Browsing by Author "Wood, Geoffrey"
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Item Open Access Achieving sustainable development goals through common-good HRM: Context, approach and practice(SAGE, 2024-05-04) Aust, Ina; Cooke, Fang Lee; Muller-Camen, Michael; Wood, GeoffreyThis introduction to the special issue Achieving Sustainable Development Goals through Common-Good HRM: Context, approach and practice draws the links between the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the concept of Common-Good HRM and the practice of human resource management (HRM) to extend intellectual and empirical insights into this important field. Particular attention is accorded to the collective social and environmental dimensions of SDGs and the place of HRM in contributing to the ‘common good’ within and beyond the workplace. Firms may create space and incentives for HRM to promote sustainability, or actively work to constrain meaningful action in this regard. This collection brings together a broad cross-section of articles dealing with the SDGs and HRM, identifying emerging common ground and contestation as a basis for future HRM theory building, empirical enquiry and practice.Item Open Access The adverse consequences of quantitative easing (QE): international capital flows and corporate debt growth in China(Oxford University Press, 2024-03-23) Maiani, Stefano; Lamla, Michael; Wood, Geoffrey; Yvonne, EhrsteinThe economic institutionalist literature often suggests that sub-optimal institutional arrangements impart unique distortions in China, and excessive corporate debt is a symptom of this condition. However, lax monetary policies after the global financial crisis, and specifically, quantitative easing have led to concerns about debt bubbles under a wide range of institutional regimes. This study draws on data from Chinese listed firms, supplemented by numerous macroeconomic control variables, to isolate the effect of international capital flows from other drivers of firm leverage. We conclude that the rise in, and distribution of, Chinese corporate debt can partly be ascribed to the effects of monetary policy outside of China and that Chinese institutional features amplify these effects. Whilst Chinese firms are affected by developments in the global financial ecosystem, domestic institutional realities and distortions may unevenly add their own particular effects, providing further support for and extending the variegated capitalism literature.Item Open Access Building higher value-added firm practices in challenging contexts: formal networks and talent management in Turkey(Sage, 2024-05-29) Demirbag, Mehmet; Tatoglu, Ekrem; Wood, Geoffrey; Glaister, Alison J.; Zaim, Selim; Nair, Smitha R.Where do high-impact human resources management practices thrive, and how do they make a difference in environments with limited institutional support? This study delves into the realm of talent management (TM) in Turkey, where institutional coverage is incomplete and unstable. Drawing on survey data, we explore the conditions under which TM succeeds, supplementing previous research on internal networks by examining the impact of external networks that encompass the entire firm. We find that when firms have closer ties with customers, suppliers and competitors (and hence, the basis for formal network tie building), TM is more prevalent and more likely to be successful. While conventional wisdom in comparative institutional literature suggests that such dense ties might be less effective in emerging markets owing to the absence of advanced complementarities found in mature economies, our study challenges these assumptions. In the eyes of managers, TM is not merely a tool to overcome disadvantages; it is perceived as a source of opportunities. This prompts a critical question: what specific advantages does the emerging economy system confer on firms embracing TM? Our study seeks to unravel these dynamics and contribute to a deeper understanding of the interplay between institutional contexts and TM.Item Open Access Closer, stronger, and brighter: bringing IB and IHRM together through the lens of Sustainable Development Goals(Taylor & Francis, 2023-09-01) Lee Cooke, Fang; Wood, GeoffreyDespite the shared research interest in multinational enterprises (MNEs) in international business (IB) and international human resource management (IHRM), the two fields of studies have been criticized for the lack of dialogues and collaborations that might be beneficial to extending the scope of knowledge in each. At the same time, both IB and IHRM have expanded into the international development area, evidenced by the growing interest in the role of MNEs in promoting or hampering the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This perspective paper aims to address some of the critiques, challenge existing assumptions, and provide examples of research that critically examines the role of MNEs in promoting or hampering the realization of the SDGs. This paper highlights the emerging common ground between IB and IHRM, and identifies agendas for future theoretical and applied enquiries.Item Embargo Cosmopolitanism and its aftermath: The rise and fall of Greek and Turkish business in Alexandria(Taylor & Francis, 2023-06-21) Bischoff, Christine; Demirbag, Mehmet; Wood, GeoffreyThis article explores the rise and fall of Greek and Turkish business and commerce in Alexandria, Egypt. As the existing literature alerts us, shifting forms of colonial rule made for a complex and multifaceted cosmopolitanism, in which each community secured a distinct economic space. In part, this was due to the insertion of Alexandria into the growing world economy