Global HRM and Transnational Networks: Unpacking the Micro‐Behavioral Process Supporting Global HRM Integration Using a Quantitative Multi‐Source, Multi‐Level Design

Abstract

ABSTRACT Whether and why social processes support global HRM integration is an overlooked, yet increasingly relevant performance question in decentralized transnational work environments. Using social capital theory, we conceptualize the social dynamic and behaviors influencing global HRM integration. Interview data from 63 professionals in transnational professional service firms (PSF) were used to develop measures for a multi‐source multi‐level diary study (study 1) and a multi‐source multi‐level cross‐sectional survey (study 2). Our research shows that involvement of network members in integrating global HRM activities increases their commitment to the shared goals of the network, but only when leaders simultaneously engage in translational and collaboration behaviors. These leader behaviors demonstrate a collaboration mechanism where corporate‐local tensions might reconcile. Our work illustrates the significance of examining the multiplicity of spaces where global HRM is enacted to better explain how and why global integration is progressed or resisted.