Purpose The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the social enterprises and human resource management (HRM) literatures by examining how institutional and cultural contexts influence human resources (HR) practices, i.e., recruitment practices (specifically, recruitment channels) and employee relations (ER) practices that are adopted in social enterprises in the developing country of Thailand. Design/methodology/approach This paper applies an embedded cross-case analysis of four social enterprises in Thailand across a variety of industries. The case study evidence in this paper draws on semi-structured interviews with each social enterprise’s representatives; field visits to each social enterprise in Bangkok and in other provinces in Thailand; and a review of archival documents and web-based reports and resources. This paper uses thematic analysis to pinpoint, examine and record the patterns or themes found in the data. Findings Based on these four case studies, this paper proposes that the deficiencies in the Thai skill formation system, especially skill shortages, are associated with the adoption of alternative or substream recruitment channels among social enterprises. Additionally, the weak and highly fragmented ER institution and the cultural context that favor conflict avoidance and unassertiveness among workers within the workplace are associated with the adoption of a paternalistic ER practice in these enterprises. Research limitations/implications This paper has only focused on the role of national skill formation system, ER system, and the cultural context that favor conflict avoidance and unassertiveness among workers within the workplace. Future research may explore how other institutional and cultural domains influence the adoption of HR practices in these enterprises in the context of emerging market economies. Additionally, because this research is based on the case studies of four social enterprises in a variety of industries in Thailand, the findings of this paper may not be generalizable to all social enterprises across countries. Another limitation of this research is that it did not include social enterprises in several other industries, including the entertainment and media industry and the printing and publishing industry, and it does not include other forms of social enterprises, such as community-led social ventures. Future research may explore how institutional and cultural contexts influence HR practices adopted in social enterprises in other industries or in other types of social enterprises. Moreover, quantitative studies using large samples of social enterprises across industries might be useful in deepening our understanding of a topic that is significant from the perspective of both social enterprises and HRM. Practical implications This paper provides practical implications for HR professionals, founders and top managers of social enterprises not only in Thailand but also in other countries that face the problem of a skill shortage in the labor market. Social implica...

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Purpose This paper aims to contribute to the literature on global talent management by examining how multinational corporations (MNCs) from developed and emerging economies manage talented employees in other emerging economies. Specifically, it aims to understand why MNCs from developed economies are likely to face lower levels of challenge than MNCs from emerging economies when translating corporate-level talent management strategies to their subsidiaries located in emerging economies and how local contextual factors influence the translation processes. Design/methodology/approach This paper undertakes a matched-case comparison of two MNCs, one from a developed economy and the other from an emerging economy, that operate in the emerging economy of Thailand. Evidence was obtained from semi-structured interviews field visits and a review of archival documents and Web resources. Findings Based on the obtained evidence, this paper proposes that MNCs from developed economies tend to face challenges in terms of skill shortages, and these challenges affect their translation of talent management strategies to the subsidiary level. By contrast, MNCs from emerging economies tend to face challenges in terms of both skill shortages and the liability of origin (LOR) (i.e. weak employer branding) in the translation process. Both groups of MNCs are likely to develop talent management practices at the subsidiary level to address the challenge of successfully competing in the context of emerging economies. Research limitations/implications One limitation of this research is its methodology. Because this research is based on a matched-case comparison of an MNC from a developed economy and an MNC from an emerging economy, both of which operate in the emerging economy of Thailand, it does not claim generalizability to all MNCs and to other emerging economies. Rather, the results of this research should lead to further discussion of how MNCs from developed and emerging economies translate corporate-level talent management strategies into subsidiary-level practices to survive in other emerging economies. However, one important issue here is that there may be a tension between the use of expatriates and local top managers at MNCs’ subsidiaries located in other emerging economies as drivers for knowledge sourcing in that the importance of expatriates may diminish over time as the subsidiaries located in those economies age (Dahms, 2019). In this regard, future research in the area of global talent management should pay special attention to this issue. The other important issue here is that it is possible that the two case study MNCs are very different from one another because of their organizational development stage, history and current globalization stage. Thus, this issue may also influence the types of talent management strategies and practices that the two case study MNCs have developed in different countries. In particular, MNCs from emerging economies (ICBC) may not have developed their global HR strategies, as they have not yet operated globally as in the case of MNCs from developed economies (Citibank). This can be another important issue for future research. Additionally, both MNCs examined in this research operate in the banking industry. This study, therefore, omits MNCs that operate in other industries such as the automobile industry and the hotel and resort industry. Future researchers can explore how both groups of MNCs in other industries translate their talent management strategies into practices when they operate in other emerging economies. Moreover, this study focuses only on two primary contextual factors, the skill-shortage problem and LOR; future research can explore other local contextual factors, such as the national culture, and their impact on the translation of talent management strategies into practices. Furthermore, quantitative studies that use large sample sizes of both groups of MNCs across industries might be useful in deepening our understanding of talent management. Finally, a comparison of talent management strategies and practices between Japanese MNCs and European MNCs that operate in Thailand would also be interesting. Practical implications The HR professionals and managers of MNCs that operate in emerging economies or of companies that aim to internationalize their business to emerging economies must pay attention to local institutional structures, including national skill formation systems, to successfully implement talent management practices in emerging economies. Additionally, in the case of MNCs from emerging economies, HR professionals and managers must understand the concept of LOR and look for ways to alleviate this problem to ensure the success of talent management in both developed economies and other emerging economies. Social implications This paper provides policy implications for the government in Thailand and in other emerging economies where the skill-shortage problem is particularly severe. Specifically, these governments should pay attention to solving the problem of occupation-level skill shortages to alleviate the severe competition for talented candidates among firms in the labor market. Originality/value This paper contributes to the prior literature on talent management in several ways. First, this paper is among the first empirical, qualitative papers that aim to extend the literature on global talent management by focusing on how MNCs from different groups of countries (i.e. developed economies and emerging economies) manage talented employees in the emerging economy of Thailand. Second, this paper demonstrates that the institutional structures of emerging economies play an important role in shaping the talent management practices adopted by the subsidiaries of MNCs that operate in these countries. In this regard, comparative institutionalism theory helps explain the importance of recognizing institutional structures in emerging economies for the purpose of developing effective talent management practices. Finally, there is scarce research on talent management in the underresearched country of Thailand. This study should, therefore, assist managers who wish to implement corporate-to-subsidiary translation strategies in Thailand and other emerging economies.

