Influence Of National Institutions Research Articles

Governance of new product design: The influence of national institutions

This paper builds on institutional economics theory to analyze whether and how the institutional environment shapes the micro-level governance decisions related to innovation activities. Specifically, we suggest that the extent of co-creation with value-chain partners in new product design – a relational form of governance – is influenced by the institutional setting of the focal firm. Empirically, we rely on data on 636 manufacturers in 21 countries. Results from a hierarchical probit regression show that co-creation is more likely for firms that operate in countries with weak rule-of-law and/or atrophic technological infrastructures. We discuss the implications for theory and practice.

Sub-national Institutions and Inward Foreign Direct Investment: Effects of Political Party Pendulum Swings

ABSTRACT While the influence of national institutions is well-documented, we theorize and investigate how sub-national institutions affect localization of foreign direct investment into a sub-national geographic area. Specifically, we examine the effect of county-level political ideology and party majority affiliation in the United States on inward foreign direct investment through foreign-sourced greenfield start-ups in that county. As predicted, in examination of 2,978 counties (94.7% of all US counties), the dichotomous majority party affiliation (Republican versus Democrat) differentially influenced foreign-sourced greenfields. Significantly decreased levels of foreign-sourced greenfields were experienced in counties during a Republican majority relative to Democratic, all else being held equal.

The Influence of National Institutions on Multimarket Contact in the Global Mobile Phone Industry

We argue that multinational enterprises (MNEs) that use multimarket contact (MMC) to coordinate strategy with rivals in host countries must contend with the institutional quality of host countries. Drawing on signaling theory and institution-based view, we propose that institutional quality can influence the observability of actions by an MNE’s rivals in a host country, thereby affecting the MNE’s ability to use MMC to establish mutual forbearance with host country rivals. We test our hypotheses using a sample of 85 mobile phone vendors in 46 countries.

Adaptation of Compensation Practice in China: The Role of Sub-National Institutions

ABSTRACTUnlike previous research that has largely focused on the influence of national institutions on human resource management practices in China, our study taps into the role of sub-national institutions. We demonstrate, via a qualitative configurational analysis, that foreign subsidiaries of multinational corporations still adapt HQ compensation practice to the local context despite low regulatory pressure and low mobility of skills at the sub-national level. This adaptation is facilitated by a decentralized structure in the multinational corporation. Our study also shows that high regulatory pressure and high portability of skills at the sub-national level alone are sufficient to induce local adaptation of compensation practice. Our explanation points to the significant role played by sub-national institutions in large and rapidly changing emerging economies and contributes to research on local adaptation of HRM practice in China. It offers an insight into forms of institutional agency by political and economic actors at local levels of governance as they attempt to influence the skills and human resources available for MNCs through regulatory means.

How National Institutions Limit Turnaround Strategies and Human Resource Management: A Comparative Study in the Airline Industry

The influence of national institutions, particularly employee representation, on managers’ turnaround strategies remains largely unexplored in the literature. Therefore, this paper assesses the pressures that affected two European airline companies, British Airways (BA) and Iberia, and their turnaround responses in a context of economic crisis and austerity, particularly from the perspective of strategic human resource management (SHRM). Our case studies show that when national institutions grant a number of rights to employee representatives, an innovative HRM strategy enables the recovery strategy required to deal with internal sources of decline. In contrast, when national institutions provide fewer rights to employee representatives, there is room for company HRM strategy to challenge or resist institutional pressures. Our research focuses particularly on how coercive pressures exerted by employee representation, according to the legal framework governing labor relations, affect turnaround strategies.

How do sustainability reports from the Nordic and the Mediterranean European countries compare

This study investigates the sustainability reporting practices of companies based in the Nordic and the Mediterranean European countries for the period 2013–2015. Its purpose is to analyse to what extent, if any, are there differences in these practices. It seeks to capture the influence of national institutions and firm specific characteristics in sustainability reporting. Non-parametric statistics are used to analyse some factors which influence disclosure, namely country, industry affiliation, type of property, listing status and size. In accordance with the theoretical frame used, that of the varieties of capitalism approach, findings suggest that in general companies from Mediterranean European countries present higher levels of engagement with the Global Reporting Initiative.

Influence of National Institutions on the Corporate Social Responsibility Practices of Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises in the Food-processing Industry: Differences Between France and Morocco

This paper analyzes how national institutions impact corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the food-processing industries of France and Morocco. In this study, CSR practices are defined around two main dimensions: corporate performance (financial vs. global) and the CSR approach (defensive vs. active). Qualitative data were collected during semi-structured interviews with SME managers in charge of CSR issues. We then performed a content analysis. Our study shows that there is a distinct difference between the CSR practices adopted by SMEs in France and Morocco. Indeed, the findings suggest that under the rule-based governance system of France, most SMEs view CSR as an economic tool and it is adopted as an opportunity-seeking perspective anchored in the search for global performance. The findings also show that under the relationship-based governance system of Morocco, SMEs mainly see CSR from a constraint-reducing perspective. However, some Moroccan SMEs have begun to see the economic opportunities of CSR, especially in accessing foreign markets.

