Modes of Global Integration and Local Responsiveness: International Human Resource Management of South Korean MNEs.

Chung, Chul (2013) Modes of Global Integration and Local Responsiveness: International Human Resource Management of South Korean MNEs. PhD thesis, Lancaster University.

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Abstract

The constructs of global integration and local responsiveness have been widely used in describing and analyzing international HRM strategy and practices of MNEs. A significant amount of research tends to assume that the global integration means standardization of HRM practices by imposing parent practices to subsidiaries and the local responsiveness connotes localization of subsidiary HRM practices by following local practices. However, emerging developments in IHRM research suggest a more nuanced understanding of the constructs by recognizing multiple modes of integration as well as a pattern of hybridization in practices. This research extends the insights from the emerging developments in the IHRM literature by examining the modes of global integration and local responsiveness in HRM of MNEs from a newly industrialized economy, South Korea and exploring how they are put into practice through subsidiary HRM practices. A multi-sited qualitative study was conducted across nine MNEs at the corporate level as well as across three India subsidiaries and three U. S. subsidiaries of an MNE. The analysis of data from sixty seven interviews reveals that the firms pursued various modes of global integration and local responsiveness simultaneously in HRM of MNEs, namely: global cultural integration; global workforce integration; global HR capability integration; localization of people; local customization of HRM practices to avoid legal risks in a host country or to position in local labor markets. The modes were also reflected in subsidiary HRM practices through hybridization between global standardization and localization at the component-level of practices based on the particular modes. The results of this study contribute to the literature on IHRM strategy and practices by providing (1) a more comprehensive understanding of the higher-level modes of global integration as well as local responsiveness in managing human resources in MNEs, (2) a sophisticated IHRM strategy framework, namely, IHRM strategy as a configuration of the multiple modes, and (3) a more detailed insight on the specific mechanisms of hybridization in terms of level and logic of standardization and localization of practices. The study also makes a broader contribution to the studies of MNEs by providing a function-specific GI-LR framework which integrates the metalevel and the operational level analysis based on the refined view on modes and mechanisms in managing the dual demands of global integration and local responsiveness in MNEs.