of the nineteenth century, which allowed for both the rise of modern businesses in trade and manufacturing, and a resurgence of quasi feudal, yet export orientated, forms of agricultural production; we evaluate this process through recourse to state and private sector archives. It is concluded that neither community was able to survive the rise of Egyptian nationalism and the diminishing space it allotted to ethnic business. We explore the implications of these findings for the study of business, cosmopolitanism and decosmopolitanization.Item Open Access Cross-country variations in sovereign wealth funds’ transparency(Springer, 2023-03-13) Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro; Grosman, Anna; Wood, GeoffreyWe explore what drives variations in sovereign wealth funds’ (SWFs) transparency across countries. SWFs have emerged as an important instrument for governments to invest and manage excess funds. However, despite serving similar needs, there is much diversity in how they are governed from country to country. We integrate agency theory with the varieties of capitalism framework to propose that the country’s governance characteristics determine the extent of SWFs’ multi-level agency problem, that is, a conflict arising from politicians acting as intermediaries between the citizens who are the nominal owners and the funds’ managers. We find that the home country’s type and quality of government and the origin of the wealth drive cross-country variations in the transparency of the SWFs. These ideas are useful for government officials and practitioners involved in policy advisory or dealing with SWFs. We highlight and explain how SWFs differ significantly across countries and thus caution against the one-size-fits-all approach to providing suggestions for government officials to improve the workings of their SWFs. We suggest that government officials consider how the characteristics of the political system of the country of origin drive much of the strategic behavior of SWFs, particularly their transparency. Thus, a comprehensive upgrading of governance in the SWFs may be contingent on enhanced country-level governance.Item Open Access Disaggregating the liberal market economies: Institutions and HRM(Sage, 2024-03-22) Brewster, Chris; Brookes, Michael; Wood, GeoffreyIt has been argued that the different ways human resource management is conducted in different countries can be at least partly explained by theories of comparative capitalisms. Earlier work has highlighted much diversity between coordinated market economies, but the liberal markets are commonly assumed to represent a more coherent category. This article scrutinizes the latter assumption more closely by examining differences between the liberal market economies in their approaches to HRM. The authors find that the USA displays greater centralization in human resource management practices, higher turnover rates and less delegation to employees, than in the UK and Australia; this being associated with differences in institutional realities. The study highlights how, under a broad institutional archetype, specific systemic features may exert strong effects on specific HRM practices and challenges assumptions of close institutional coupling in the most advanced economies.Item Open Access Generative artificial intelligence in business: towards a strategic human resource management framework(Wiley, 2024-04-11) Chowdhury, Soumyadeb; Budhwar, Pawan; Wood, GeoffreyAs businesses and society navigate the potentials of generative artificial intelligence (GAI), the integration of these technologies introduces unique challenges and opportunities for human resources, requiring a re-evaluation of human resource management (HRM) frameworks. The existing frameworks may often fall short of capturing the novel attributes, complexities and impacts of GAI on workforce dynamics and organizational operations. This paper proposes a strategic HRM framework, underpinned by the theory of institutional entrepreneurship for sustainable organizations, for integrating GAI within HRM practices to boost operational efficiency, foster innovation and secure a competitive advantage through responsible practices and workforce development. Central to this framework is the alignment with existing business objectives, seizing opportunities, strategic resource assessment and orchestration, re-institutionalization, realignment and embracing a culture of continuous learning and adaptation. This approach provides a detailed roadmap for organizations to navigate successfully the complexities of a GAI-enhanced business environment. Additionally, this paper significantly contributes to the theoretical discourse by bridging the gap between HRM and GAI adoption, the proposed framework accounting for GAI–human capital symbiosis, setting the stage for future research to empirically test its applicability, explore its implications on HRM practices and understand its broader economic and societal consequences through diverse multi-disciplinary and multi-level research methodologies.Item Open Access How do grand challenges determine, drive and influence the innovation efforts of for-profit firms? a multidimensional analysis(Wiley, 2023-05-28) Pereira, Vijay; Temouri, Yama; Wood, Geoffrey; Bamel, Umesh; Budhwar, PawanWhile raising concerns, the recent proliferation of grand challenges has sparked interest in the role played by innovation in causing them, and in how the attempts made to fix them may cause even greater challenges that present themselves down the line. This article provides an analysis of the bibliographic metadata, published between 2002 and 2020, focusing explicitly on the