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The representation of women in organizations has become an increasingly important topic for academics and practitioners. Despite the growing presence of women in the workforce, representation of women in corporate governance is relatively low. The present study examined the gender composition of corporate boards as a function of organization size and industry. Data from government filings were collected for the top 100 public companies in a suburban region of the USA. Results indicated a positive relationship between organization size and women on boards. Partial support was found for hypotheses related to industry. Practical implications and areas for future study are discussed.

In this study the aim is to analyze multiple decisions in mergers and acquisitions (M&As) strategy to verify whether isomorphism appears in these decisions when a firm imitates others and to determine under what conditions the link between imitation and the degree of similarity in M&As is weakened.

With a sample of 4,881 completed M&As in the financial service industry, the authors adopt the generalized multivariate regression model to test the hypothesized effects of the independent variables on the degree of similarity in M&As.

Support is found for the mimetic isomorphism argument. Furthermore, firm experience and local market segmentation weaken the positive relationship between imitation and the degree of similarity in M&As.

This study enhances the understanding of mimetic isomorphism by not only verifying the relationship between imitation and isomorphism, but also integrating the role of organizational active agency (firm experience) and the extent to which local market competitors affect imitation and isomorphism within the industry as a whole.

To communicate the development and results of strategic human resource management (HRM) research to the audit research community in order to stimulate audit research specific to HRM audits.

Prior research that served as impetus for this paper is discussed. The findings of other studies are presented to make a case for the business impact of strategic human resource management practices.

Studies on the competitive environment of firms, theoretical development in HRM, empirical work on the link between HRM practice and firm performance, and emerging models based on intellectual capital, suggest that there are compelling reasons for internal audit to devote substantial resources to the evaluation of strategic risk in HRM audits.

The literature is still developing. The literature presented here is not an exhaustive list and does not include all findings, but rather what we perceive to be the most important findings.

Both “high performance work systems” and “strategic fit” should guide internal audit in planning, designing audit programs, and executing strategic audits of human resources consistent with the risk management paradigm.

This paper bridges a gap between the human resource management literature and the internal auditing literature.

Presents a model for analyzing the potential for value creation of the internal audit (IA) function, the human resource management (HRM) function, and the IA‐HRM pairing. A survey of 161 chief audit executives indicated that virtually all IA functions are risk managing in their audit approaches, while a great majority of HRM clients are also moderately or strongly strategic in their outlook. Findings included that a productive working relationship was strongest when a risk m anaging IA function is paired with a strategic HRM function. Also, the IA planning process was found to be more strategic in the presence of the same pairing. Analysis of written examples of strategic findings related to HRM supplied by the respondents suggested that there may be a significant gap between auditors’ knowledge of strategic HRM practices as developed in the literature and their self‐reported examples. Future research should use both HRM and IA responses to reduce bias. Additonally, there is a need for case studies of the IA‐HRM partnership.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, China’s outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) is growing steadily and Chinese multinationals (MNCs) are playing an increasingly important role in the global economy. Thus, the number of papers focusing on China’s OFDI and Chinese MNCs has been increasing during the last years. The aim of this chapter is to carry out a review of the empirical papers dealing with Chinese MNCs published between 2002 and 2012 in high-impact international business and management journals.

This chapter reviews 43 empirical papers focusing on Chinese MNCs that were published in nine major scholarly journals between 2002 and 2012.

We report individual and institutional contributions, the theories and methods used, the research topics, and the main findings. We also discuss implications for future research.

Some previous literature reviews have dealt with research on China’s OFDI and Chinese MNCs. Nevertheless, none of the earlier reviews dealt specifically with empirical papers; neither did they provide an analysis of both individual and institutional contributions.

In today’s business world, organizations must be constantly alert to new ways of gaining the upper hand over rivals. Astute operators look beyond the obvious to areas previously unconsidered as potential sources of competitive advantage. Internal auditing and human resource management are two such areas, and when the two form a strategic partnership, the potential exists for a considerable impact upon the financial performance of the organization.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether employees' understanding of their organization's strategic objectives could be used by business organizations to develop a desired type of organizational culture that will improve business performance.

Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted on the data collected in 2018 from professionals working in the healthcare industry in the USA.

SEM revealed the positive effect of employee understanding of their organization's strategic objectives on the development of a serving culture, and the mediating effect of serving culture on the relationship between employee understanding of strategic objectives and performance.

This study emphasizes that having a well-defined mission and strategic goals may not be sufficient. Business organizations must also ensure that all employees clearly understand the meaning of such objectives. Employee understanding can become instrumental, as it could allow business organizations to develop a desired type of organizational culture that will support the implementation of the firm's strategic objectives.

The study is a valuable addition to past research. First, it advances the literature on strategy by exploring the critical role of employee understanding of their organization's strategic objectives in the context of culture and performance. Thus, it allows scholars to better explain how business organizations could more effectively utilize their process of strategic planning. In the domain of organizational culture, the paper contributes by identifying a new antecedent of serving culture. Furthermore, the paper also contributes to the literature on service management by identifying a mechanism that service organizations could use to increase their performance.