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The purpose of this paper is to propose new directions for human resource management (HRM) research by drawing attention to online data as a complementary data source to traditional quantitative and qualitative data, and introducing network text analysis as a method for large quantities of textual material.

The paper first presents the added value and potential challenges of utilising online data in HRM research, and then proposes a four-step process for analysing online data with network text analysis.

Online data represent a naturally occuring source of real-time behavioural data that do not suffer from researcher intervention or hindsight bias. The authors argue that as such, this type of data provides a promising yet currently largely untapped empirical context for HRM research that is particularly suited for examining discourses and behavioural and social patterns over time.

While online data hold promise for many novel research questions, it is less appropriate for research questions that seek to establish causality between variables. When using online data, particular attention must be paid to ethical considerations, as well as the validity and representativeness of the sample.

The authors introduce online data and network text analysis as a new avenue for HRM research, with potential to address novel research questions at micro-, meso- and macro-levels of analysis.

We propose team-based organizing as an alternative to more traditional forms of hierarchy-based organizing in global firms.

Advancements in the study of global teams, leadership, process, and outcomes were organized into four themes: (1) openness toward linguistic and value diversity as enhancing team creativity and performance, (2) knowledge sharing in team-based organizations, (3) the significance of social capital for global team leader role success, and (4) shared leadership, satisfaction, and performance links in global virtual teams.

We identify questions at three levels for bringing research on team-based organizing in global organizations forward. At the within-team individual level, we discuss the criticality of process and leadership in teams. At the between-teams group level, we draw attention to that global teams also need to focus on relationships and interactions with other teams within the same global firm, for example, when sharing knowledge. With respect to the across-teams organizational level, we highlight how bringing people together in global teams from different organizational units and cultures creates the potential for experiential individual and team-based learning, while making the firm more flexible and adaptable.

The potential of the relatively underexplored idea of global team-based firms as an alternative to hierarchy open up questions for empirical research, and further theorizing about the global firm.

Practitioners can learn about organizational, team, and individual challenges and benefits of global team-based organizing.

A century-old dominant organizational form is challenged when moving away from hierarchy- and hybrid-based forms of organizing toward team-based global organizing of work.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an “HRM-as-practice” research agenda. The authors suggest that the HRM-performance literature would benefit from an actor-centric approach and a focus on activities, and that the HR roles research needs to shift its attention toward a more dynamic perspective of HR work and link this further to performance.

The paper first provides an overview of strategy-as-practice (SAP) literature, and then review how extant HRM literature deals with three core notions of SAP: practices, praxis and practitioners. Based on this, the paper outlines an “HRM-as-practice” research agenda.

Focussing on the intersections between praxis, practitioners and practice, the paper suggests that an “HRM-as-practice” approach can give new insights into first, how people-related decisions are made, implemented and enacted in organizations; second, how employees and other HRM stakeholders interpret and engage with HRM; third, how HR actors become more effective and influential organizational agents; and fourth, what the short-term and long-term effects of these actions and activities are.

The authors acknowledge the fuzzy and intertwined nature of the practices, practitioners and praxis categories, but believe that their intersections provide a fruitful theoretical lens to examine the practice of HRM.

The authors use the HRM-as-practice lens to suggest novel research approaches that can shed new light on several open questions within the HRM field.

Purpose – This chapter explores the determinants of trust, a manifestation of the relational dimension of social capital, between interaction partners in multinational corporations at interpersonal and inter-unit levels of analysis.

Methodology – The study is based on two quantitative data sets from the Finnish subsidiaries of foreign MNCs, one at the individual level and another at the unit level (n= 265/102).

Findings – Our results indicate that the drivers of trust exhibit similar patterns across both levels of analysis, but are stronger at the interpersonal level. Trust was significantly and positively related to the length of the relationship between the two individuals or units, and to the frequency of the communication between them whereas it was found to be unrelated with cultural distance.

Limitations – The key limitations of the study were as follows. First, the samples at both levels were relatively small, a factor that may partly explain why some of the statistical relationships were relatively weak. Second, the study was carried out in one location only, and our findings need to be corroborated in other cultural settings. Third, we only examined the level of trust from one side of the relationship, as a dyadic analysis was not possible with the present data.

Practical implications – For practicing managers, the main message from our research is that communication frequency and the length of the relationship matter for the relational social capital that exists within MNCs – both at the interpersonal and unit levels.

The purpose of this paper is to address the research question of “How does a global career involving multiple international relocations influence the career capital of an individual manager?”, and to examine the typical career‐capital‐related characteristics, drivers and outcomes associated with global careers. The importance of understanding the careers of global leaders, whose work paths typically include various international positions and assignments, has increased due to the globalization of business. A particularly relevant approach for studying such careers is through a framework of career capital, which adopts an individualistic perspective to explain how actors consciously acquire portable capabilities, construct networks and identify their own motivations, applying them in their specific work contexts.

The study adopts a qualitative design based on interviews with 20 managers on a global career path involving multiple international assignments.

The results indicate that international work experience has an extensive developmental effect on the career capital of managers. First, the interviewees reported that their global careers had strongly increased their knowing‐why career capital, referring to meaning and self‐awareness. With regard to knowing‐how career capital, their multiple international experiences had considerably enhanced several work‐related competencies. The key drivers behind this development included the broad range of responsibilities, the nature of the international environment, a high level of autonomy, and cross‐cultural differences. Finally, in terms of knowing‐whom capital, the results of the study indicate that the contact network managers acquire during their international assignments was of very high importance for their future careers. As a further outcome of their global careers, the managers were found to have a very strong career identity.

This paper provides a novel perspective on a topic that is of increasingly critical importance in today's global business.

This volume is the outcome of the 33rd European International Business Academy (EIBA) conference held at the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Catania (Italy). This conference brought together more than 300 scholars from around the world to discuss theoretical and empirical issues in international business (IB), as well as their consequences and challenges to IB scholars and policy-makers. Organized around 10 thematic tracks, the conference is the annual forum for discussing major research issues in the IB realm. This volume is a collection of the best papers, which, selected through a blind refereeing process for presentation at the conference, make significant contributions by providing fresh new perspectives on a variety of relevant topics.