National context and organizational performance across three sectors

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of diffusional pressures as they relate to organizational performance (OP) across public, private, and not-for-profit sectors in two different national contexts. Design/methodology/approach – A review is conducted of institutional forces in the environment of two nations; one highly developed and the other developing to identify isomorphic pressures in each of the countries. An organizational performance assessment (OPA) tool is used to analyze the differences in the performance of the three sectors in the two national contexts identified. The research relies on Pearson correlation, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and MANCOVA statistical applications to validate the assessment instrument and shed light on differences across nations and sectors that can be attributed to organizational diffusion as a result of institutional pressures that exist in the countries in which the organizations are embedded. Findings – The findings indicate there is greater need to adapt to local ways of doing things when working cross-nationally within developing countries than with those that are developed where management practices are more alike than dissimilar. The results of the study suggest that when managing organizations cross-nationally, in the more developed nations organizations will perform more effectively and more alike than when working with organizations in less developed countries where the conditions for the diffusion of organizational practices are weaker. Research limitations/implications – The research focussed on two countries for comparative purposes. Due to sampling limitations, the findings are more relevant to the sectors the authors studied within countries than between the countries per se. It is recommended further research be conducted using larger samples across many national cultures. While relying on broad societal institutional dynamics, the study design does not permit the analysis of the effects of specific contextual characteristics on OP. Such an undertaking is undoubtedly a “next step” that the authors recommend. Practical implications – The extant literature finds that managing systems cross-nationally requires adaptation to local national contexts. Where there is less economic and technological development, less opportunity for free market competition (capitalism), educational opportunities, and shared standards from which the performance of organizations are judged, the more unlikely organizations will employ commonly applied management practices. A new tool is introduced that can be used to further research on OP cross-nationally. Originality/value – The study provides empirical evidence to demonstrate that in nations where stronger diffusional pressures exist, fewer differences will be found among the performance of the three sectors. Additionally, the effectiveness of organizations in these national contexts will be greater. While research among the three sectors has identified performance differences, such differences are less likely to be discernible in developed nations due to isomorphic pressures. The study is especially relevant to those who manage global organizations cross-nationally. It introduces a new tool to measure OP across national boundaries.

Westernization or localization of human resource management practices in CIS countries? Evidence from Kazakh firms

“…Gilbert and Von Glinow (2015) and Yessengeldin et al (2015) confirm that the development of a talent pool is one of the crucial success factors for both business and a national economy. However, Davis (2012) claims that despite the high level of attention that the economy, innovations and foreign investments receive, Kazakhstan’s HRM today seems to be in stagnation and faces many lot of challenges.…”

“…Based on the results obtained, we provide several recommendations for future development of HRM in Kazakh business. Finally, we contribute to the previously described success factors of adaptation of HRM practices in another country and business environment (Schuler et al , 1993; Rosenzweig and Nohria, 1994; Newman and Nollen, 1996; Schuler et al , 2002; Myloni et al , 2004; Shen, 2005; Gilbert and Von Glinow, 2015). Based on our results, we add the following factors specific to post-socialist countries.…”

“…To refill this high loss in human resources, the country had to educate a new generation of scholars and white-collar workers, especially when it is taken into account that there was almost no business education in Soviet Kazakhstan, despite there being a strong need for qualified employees (Ydyrys et al, 2014). Gilbert and Von Glinow (2015) and Yessengeldin et al (2015) confirm that the development of a talent pool is one of the crucial success factors for both business and a national economy. However, Davis (2012) claims that despite the high level of attention that the economy, innovations and foreign investments receive, Kazakhstan's HRM today seems to be in stagnation and faces many lot of challenges.…”

The effect of organizational culture on the performance of UAE organizations

“…However, constructs such as adaptive orientation, reward orientation, capability and innovation-supportive orientation, and coordination and integration have a p-value greater than 0.05 which indicates that such constructs are weakly applied in UAE organizations. The literature presents different levels of implementation of positive OC practices, depending on the country and sector in which the research concentrates (Gilbert & Von Glinow, 2015;Gupta & Kumar, 2020;Parhizgari & Gilbert, 2004).…”

High-involvement management practices and the productivity of firms: Detecting industry heterogeneity

“…The scope of the candidates to open the black box of the mechanism is wide. It extends from cross-national comparisons (Dastmalchian, 2020; Gilbert and Von Gilnow, 2015) and investigations based on company size (Arthur et al, 2019; Broszeit et al, 2019; Forth and Bryson, 2018; Wu et al, 2015) to studies where the mechanism has been brought closer to the shop floor level. Various dimensions of job quality, organisation culture and job satisfaction (Den Hartog and Vergurg, 2004; Garg, 2019; Lee et al, 2017; Wood and Ogbonnaya, 2018) – but also union density (Vazquez-Bustelo and Avella, 2019) and social capital (Jiang and Liu, 2015) – have been investigated as mediators between productivity and high-performance practices.…”