Understanding Comparative and International HRM: A Review of Three Main Theoretical Perspectives

Abstract

The paper aims to provide an overview of three main theoretical perspectives, i.e., the universalists, the culturalists, and the institutionalists of comparative and international HRM practices. It critically assessed the philosophical positions, main assumptions and empirical evidence of those theoretical proponents. The Universalists believe that organizational HRM practices are determined by the micro and the macro level contingencies such as organizational size, age, products and services as well as level of industrialization and factor endowments of the countries. The culturalists believe that cultural factors such as collective mental mapping of the people, norms, values and rituals of the countries influence the HRM practices. In contrast, the institutionalists argue that national institutional system forms the bases of organizational HRM practices in any given society or country. It is expected that the review will help HRM researchers to understand HRM practices from a comparative perspective and conduct future HRM research with a solid theoretical foundation.