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The purpose of this paper is to investigate perceptions of fairness of a standardized performance appraisal in a multinational enterprise. The paper looks at the first step in understanding fairness perceptions by examining whether national culture influences the view on standardization itself and by comparing China, Lithuania, and Norway.

An experiment using a scenario that outlined a performance appraisal tool in a multinational company is conducted. National culture and individual cultural values are the independent variables and the perception of fairness of the practice is the dependent variable. A sample of 80 management respondents from Lithuania, China, and Norway is taken.

The findings suggest that national culture influences perceptions of fairness of a standardized performance appraisal tool. Employees from countries undergoing profound economic and political change, that score low on the cultural dimension of self‐expression, tend to see the standardized tool as more fair than employees from a stable country high on self‐expression. Differences in fairness perception at the individual level are found, where respondents high on power distance had higher perceptions of fairness of a standardized tool. Both national and individual levels measures of culture affected perceptions.

The sample is small; however, the differences are strong and indicate that perceptions of fairness vary. The experimental design allows good control, although it can limit generalizability to the field.

Multinational companies must understand that before analysis and choice of specific human resource practices it is important that they are aware of national and individual cultural differences towards standardization itself. Cultural differences affect reactions not only to the specific human practice but also to the standardization. Companies can use dimensions such as power distance and the survival/self‐expression dimension to understand the response of their employees. Being aware of this challenge may lead multinationals to pursue more fine‐tuned ways of communicating and implementing a standardized practice.

Using experiments to understand the implementation of practices in multinational organizations it is identified that, before deciding whether a practice should be locally adapted or standardized, the first step is to find out how standardization itself is perceived.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to suggest a new safety self‐efficacy construct and to explore its antecedents and interaction with standardization to influence in‐patient safety. Design/methodology/approach – The paper used a survey of 161 nurses using a self‐administered questionnaire over a 14‐day period in two large Israeli general hospitals. Nurses answered questions relating to four safety self‐efficacy antecedents: enactive mastery experiences; managers as safety role models; verbal persuasion; and safety priority, that relate to the perceived level of standardization and safety self‐efficacy. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the scale's construct validity. Regression models were used to test hypotheses regarding the antecedents and influence of safety self‐efficacy. Findings – Results indicate that: managers as safety role models; distributing safety information; and priority given to safety, contributed to safety self‐efficacy. Additionally, standardization moderated the effects of safety self‐efficacy and patient safety such that safety self‐efficacy was positively associated with patient safety when standardization was low rather than high. Hospital managers should be aware of individual motivations as safety self‐efficacy when evaluating the potential influence of standardization on patient safety. Originality/value – Theoretically, the study introduces a new safety self‐efficacy concept, and captures its antecedents and influence on safety performance. Also, the study suggests safety self‐efficacy as a boundary condition for the influence of standardization on safety performance. Implementing standardization in healthcare is problematic because not all processes can be standardized. In this case, self‐efficacy plays an important role in securing patient safety. Hence, safety self‐efficacy may serve as a “substitute‐for‐standardization,” by promoting staff behaviors that affect patient safety.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the fit between process standardization and international management strategy of multinational corporations (MNCs) by assessing the compatibility between process standardization and corporate structural characteristics in terms of asset configuration and headquarters-subsidiary relationships.

First, after a literature review on MNCs’ strategy and process standardization, the study suggests two propositions on the fit between corporate international management strategy and process standardization. Second, to empirically examine the propositions, the study investigates the outcome of process standardization in three cases with different strategic and structural contexts. Third, using the propositions and empirical findings, the study proposes a framework for aligning process standardization with MNCs’ structural characteristics.

Process standardization has a higher degree of fit in MNCs pursuing global integration where process standardization parallels the need for coordinating interdependencies in the functional structure, and is consistent with the headquarters’ operational control over the subsidiaries. Process standardization has a lower degree of fit in MNCs seeking local responsiveness as process standardization disturbs the financial control relationship between the headquarters and subsidiaries and is less crucial for coordination as the subsidiaries contain the necessary coordination mechanisms.

The study provides in-depth understanding of how the international management strategy and consequent structural characteristics of MNCs affects process standardization in the course of a global enterprise resource planning implementation. The study proposes conditions of fit for aligning process standardization with asset configuration and headquarters-subsidiary relationships of an MNC.

Despite considerable investigations of the various outcomes of perceived brand globalness (PBG), the concept itself remains ambiguous, demanding further conceptual refinement. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to global branding literature by suggesting an extended conceptualization of PBG, and empirically testing a corresponding extended model of global brand effects, relative to the conventional operationalization.

An empirical study (n=907) involving 63 brands across eight different product categories provides new insights into the composition of global brand effects by explicitly discriminating between different facets of consumers’ brand globalness perceptions (i.e. perceived market reach (PMR), perceived standardization (PST) and global consumer culture positioning (GCCP)).

The results clearly show that effects associated with global brands are not exclusively positive. While PMR and GCCP have positive effects on consumers’ brand evaluations and attitudes, PST has a strong negative effect on the same outcomes. These effects apply to both domestic and foreign global brands and occur irrespective of the perceived level of risk associated with a given product category.

The results provide managers a clearer picture of the up- and downsides of brand globalness perceptions and urge future studies on global brands to incorporate constructs that account for facets beyond a brand’s market reach to capture the phenomenon holistically.