Firms’ corporate social responsibility behavior: An integration of institutional and profit maximization approaches

Understanding firms’ behavior across countries – a key concern in the international business literature – requires the joint consideration of both institutional influences and firms’ profit maximization goals. In the corporate social responsibility (CSR) area, however, researchers have utilized theories that take into account only one or the other – institutional theory, which explains CSR as legitimacy-seeking activities in line with national-level institutions, or economic-based approaches that consider CSR effects only in terms of firm profitability. While an institutional argument implies convergence in CSR behavior among firms in similar institutional contexts, profit maximization logic treats CSR as a firm-specific behavior. We integrate these perspectives by demonstrating the moderating effects of firms’ economic motivations for seeking legitimacy on the relationship between institutional environment and CSR responsiveness. We argue that variations in firms’ economic visibility and economic vulnerability can bring about differences in their need for societal goodwill, and in turn, their legitimacy seeking. Findings on a database of apparel firms’ employee-related CSR across 23 countries support this overall argument. The integration of such fundamentally different theoretical perspectives allows us to contribute new theoretical insights to international business on the influence of national institutions on firms’ behavior.

Multi-Level Perspectives on the Causes of Job Design

High quality job design has been identified as one of the most important determinants of employee well-being and performance, and –hence- firm performance. Although research has settled on the identification of the key job characteristics and their moderating and mediating variables, surprisingly many employees are still working in low quality jobs. Against this background, this symposium draws attention to the determinants or causes of job design. Specifically, throughout the contributions we build a multilevel perspective and tap into (1) job crafting of individual employees, (2) job crafting of coworkers, (3) implicit theories of job designers, (4) organizational values and (5) national institutions as antecedents of job characteristics. This symposium provides theoretical and empirical papers from around the globe, which rely on high quality data and state of the art methodology. Our work therefore invites scholars to take the research on job design to the next level and provides insight in how good job design might be facilitated by taking a multi-stakeholder perspective. Job Crafting: A multi-level Typology and Integrated Framework Presenter: Rachel Nayani; Norwich Business School Presenter: Kevin Daniels; Norwich Business School Presenter: Olga Tregaskis; Norwich Business School How Intrinsic and Extrinsic Organization Values Relate to Job Demands and Job Resources. Presenter: Anja Van den Broeck; KU Leuven Presenter: Yannick Griep; Vrije U. Brussel Presenter: Elfi Baillien; KU Leuven Presenter: Maarten Sercu; External Service for Prevention and Protection at work Presenter: Hans De Witte; KU Leuven Presenter: Lode Godderis; Department of Public Health and Primary Care Enjoyment of Work and Driven to Work as Interacting Motivations to Job Craft Presenter: Gregory Allen Laurence; U. of Michigan, Flint Presenter: Yitzhak Fried; Syracuse U. The Influence of National Institutions on the Quality of Job Design in Europe from 1995 to 2010 Presenter: David Holman; The U. of Manchester Designing Work: What Task Allocations Come Naturally? Presenter: Sharon K. Parker; U. of Western Australia Presenter: Daniela Andrei; U. of Western Australia, Accelerated Learning Laboratory

The management of change. Local union responses to company-level restructuring in France and Ireland – a study between and within countries

We argue that, notwithstanding the importance of national industrial relations systems in shaping employment outcomes in situations of company restructuring, differences within countries also exist that cannot be explained by the influence of national institutions. Local union activity can affect corporate restructuring and influence how companies manage restructuring within the EU. The capacity of local unions to use company-based resources and the unions’ internal and external social relationships shape the variations in local union responses. In addition, our research suggests that the interplay of these factors in the socio-economic context of restructuring is crucial in explaining variations within countries. The article argues for the need to focus on these company-level developments as a crucial step in undertaking comparative industrial relations research.

Bringing social institutions into global value chain analysis: the case of salmon farming in Chile

Global value chain (GVC) analysis has been developed to understand the changing nature of global production and distribution processes, but it has not been widely adopted by sociologists to understand the implications of globalization for work, employment and the levers for upgrading labour conditions. To understand the extent to which insertion in GVCs creates opportunities for the upgrading of labour and skills, it is necessary to consider the influence of national institutions, alongside internationally dispersed relationships between companies in different parts of the value chain. By examining the production of farmed salmon in Chile, the article explores the interactions between national institutions for innovation and skills development and locally based producers’ insertion in the global value chain.

Ownership, R&D and export intensities of automotive parts firms in East Asia

This study examines ownership differences in R&D and export intensities in a sample of auto-parts firms from China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan. The influence of national institutions and meso-organizations is evident from the higher firm-level R&D intensity in countries with stronger high-tech infrastructure than those with weaker infrastructures regardless of ownership differences. The results show that foreign firms rely much more on home plants to undertake R&D. The pooled regressions show higher R&D intensities in local rather than in foreign firms, thus demonstrating the importance of national policy regimes. Export-orientation was highly correlated with R&D intensities in the local sample, which shows the influence both ways of firm-level efforts to raise technological intensity levels to compete in export markets, as well as the impact of the latter on the former. The results also show that foreign firms are much more export-oriented than local firms.