private-for-profit sector. By identifying common themes from 66 documents, a framework highlighting the shared concerns and research trajectories was derived. Our results are illustrated and discussed along 11 research themes. We contribute theoretically by identifying the innovation efforts of for-profit firms that directly relate to grand challenges, through two cases of carbon capture and storage and deep-sea mining. We conclude that a more holistic understanding of innovation and its many possible consequences needs to be developed. We highlight the limitations of perspectives that do not always take full account of the potential divergence of interests between stakeholders, and, how fuller input by a greater cross-section of stakeholders may help identify any negative effects of innovations at an earlier stage. Informed by recent extensions of social innovation theory, we explore the potential for synthesis around a pragmatic understanding of institutions, stakeholders, and the nature and quality of ties that bind them.Item Open Access How does protectionism impact multinational firm reshoring? Evidence from the UK(Springer, 2023-10-24) Temouri, Yama; Pereira, Vijay; Delis, Agelos; Wood, GeoffreyThere is growing interest in the nature and possible extent of de-globalization. This paper explores the impact that protectionist measures have on multinational enterprise (MNE) reshoring back to the UK. Besides taking into account the global trends indicating a return to protectionism, the existing literature highlights various firm-level and structural country-level determinants of reshoring decisions. We test a conceptual model with parent-subsidiary firm-level data for the period 2009 to 2017. We conclude that firms that are more sensitive to wage costs in their overseas subsidiaries were more likely to reshore. We did not find that more capital-intensive firms had a higher propensity to reshore. We find that our results are mostly driven from UK MNEs with subsidiaries in EU. This result has clear implications for a potential Brexit effect. Theoretically, we base our findings in transactional cost economics to help explain why different types of firms behave in the way they do, and why different types of firms may respond in quite different ways to the same mix of institutions.Item Open Access HRM, institutional complementarities, and performance: the case of the healthcare sector in Jordan(Elsevier, 2024-04-22) Mohammad, Tamara; Darwish, Tamer K.; Khassawneh, Osama; Wood, GeoffreyBuilding on the comparative capitalism literature, we aim to understand the impact of HRM practice on hospitals performance within the healthcare sector in Jordan, and the role of HRM in mitigating and overcoming systemic shortfalls. Two different surveys were distributed for both hospital and HR managers across all hospitals. Our findings indicate that certain HR practices are positively associated with performance, despite contextual challenges such as informal networks and cultural limitations that could undermine efficiency. We further tested the potential impact of HR complementarities on performance; nevertheless, the results did not significantly surpass the explanatory power of the individual HR practices. It might have been anticipated that mutually supportive bundles of practices might compensate for systemic weaknesses. However, it may be the case that players have devised solutions in other areas of managerial practice that may be more effective than HRM in compensating for systemic limitations. Our study also highlights that in oligopolistically structured markets, common in private healthcare systems, the effectiveness of HR practices may be less crucial for profitability, though this does not diminish their broader relevance for societal and community outcomes which are beyond the scope of this work.Item Open Access Managing upward and downward through informal networks in Jordan: the contested terrain of performance management(Wiley, 2024-04-18) Melhem, Muntaser J.; Darwish, Tamer K.; Wood, Geoffrey; Abushaikha, IsmailThis study explores how local managers, in practicing Human Resource management (HRM), may pursue their own interests that are out of line with the agendas of headquarters in multinational companies (MNCs). It is widely acknowledged that informal networks have an impact on HRM practices in emerging markets. While these networks are often regarded as beneficial for organizations in compensating for institutional shortfalls, they may also lead to corruption, nepotism, or other ethical transgressions. Indigenous scholarship on informal networks in emerging markets has highlighted how their impact occurs through a dynamic process; powerful placeholders deploy informal networks to entrench existing power and authority relations when managing people. Qualitative data were gathered through 43 in-depth interviews and documentary evidence from MNCs operating in Jordan. MNCs are subject to both home and host country effects; we highlight how, in practicing HRM, country of domicile managers deploy the cultural scripts of wasta informal network to secure and enhance their own relative authority. HRM practices are repurposed by actors who secure and consolidate their power through wasta. They dispense patronage to insiders and marginalize outsiders; the latter includes not only more vulnerable local employees but also expatriates. This phenomenon becomes particularly evident during the performance appraisal process, which may serve as a basis for the differential treatment and rewards of employees. Consequently, this further dilutes the capacity of MNCs to implement—as adverse to espousing—centrally decided approaches to HRM.