This empirical study examines the relationship between job standardization, role stress and job burnout components (i.e. emotional exhaustion, diminished personal accomplishment and depersonalization). Data used here comes from 412 employees of manufacturing and service companies in Taiwan. A path analysis model is developed and tested that posits role conflict and ambiguity as a partial mediator of job standardization resulting in job burnout relationship. Empirical results suggest that increased job standardization diminishes job burnout indirectly, such that the true effect of job standardization may be understood with role stress constructs. However, we show that job standardization and job burnout components have spurious relationships. Results are contrasted with those from previous studies, and implications for managers are discussed.

This study aims to blockchain facilitate information sharing among different players in the food industry, such as farmers, food suppliers and investors, enabling an effective decision-making process where the information about goods is traceable without any inherent risk. Although blockchain technology is emerging, its use in the food industry needs to be explored from different angles, such as organizations’ policy, adoption strategies and potential technology innovations which could positively impact business processes.

For this purpose, the authors survey 84 organizations in the food industry. Further, the authors conducted in-depth- interviews with three organizations that applied blockchain technology in the production phase to address the pros and cons of this adaption and discuss how the technology could be improved based on the challenges they faced. Moreover, an overview of current and potential digital transformation uses cases of blockchain technology in the food industry has been provided.

The results suggested that perceived efficiency, transparency, standardization and platform development and traceability factors positively influenced intention to use (ITU).

The adoption of the blockchain cloud solution is neither time-consuming nor expensive; organizations may attempt to predict how regulations or standards will be developed to create a blockchain solution compatible with them.

This study is among the primary studies investigating the role of blockchain technology in the food sector from the organizations’ viewpoint, highlighting the factors influencing the ITU.

Research concerned with standardization of the construction process has generally considered the challenges from only rational and instrumental perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to foreground a social perspective of this challenge. Specifically, the work of construction site managers is explored through a professional work lens in order to emphasize significant misalignments with the principles of standardized production in the construction industry.

Data are drawn from a longitudinal (2014–ongoing) case study of site managers’ work in a large Swedish construction company. The research design is characterized by an explorative approach, altogether consisting of 44 in-depth interviews at the site manager level (28) and at other managerial levels (16). All the interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed particularly to highlight two contrasting dominant discourses: “standardized construction production” and “site manager work.”

The findings show that site manager’s work is enmeshed with a particular type of professional expertise and identity that is ideologically crafted around a proclivity for free and independent work. It is outlined in detail how these social dimensions of work are enacted to form an ongoing (and successful) resistance to organizational initiatives that are based on principles of standardization.

This study improves our understanding of an unresolved social challenge that impedes the transformation toward more standardized construction production. It adds new perspectives and value to current research by reminding that (and how) significant changes in production processes also seriously implicate professional work.

This chapter introduces the issue of language into the already complex nature of e-HRM system implementation in multinational corporations (MNCs). In the light of scant empirical research on language in international business in general and e-HRM in particular, this chapter reviews the research on language issues in the MNC context. The chapter then illustrates the challenges presented by language by reporting findings from a qualitative study into the effects of language standardization on e-HRM system acceptance and use in the foreign subsidiaries of a Finnish MNC.

The increasing impact of international competition and changing business environment has raised the important role of standardization, which was reflected in national standards. This paper presents the results of a study that provides insight into the role of Jordanian product standards in the local industry. The effect of companies’ characteristics on both the importance and satisfaction level with Jordanian Standards (JS), identifying reasons for using foreign standards and the need for new JS in manufacturing sectors were investigated. The findings revealed that there are no statistically significant differences in the way that Jordanian companies perceive the importance of having JS and the level of satisfaction or interest. Regardless of the company characteristics, it is concluded that targeted companies consider JS important to their business and JS are satisfying the companies’ interests. The surveyed Jordanian companies show a serious interest in foreign standards. However, the lack of familiarity with the existing JS in some small and medium enterprises and its benefit to their industry was observed.

As part of the UK Government’s strategy to address the current shortage of primary school places is the construction of standardised designed schools. The UK Government has been facing an uphill battle to meet the demand for the ever-increasing number of school places it requires. This paper aims to explore the use of standardised school design in addressing the problem of primary school places in the UK.

Due to the exploratory nature of this investigation, a pragmatic research philosophy is utilised and mixed-method data collection techniques are used. Quantitative data collection is in the form of a survey involving 306 construction professionals and stakeholders; this has been consolidated using qualitative data collection in the form of nine purposefully selected semi-structured interviews.

The research highlighted the influence that people and their perceptions have on the successful implementation of standardisation. The results show that a high level of misunderstanding exists around the concept of standardisation and its definition. Standardised design has shown to have a remarkable influence in reducing the cost and time required for delivering the construction of new schools.

Due to the exploratory nature of this research, the results obtained have not been wholly conclusive but have instead provided a contribution to the area of standardisation in construction.

The research has uncovered that, to truly promote and drive standardisation in the delivery of schools, a joint approach is required with designers, contractors, clients and manufacturers, working in partnership to develop successful solutions. The paper will, therefore, help the key stakeholders delivering standardised schools in UK to fully understand the concept and turn the challenges into opportunities.