Human resource management and the globalness of firms: An empirical study in China

Abstract

This study tests the relationship between what we call a firm's globalness and its commitment to human resource management in its host countries. It is argued that the globalness of firms is positively influenced by their commitment to – or investment in – human resource management in their host countries. Data were collected from a list of the World's Most Admired Companies ranked by Fortune magazine (2003–2006). The results from data analyses suggest that the human resource management of multinational corporations in their host countries does indeed influence their globalness ranking. The study concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings for practitioners and academic researchers.

Keywords:

• China
• firms
• globalness
• host countries
• human resource management (HRM)
• multinational corporations (MNCs)