNs’ English proficiency, tenure, and previous placement by headhunters. The findings also suggest that headhunters’ contacts can drive up turnover. To further examine the antecedents and outcomes of headhunter contacts, we collected time-lagged survey data from 456 HCN employees in foreign subsidiaries. In addition to confirming our interview findings, the survey findings also suggest that headhunters’ contacts have a positive relationship with HCN employees’ voluntary turnover.

Subsidiary power, cultural intelligence and interpersonal knowledge transfer between subsidiaries within the multinational enterprise

We propose that individual-level knowledge transfer between subsidiaries within a multinational enterprise depends on the perceived relative power of the subsidiary and the cultural intelligence of individuals. Using a sample of 333 research and development (R&D) subsidiary employees of foreign Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) in India, we find that the perceived subsidiary power has a direct positive significant effect on knowledge sharing, and an indirect significant effect, through organizational identification, on knowledge seeking. Further, cultural intelligence moderates the effect of organizational identification on knowledge seeking, and the indirect effect of the perceived subsidiary power on it. The findings highlight the role of organizational identification and cultural intelligence in explaining the impact of the perceived subsidiary power on interpersonal knowledge transfer within the MNE.

Expatriate justice and host country nationals' work outcomes: Does host country nationals' language proficiency matter?

Abstract In this paper, we apply uncertainty management theory (UMT) to hypothesize that host country national (HCN) employees in foreign subsidiaries use the information of expatriates' procedural and distributive justice in their performance evaluations to reduce uncertainty about whether they trust these expatriates, which subsequently influence HCNs' job satisfaction and turnover intention. We also integrate UMT with research on language in MNCs to hypothesize that the level of HCN's English proficiency creates the context in which the aforementioned relationships are stronger when HCNs' English proficiency is high. Data collected from 501 HCNs in foreign subsidiaries in Japan provided support for these hypotheses. This study contributes to research on international management by focusing on HCNs' fairness perceptions, uncertainty, and English language proficiency in performance evaluations conducted by expatriates in foreign subsidiaries.

Jurisdictions with lowest effective tax rates in the post-BEPS landscape - CbCR evidence and implications.

The research revolves around the topic of offshore destinations and role of tax in the decision where to locate TNCs’ investments or relocate employees. This paper exploits rich country-by-country reporting (CbCR) data that banking institutions operating in the EU with annual turnover over 750 million are obliged to provide publicly as of 2014 on a yearly basis. Database includes 47 banks over 5 years and 27,533 datapoints. I explore whether there is any connection between effective tax rate (ETR) and number of employees in respective subsidiaries of banking institutions. In consequent multiple regression analysis, I add more variables to the model: such as profitability, labour productivity, and other controlling variables. Conclusion is that there is no significant correlation between ETR and employee count and that TNCs tend to locate their employees on a different basis. This is a unique analysis of data that can be used by other tax avoidance researchers and policy makers.

Challenging the cross-national transfer of diversity management in MNCs: Exploring the ‘identity effects’ of diversity discourses

I develop a critique of the cross-national transfer of diversity management in multinational companies. Adopting a critical approach to diversity management, and considering diversity as a discourse, I examine how and why employees in an overseas subsidiary challenged the diversity practices transferred by their foreign parent company. Drawing on a case study of a Sri Lankan knowledge work firm that was in the process of implementing its Western parent company’s Diversity Management agenda, which they had had little input in shaping, I highlight how challenge is triggered by a desire to reject unfavourable subject positions attributed to individuals in transferred discourses of diversity and to reposition the self more favourably. My contribution involves showing how dynamic power relations between parents and subsidiaries shape the global transfer of diversity across MNCs, depicting subsidiary employees as agentic subjects as opposed to passive recipients.

