High Performance Work Practices, National Culture, and Knowledge Transfer Within U.S. Multinational Corporations
Bai, Bing
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Permalink
https://hdl.handle.net/2142/87479
Description
Title
High Performance Work Practices, National Culture, and Knowledge Transfer Within U.S. Multinational Corporations
Author(s)
Bai, Bing
Issue Date
2008
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Lawler, John
Department of Study
Human Resources and Industrial Relations
Discipline
Human Resources and Industrial Relations
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Sociology, Industrial and Labor Relations
Language
eng
Abstract
Based on organizational learning theory and resource-based view, I proposed a new theoretical model to understand how high performance work practices influence knowledge transfer within U.S. MNCs. Exploration and exploitation as two types of learning capabilities provided the theoretical basis for the argument. Within an institutional theory framework, I further argued that host countries institutional and cultural environments moderate the relationship between high performance work practices and knowledge flows. Data were collected from six regions and 13 countries: East Asia (China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan), Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore), South Asia (India), Africa (South Africa, Kenya), Western Europe (Germany, Italy), and Eastern Europe (Russia). Based on these cross-national data, I examined the impact of different business strategies and high performance work practices on knowledge transfer within U.S. MNCs. I further tested the influence of national culture on four subsystems of high performance work practices (i.e. staffing, compensation, training, and workplace empowerment) in U.S. MNCs affiliates using House's 9 scales revealed by the GLOBE study. The results of the study supported the overall arguments that business strategies are closely associated with the degree of knowledge transfer between MNCs' subunits and both individual human resource practices and high performance work practices as a system facilitate knowledge outflows from the focal subsidiary. The results also suggested that variations in national culture influence high performance work practices implementation very much, which supported the notion that national culture matters with regard to high performance work practices implementation. The study contributes to the literature by exploring a new perspective of organizational learning theory to understand the determinants of knowledge transfer within U.S. MNCs and by exploring both knowledge inflows and knowledge outflows. The study further enriches the literature by linking high performance work practices, national culture, and knowledge transfer within MNCs together theoretically and empirically.
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