Institutional theory and the cross-national transfer of employment policy: the case of ‘workforce diversity’ in US multinationals

Anthony Ferner, Phil Almond and Trevor Colling
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Anthony Ferner: Department of Human Resource Management, Leicester Business School, De Montfort University, UK
Phil Almond: Department of Human Resource Management, Leicester Business School, De Montfort University, UK
Trevor Colling: Department of Human Resource Management, Leicester Business School, De Montfort University, UK

Journal of International Business Studies, 2005, vol. 36, issue 3, 304-321

Abstract: This paper uses a comparative institutionalist approach combined with a power/interests perspective to examine the processes whereby diversity policy is ‘internationalised’ by US multinational companies. It argues that the process of policy transfer to UK subsidiaries is complicated by incomplete and contested ‘institutionalisation’ of diversity within the US itself, and by differing conceptions of diversity between the US and the UK. The ability of actors within the UK subsidiaries to mobilise and deploy specific power resources allows them to resist the full implementation of corporate diversity policy, leading to a range of compromise accommodations. It is argued that the findings have more general implications for analysing the transfer of HR practices between national business systems. Journal of International Business Studies (2005) 36, 304–321. doi:10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400134

Date: 2005
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