Role of authentic employer brands in addressing the integration-responsiveness problem in religiously-sensitive environments

PurposeMultinational enterprises (MNEs) face twin pressures of maintaining a globally integrated brand while remaining responsive to local demands. Previous research has shown that misunderstandings may surface from the way subsidiary employees read corporate messages, particularly if institutional and social distances between corporate headquarters (HQs) and subsidiaries are wide. Employer branding is sometimes used to help resolve such tensions if HQs are sensitive to signals from their subsidiaries in the policy development process. Thus, this paper addresses the question: to what extent does institutional proximity facilitates the creation and maintenance of socially legitimate employer brands in MNE subsidiaries.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses an interpretive approach in analysing two cases of multinational subsidiaries operating in Pakistan but with divergent HQ institutional distances (Northern Europe and Middle East). A qualitative approach to data collection was taken and ten semi-structured interviews with senior and middle managers and two focus groups of six lower level employees in each case organization were conducted.FindingsThe findings suggest that institutional proximity played a secondary role in establishing a legitimate employer brand whereas a receptive and responsive signalling process was of greater importance. The authenticity of the employer brand was stronger in the organization that was more receptive to the incoming signals from local employees compared to the firm that was rather institutionally closer due to shared customs and culture.Practical implicationsFindings point to the significance of the character and intensity of the employment relationship at a micro level as the honesty and credibility of organizational messages and interpreted and re-interpreted at a localized level, thereby bearing serious implications for both global and local managers.Originality/valueThese findings contribute to the IHRM literature on the integration-responsiveness problem, to the debate over institutional proximity, and to the influence of religion on people management.

When more is not better: A curvilinear relationship between foreign language proficiency and social categorization

Expatriate host country language proficiency is predominately assumed to have a negative linear relationship with expatriate social categorization – as outgroup members – by host country national (HCN) employees in foreign subsidiaries. Departing from this assumption, we use social identity theory (SIT) and SIT-based sociolinguistics to hypothesize that expatriate host country language proficiency, due to identity threat, has a curvilinear U-shaped relationship with HCNs’ expatriate outgroup categorization: at first, outgroup categorization decreases with increasing expatriates’ language proficiency, but, from a certain point onwards, it increases because “too good” language proficiency violates salient intergroup boundaries between HCNs and expatriates. Due to their key roles in social categorization, we also examine whether HCN allocentrism and uncertainty avoidance moderate the proposed curvilinear relationship. Results from data collected from 1166 HCN employees in 956 foreign subsidiaries in Japan provide support for the main curvilinear relationship and the moderating curvilinear relationship of uncertainty avoidance. Our results suggest that the language-proficient expatriate social categorization relationship is more complex than previous international business research has evoked. Our study contributes to the international business literature by casting doubt on the widely held assumption that expatriate adaptation towards the host country always carries beneficial effects. Our study cautions, in particular, against the common assumption that higher proficiency in the host country language will automatically lead to better relationships with HCNs in foreign subsidiaries.

How Inpatriates Internalize Corporate Values at Headquarters: The Role of Developmental Job Assignments and Psychosocial Mentoring

Multinational companies (MNCs) often invite foreign subsidiary employees or inpatriates to their headquarters (HQ) to internalize the MNCs’ corporate values and transfer those values to their subsidiaries after repatriation. However, there is a lack of understanding about how and why inpatriates internalize these corporate values during their HQ experiences. By integrating the perspectives of international adjustment and organizational socialization with that of on-the-job learning, we develop a model wherein the job-related and psychosocial factors that inpatriates encounter at HQ promote their internalization of corporate values. Using a sample of 110 foreign subsidiary employee–supervisor dyads from the HQ of a Japanese MNC to which the employees were assigned as inpatriates, we found that developmental job assignments and psychosocial mentoring during inpatriation influenced the internalization of corporate values, which was partially and sequentially mediated by proactive socialization behavior and organizational identification. This study’s findings have significant implications for the theory and practice of inpatriation management, particularly with regard to how MNCs promote the internalization of corporate values among inpatriates.