International HRM insights for navigating the COVID-19 pandemic: Implications for future research and practice

Abstract

We show the relevance of extant international business (IB) research, and more specifically work on international human resources management (IHRM), to address COVID-19 pandemic challenges. Decision-makers in multinational enterprises have undertaken various types of actions to alleviate the impacts of the pandemic. In most cases these actions relate in some way to managing distance and to rethinking boundaries, whether at the macro-or firm-levels. Managing distance and rethinking boundaries have been the primary focus of much IB research since the IB field was established as a legitimate area of academic inquiry. The pandemic has led to increased cross-border distance problems (e.g., as the result of travel bans and reduced international mobility), and often also to new intra-firm distancing challenges imposed upon previously co-located employees. Prior IHRM research has highlighted the difficulties presented by distance, in terms of employee selection, training, support, health and safety, as well as leadership and virtual collaboration. Much of this thinking is applicable to solve pandemic-related distance challenges. The present, extreme cases of requisite physical distancing need not imply equivalent increases in psychological distance, and also offer firms some insight into the unanticipated benefits of a virtual workforce -a type of workforce that, quite possibly, will influence the 'new normal' of the post-COVID world. Extant IHRM research does offer actionable insight for today, but outstanding knowledge gaps remain. Looking ahead, we offer three domains for future IHRM research: managing under uncertainty, facilitating international and even global work, and redefining organizational performance.

Human resource management research and practice in Asia: Past, present and future

“…As Caligiuri, De Cieri, Minbaeva, Verbeke, and Zimmermann (2020) noted, only about 20% of organizations were actually prepared for such an unprecedented event, and will need to do better. However, as these authors note, COVID-19 is really a people-based crisis, which means both HR departments and individual employees will need to be more resilient.…”

Flexible global working arrangements: An integrative review and future research agenda

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has led to travel restrictions across the globe and has seen MNEs turn towards virtual substitutes. Even with travel bans being lifted gradually, perceptions towards FGWAs may change among mobile employees and organisations ( Caligiuri et al, 2020 ). As such, another potential way that MNEs can look to support and sustain this type of work is by developing a more sophisticated virtual architecture that acts as a complement to how individuals sustain the amount of flexible global work they carry out.…”

“…Given the significant disruption created by the COVID-19 crisis, this paper is timely in providing a comprehensive synthesis of the existing body of knowledge on FGWAs. While the ongoing pandemic has stopped or derailed international travel in much of 2020, we argue that FGWAs represent crucial mechanisms through which MNEs can augment their international HR management (IHRM) structures in order to respond to globally complex and disruptive conditions ( Caligiuri, De Cieri, Minbaeva, Verbeke, & Zimmermann, 2020 ). Although international travel may re-commence in time, it may be an opportune moment for organisations and individuals to consider whether these FGWAs are being optimally used within their global mobility portfolio.…”

Outlier knowledge management for extreme public health events: Understanding public opinions about COVID-19 based on microblog data

“…Data fitting from the real data of COVID-19 obtained from Chinese Sina-microblog can identify the different contact rates and forwarding probabilities and can be used to evaluate the roles of opinion leaders in different stages of the information propagation and the outbreak unfolding. Early detection of large-scale infectious diseases and understanding of people's ability to respond to these diseases are the concerns of governments around the world [ [23] , [24] , [25] ]. During an epidemic, research on public knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors can refer not only to the formulation of communication and sentiment mitigation strategies but also to the help with future prevention plans [ 26 , 27 ].…”