Schuler

INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT:
REVIEW AND CRITIQUE

Randall S. Schuler
Rutgers University

Pawan S. Budhwar
Cardiff University

Gary W. Florkowski
University of Pittsburgh

Paper Published, in International Journal of Management Reviews, Vol. 4, #1: 41-70, 2002
Acknowledgement: The authors wish to thank David McGuire, Ibraiz Tarique, Oded Shenkar, BJ Punnett, Peter Dowling and Helen DeCieri for their invaluable input.

Abstract

The research agenda for the field of international human resource management (IHRM) is clear. For a better understanding and to benefit substantially, management scholars must study IHRM in context (Jackson and Schuler 1995; Geringer, Frayne and Milliman 2002). IHRM should be studied within the context of changing economic and business conditions. The dynamics of both the local/regional and international/global business context in which the firm operates should be given serious consideration. Further, it could be beneficial to study IHRM within the context of the industry and the firm’s strategy and its other functional areas and operations. In taking these perspectives, one needs to use multiple levels of analysis when studying IHRM: the external social, political, cultural, and economic environment; the industry, the firm, the sub-unit, the group, and the individual. Research in contextual isolation is misleading: it fails to advance understanding in any significant way (Adler and Ghadar 1990; Locke and Thelen 1995). In this article, we attempt to review the existing state of academic work in IHRM and illustrate how it incorporates the content and how it might be expanded to do so.

    INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT:
                                REVIEW AND CRITIQUE

Introduction
IHRM is about the worldwide management of human resources (e.g., Brewster, 2002; Adler and Ghadar 1990; Tung 1984; Punnett and Ricks 1992; Cascio and Bailey 1995; Poole 1999; Harris and Brewster 1999). The purpose... [continues]

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