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The purpose of this paper is to use a diachronic analysis to explore the influence of country of origin effect and country of management effect on the adoption of human resource management (HRM) practices at different stages.

The methodology starts with an intensive literature review to establish an analytical framework by bringing country of origin and country of management effects on the HRM transfers. By using a longitudinal qualitative research design, a total of 164 interviews from four British subsidiaries of four Taiwanese multinationals were conducted to explore the change over time during the HRM transfer processes over a five‐year period.

The results provide evidence of the paradox as a result of country of origin effect and country of management effect on the adoption of HRM practices over time.

It is problematic to conclude absolutely regarding the convergence or divergence of HRM practices. This is due to HRM practices being in a constant state of flux between global integration and local adaptation during the transfer process.

This is the first empirical study to examine the impacts of country of origin effect and country of management effect on the HRM transfers from emerging multinationals in the advanced economy from a diachronic perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to draw on the theory of institutional isomorphism to investigate how Mississippi’s centralized cash management policy affects the cash management practices in the state’s rural and urban counties.

The study uses a sequential exploratory mixed methods design involving a qualitative documentary analysis and a quantitative analysis of a survey of Mississippi counties.

The study finds that institutional isomorphism drives cash management practices in the counties by influencing how they follow state and agency mandates. Moreover, while urban counties have superior socio-economic indicators compared to their rural counterparts, no differences exist regarding standardized financial indicators, which suggest that local governments in the state may be imitating the practices of one another.

First, states should consider the different financial and economic conditions of their local governments when prescribing cash management policies because uniform policies could stifle local innovation and reduce efficiency in cash management. Second, when there is pressure from a higher-level government or a state agency, local governments may end up imitating one another rather than exploring opportunities for innovation within state policies. Third, state policies should consider requiring education and training in cash management practices that help identify strategies to add value to public funds within the scope of local fiscal capabilities.

The study uses one state to investigate a unique case of centralized cash management practices. The lessons learned can apply to other states seeking to develop a policy for their small local governments without placing the larger ones at a disadvantage.

The purpose of this study is to apply the dominance effect theory and postcolonial notions of “otherness” to critically study the enactment of mimicry at IndianBread, an Indian fast-food chain that has adopted work practices typically found in US fast-food multinational enterprises (MNEs).

The authors used an interpretive sensemaking case study approach and collected qualitative data drawing on observations, notes from the company policy manual and in-depth interviews with eight staff at an IndianBread outlet. Data were also collected during informal interactions with staff at three other IndianBread outlets. The analysis focused on the enactment of mimicry and studied the postcolonial dynamics between managers and migrant workers to explain their resistance to the adoption of US work practices.

Work practices of US fast-food MNEs such as the standardization of workers’ appearance and basic “Englishization” such as greeting customers in English had been adopted at the IndianBread outlet. However, migrant workers resisted enforcement by contesting the superiority and relevance of these US work practices. The workers’ resistance was accommodated by local managers to pacify and retain them.

The analysis contributes to a deeper understanding of the dynamics of resistance to the dominant influence of US work practices in emerging market firms. It expands current notions of “otherness” by presenting the perspective of “local” managers and migrant workers. The authors show how worker resistance embedded in their “identity work” involves contesting notions of “inferiority” of local work practices and selves. In the case of managers, accommodating resistance maintains their “legitimacy of dominance”. To that end, the study explains how the need to mimic US work practices is enforced, contested and ultimately diluted in competitive local firms in rising India.

The organizationally grounded data show how managerial accommodation of workers’ resistance to US practices creates a more flexible working environment that dilutes migrant workers’ sensitivity to their exploitation at the fast-food outlet.

The findings identify the link between mimicry and resistance by the “other,” the ambivalence of the colonizing agent and the ongoing material exploitation within emerging economies.

To that end, the study explains how the need to mimic the US work practices is enforced, contested and ultimately diluted in the context of the competitive local firms in India.

