The politics of selective and differential transfer of HRM practices in employee-owned MNCs: evidence from an emblematic European worker co-op

Abstract

This paper examines the cross-national transfer of HRM practices at Up Group, an emblematic French multinational worker co-op. Our findings reveal that stakeholder pressure to disseminate the co-op’s core HRM practices to its foreign subsidiaries triggered two key strategic responses from the HQ member-owners: transfer circumvention and ceremonial transfer. Therefore, our study provides new insights into the political and contested nature of practice transfer by elucidating how MNCs actively engage in the selective and differential transfer of some of their core HRM practices to protect the HQ actors’ interests and preserve their position of power vis-à-vis the subsidiaries. In addition, our fine-grained analysis of the ceremonially transferred practices contributes to the literature on practice variation during diffusion processes in MNCs. Finally, by examining the challenges of the cross-national management of people in multinational worker co-ops, an increasingly important global player, this study addresses critical management scholars’ calls to broaden the horizons of IHRM research beyond the hegemonic analysis of for-profit shareholder-owned MNCs.