co-ops; employee-owned firms; International human resource management; multinational company; organizational politics; practice transfer; Strategy and Management; Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management; Management of Technology and Innovation
Abstract :
[en] This paper examines the cross-national transfer of HRM practices at Up Group, an emblematic French multinational worker co-op. Our findings reveal that stakeholder pressure to disseminate the co-op’s core HRM practices to its foreign subsidiaries triggered two key strategic responses from the HQ member-owners: transfer circumvention and ceremonial transfer. Therefore, our study provides new insights into the political and contested nature of practice transfer by elucidating how MNCs actively engage in the selective and differential transfer of some of their core HRM practices to protect the HQ actors’ interests and preserve their position of power vis-à-vis the subsidiaries. In addition, our fine-grained analysis of the ceremonially transferred practices contributes to the literature on practice variation during diffusion processes in MNCs. Finally, by examining the challenges of the cross-national management of people in multinational worker co-ops, an increasingly important global player, this study addresses critical management scholars’ calls to broaden the horizons of IHRM research beyond the hegemonic analysis of for-profit shareholder-owned MNCs.
Disciplines :
Social, industrial & organizational psychology
Author, co-author :
Bretos, Ignacio; Department of Business Organization and Management, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Spain
Errasti, Anjel; GEZKI Institute of Cooperative Law and Social Economy, University of the Basque Country, Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain
The politics of selective and differential transfer of HRM practices in employee-owned MNCs: evidence from an emblematic European worker co-op
Publication date :
2024
Journal title :
International Journal of Human Resource Management
ISSN :
0958-5192
eISSN :
1466-4399
Publisher :
Routledge
Volume :
35
Issue :
4
Pages :
621 - 655
Peer reviewed :
Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi
Funders :
MICINN - Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades Eusko Jaurlaritza
Funding text :
This study was supported by Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades under grant F21140; Gobierno de Aragón under grant S28_20R; and Eusko Jaurlaritza under grant IT1711-22. The authors gratefully acknowledge the inputs of Carmen Marcuello, Imanol Basterretxea, Aingeru Ruiz, and participants at the 8th EMES Research Conference on Social Enterprise. The authors also express gratitude to members at Up Group for giving their time and support to this research. The first author thanks the invaluable support of Ara Bretos Ares, Ander Bretos Ares, Patricia Ares Bel, and Carmen Fernández Ortiz del Rio.
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