This paper aims to trace the hybridising of financial and service expertise in English local authority budget control to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the contexts that gave rise to hybridisation than do previous accountability research frameworks.

Using practice theory, this paper interprets the findings from a field study of Newcastle City Council and a review of relevant local authority regulation for England, stretching back to the 1980s.

The hybridisation of financial and service expertise has entailed major changes to the practices on which local authority management depends, fuelled by a changing societal role of local authorities. Frequently, local authorities are no longer providers of public services but enablers who purchase services and manage arms-length contracts. This paper identifies some of the ways in which three structural elements that underpin local authority management practices have evolved to give rise to novel practices.

Even though this paper’s research into changing regulatory frameworks, rules and evolving local authority financial practices is based on institutional changes in England since the 1980s, the fieldwork element which fleshes out certain implications for local authority practices has focused on Newcastle City Council. Future research could fruitfully examine these issues in other local authorities.

The hybridisation of financial and service expertise has contributed to reshaping local government beyond the rules that are put in place for regulating the sector by giving rise to new practices. Recent key developments include new service delivery arrangements, for example, through council-owned subsidiaries or third-sector organisations. It is important that, in an austerity context, new risks to “off the books” service quality is matched by new control and audit arrangements. Moreover, the professional bodies that service local government should recognise the new forms of hybridisation of finance and service expertise and ensure arrangements for the changing skill sets of those involved in service provision.

This is the first paper to analyse the emergence of hybrid financial expertise in the public sector with reference to distinct structural elements of the relevant practices.

Organizations that adopt new practices employ managers to make decisions about how to materialize these practices. I examine how these managers move between the meanings and resources found in extra-local and local realms. I find that managers’ practices shift over time from adapting BPR practices to inhabiting BPR as an idea. Managers’ approaches are shaped by each organization’s history of efforts to introduce extra-local ideas. Rather than adapting BPR practices, managers draw on change tools, techniques, and methods that have worked in the organization and integrate BPR work into ongoing interactions, activities, and language in the local context.

Transport megaprojects often struggle to offer social value (SV) that meets local communities' needs. This problem is embedded in how local communities' views are captured and incorporated into SV plans through local community engagement (LCE). By problematising the literature, this article aims to identify LCE issues and their impacts on SV plans at the front-end of transport megaprojects.

The theoretical lens of the study is the practice theory developed by Schatzki (2016, 2005). The authors conceptualised LCE as a practice and conducted 32 semi-structured interviews with UK practitioners. The authors collected data in three steps from three types of practitioners involved in LCE practice and SV planning: project managers, LCE experts and SV experts.

The authors identified 18 LCE issues with thematic analysis and clustered them into five themes. These issues impact LCE with five mechanisms. Findings show that a weak link between LCE and SV plans due to the issues reduces LCE to a tick-box exercise and presents a distorted view of local communities. This reduces SV plans to the bare minimum for project approval instead of offering relevant SV to local communities. Addressing the issues goes beyond changing the approach of project teams to engagement (from instrumental to normative) and requires changing the practices.

For the first time, the study uses practice theory to conceptualise LCE as a practice, following the notion of project as practice. The study problematises the literature to address the under-represented link between LCE and SV plans.

This study aims to explore how professional–cultural knowledge is reciprocally shared between experienced expatriates and novice local nurses. To address this, the situated learning in practice lens is combined with social exchange lens.

An interpretive case study methodology enabled an exploratory approach into the knowledge-sharing practices between experienced expatriates and novice local nurses in Saudi Arabia.

Insights gained in the fieldwork suggest that professional–cultural knowledge sharing (KS) often occurred through three primary practices, namely, developing a professional–cultural meaning, forming clinical competency development opportunities and intervening in unfamiliar professional–cultural situations. In addition, two micro-level conditions shaped the reciprocity of professional–cultural KS practices between expatriate and local nurses, which were individual differences and situational conditions.