PurposeThis paper examines the development of green skills across firms located in an institutional context, specifically the national education and skill-formation system, of the under-researched developing country of Thailand.Design/methodology/approachThis paper qualitatively explores the Thai education and skill-formation system and conducts a cross-case analysis of four firms across different industries in Thailand. The empirical findings in this paper draws on semi-structured interviews with various stakeholders; field visits to vocational colleges, universities, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) and firms across industries both in Bangkok and in other provinces in Thailand; and a review of archival documents and web-based reports and resources.FindingsThis paper proposes that firms across industries in Thailand must be responsible for helping their employees/workers obtain the green knowledge and skills necessary to perform green jobs through high-road human resource (HR) practices in response to the fact that the Thai education and skill-formation system is unlikely to produce a sufficient number of employees/workers who have green knowledge, skills and abilities and are industry-ready to perform green jobs, leading to a shortage of employees/workers who possess green skills in the labor market. Specifically, curricula in vocational colleges and universities in Thailand are not likely to respond to the needs of firms in producing those employees/workers.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of this research concern its methodology. This research is based on the qualitative studies of the Thai education and skill-formation system and a case study of firms across industries in Thailand. Thus, this paper does not aim to generalize the findings to all other countries but to enrich the discussion on the effects of macro-level HR policies on the creation of green jobs and the development of green skills across firms in each country. Additionally, it is difficult to gain access to firms across several industries and various stakeholders to understand the development of green skills among employees in these firms. The reasons are resource constraints, time constraints and the hesitation of firms in permitting the author to access the data. These difficulties have restricted the sources of information to construct a more nuanced picture of firms across various industries in developing green skills among their existing employees. Consequently, this research does not include firms in several other industries, including the pulp and paper industry, textile and garment industry, plastic industry and agri-food industry. Thus, future research may extend the topic of the development of green skills among employees to these industries. Quantitative studies using large samples of firms across industries may also be useful in deepening the understanding of this topic, which is significant from the perspectives of the strategic human resource management (SHRM), comparative institutional perspectives on HR strategies and practices, and green economy.Practical implicationsThis paper also provides practical implications for top managers and/or HR managers of firms in Thailand, other developing countries and other emerging market economies with deficiencies in the national education and skill-formation system. First, the top managers and/or HR managers can apply various methods to internally develop managers and employees/workers with the appropriate environmental/green knowledge and necessary skills to perform green jobs. The methods include classroom training, on-the-job training, coaching, mentoring systems, job shadowing and being role models for younger generations of employees. Second, these top managers and/or HR managers can cooperate with vocational colleges and/or universities in their countries to design educational programs/curricula related to environmental/green management to be able to produce graduates with suitable qualifications for their firms. These managers can request for assistance from universities in their countries when their firms confront sophisticated questions/problems related to environmental/green management. In this regard, universities will have an opportunity to solve real environmental/green problems experienced by industries, while firms can appropriately and accurately solve environmental/green questions/problems. Third, these top managers and/or HR managers can encourage their firms to apply for certificates of green-/environmentally friendly products or carbon footprint labels from NGOs to foster a green image among firms' consumers. These applications require the firms to pay special attention to the cultivation of green awareness and the development of green skills among their employees. Fourth, these top managers and/or HR managers can encourage their employees to express green-/environmentally friendly behaviors as well as sufficiency-based consumption behaviors. In fact, these top managers and/or HR managers can foster their employees to reduce energy consumption, including electricity and water, to conserve these types of energy for young generations. Fifth, these top managers and/or HR managers can adopt and implement green human resource management (GHRM) practices consisting of green recruitment and selection, green training and development, green performance management, green pay and rewards and green employee relations in their firms to upgrade both the environmental and social performances of firms. Finally, these top managers and/or HR managers must take serious actions regarding the implementation of environmental/green management policies and practices within their firms in order to facilitate the movement of the country toward the bioeconomy, circular economy, and green economy (BCG economy).Social implicationsThis paper provides social/policy implications for the government, vocational colleges and universities in Thailand, other developing countries and emerging market economies where the skill shortage problem is still severe. First, the government of each country should incorporate green/environmental policies into the national education policy and the long-term strategic plan of the country. Second, the government should continuously implement such national policy and strategic plan by encouraging government agencies, vocational colleges, universities, firms and NGOs to cooperate in developing and offering environmental/green management educational programs/curricula to produce graduates with suitable qualifications for those firms. Third, the government should encourage vocational colleges and universities to equip their students with green skills to be industry-ready in a real working context. Fourth, to alleviate the skill shortage problem in the labor market, the government should foster firms, especially private sector firms, to focus on the upskilling and reskilling of their existing employees. With this action, their existing employees will have green skills, be able to effectively perform green jobs and become an important driver to help the country move toward the BCG economy. Fifth, the government of each country should encourage firms to develop green-/environmentally friendly products by offering them various types of incentives, including tax reductions or tax exemptions. Sixth, the government should encourage universities in the country to sign a memorandum of understanding with leading research institutes and world-class digital technology companies such that these institutes and/or companies admit high-potential university students to work as trainees/entry-level employees for a certain duration. This action can ultimately facilitate knowledge transfer from these institutes and/or companies to those university students who will finally return to work in their home country. Seventh, the government, especially the Ministry of Education, should encourage vocational colleges and universities to teach students in the environmental/green management program based on real case studies/problems found across firms. In this way, graduates should be industry-ready to perform green jobs. Finally, the government must pay serious attention to the implementation of environmental/green management policies across levels within the country so that the transition of the country toward the BCG economy will finally come true in the future.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the SHRM, comparative institutional perspectives on HR strategies and practices, and the literature on the green economy and the development of green skills in firms in the following ways. First, this paper focuses on examining how the institutional context of Thailand shapes the development of green knowledge and skills among employees across firms in Thailand. In this regard, the paper aims to fill the gap in the literature on strategic HRM and comparative institutional perspectives on HR strategies and practices as proposed by Batt and Banerjee (2012) and Batt and Hermans (2012), who suggested that the literature on strategic HRM should go beyond the organizational context and examine how firms adopt and implement HR practices in response to the national institutional context. Second, the paper aims to extend the literature on the green economy regarding the roles played by institutional factors in shaping the development of green knowledge and skills across firms. Finally, strategic HRM, comparative institutional perspectives on HR strategies and practices and green economy studies have overlooked the under-researched country of Thailand. Most studies in these three areas focus more on developed countries. Thus, the findings of this paper should extend the literature on those areas regarding the development of green skills among employees across firms in response to the Thai institutional context.