This study advances and improves the understanding of two intertwined but rarely studied aspects of knowledge-sharing practices. The exploratory lens sought and gained rich insights into the knowledge-sharing practices between experienced and novice individuals and expatriate and local individuals.

The purpose of this paper is to compare the performance appraisal practices of US subsidiaries in Taiwan to those of their parent firms and to those of large Taiwanese companies in an effort to understand how foreign subsidiaries adjust to the competing demands for global integration and local responsiveness.

A stratified random sampling scheme was employed to ensure that performance appraisal practices of manufacturing firms in similar industry sectors were compared. A mail survey was chosen over other ways of gathering data because of the wide geographical dispersion of companies, the required speed of data collection, and the length of the questionnaire.

The results indicate that performance appraisal is not a uniform function, but consists of practices that differ in their relative resemblance to local practices and to parent practices. This finding suggests that the competing demands for global integration and local adaptation should not be viewed as opposite ends of a continuum, but as two independent dimensions.

Selection bias, the difficulty in numerically quantifying HR practices, and survey bias by respondents are discussed.

This paper introduces the concept of categorizing performance appraisal practices via the use of the Integration and Adaption Matrix.

The study aims to investigate cultural aspects in supply chains, analysing the effect that local customs may have in the quality of buyer–supplier relationships. Building on the premisses of social exchange theory (SET), it concentrates on the impacts that suppliers’ use of local practices and informal networks may have in buyers’ attitudes and perceptions. The issues addressed and the empirical evidence provided represent initial, yet important steps in the fulfilment of the ‘cultural void’ within supply chain social sustainability (SCCS) literature.

Through a role-playing experiment applied to a total sample of 468 participants, the effects of Chinese guanxi, Russian blat, South Korean yongo and Brazilian jeitinho on buyers’ satisfaction, buyers’ commitment, trust and solution severity are measured by their use to access informal networks as solutions to both common (i.e. documentation irregularities) and extraordinary (i.e. modern slavery) supply chain problems.

Results show that, while the activation of informal networks may impact buyers’ perceptions, the use of some local practices by suppliers (i.e. Chinese guanxi and Brazilian jeitinho) cause greater variations in buyers’ attitudes and perceptions than others (i.e. South Korean yongo and Russian blat), with ethical offences (i.e. modern slavery) and higher levels of buyers’ dependency acting as catalysts of these processes.

The investigation of cultural practices typical of economically peripheral countries contributes to the understanding of new facets of buyer–supplier relationships, with the investigation of non-Northwestern practices being particularly important in this regard.

The purpose of this paper is to adopt the convergence-divergence perspective to examine the extent of similarities and differences in human resource management practices between multinational enterprise subsidiaries and local firms in Ghana.

This paper draws from multiple case study evidence using in-depth face-to-face interviews and document analysis. The data were analyzed in four stages using both thematic analysis and cross-case analysis techniques.

The authors found both convergence and divergence, however, the evidence points to more convergence and direction toward convergence between MNEs and local firms’ HRM practices.

Even though there was evidence of cultural embeddedness within local firms in the adoption of certain HRM practices, the influence of national culture on HRM practice convergence between MNEs and local firms has been limited. Thus, the convergence-divergence debate through the lens of national culture may need to be re-examined.

The evidence of convergence and direction toward convergence tendencies within the context can be argued to be less underpinned by local isomorphism limited host-country influence. Practically, there is something to learn from indigenous Ghanaian organizations that can contribute to HRM advancement, the Ghanaian concept of annual durbars, annual or semi-annual gatherings to take stock of past activities and to award hard working staff, could provide the platform to strengthen the employer-employee relationship at the firm level.

This study fills an important contextual gap (a less developed country’s context) within the convergence-divergence debate and contributes to informing new knowledge of the convergence-divergence debate, which points to more convergence and direction toward convergence between MNEs and local firms’ HRM practices.