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This paper aims to examine the green human resource management (GHRM) bundles successfully implemented by firms across industries in response to the national institutional and cultural contexts toward the pursuit of environmental sustainability goals. Based on a cross‐case analysis of five firms across industries in Thailand, the empirical evidence draws on semistructured interviews with various stakeholders, field visits, and a review of archival documents and web‐based reports and resources. This paper proposes that GHRM bundles successfully implemented by firms in response to the institutional and cultural contexts include the following: green recruitment and selection in terms of green employer branding; green training in terms of awareness enhancement, on‐the‐job training, job shadowing, coaching, mentoring, and workplace climate building; green pay and rewards in terms of financial and nonfinancial rewards; and green employee relations in terms of a paternalistic leadership style and workplace climate. Specifically, firms develop green employer branding and implement the practices of awareness enhancement, on‐the‐job training, job shadowing, coaching, mentoring, and workplace climate building in response to deficiencies in the national education and skill formation system in terms of skill shortages. Additionally, firms offer both financial and nonfinancial rewards and create a paternalistic leadership style and workplace climate in response to a cultural context that favors in‐group collectivism, conflict avoidance, and passivity among workers within the workplace.

This research provides an empirical analysis of the factors influencing the strength of labor unions in Thailand in order to provide long-term implications for labor unions and labor-management relations in Thailand and other countries. The union's presidents, board committees, and members of labor unions in nine private companies and two state enterprises were participated in this survey. Based on 1761 valid responses from a total population of 44573 persons, our findings demonstrated that 13 factors tend to affect the strength of labor unions in companies and state enterprises in Thailand. Represented in descending order of influence, the macro-level (or national-level) factors include labor union association; mass media; cultural factors; labor relations law; economic, political, and population changes; and the role of government. The micro-level (or firm-level) factors in descending order of importance success in collective bargaining; labor union policies; union member unity; employer policies; financial status of labor union; union president and board committees; and the relationship between labor union and employer.

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