Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Towards an Ethical Research Agenda for International HRM: The Possibilities of a Plural Cosmopolitan Framework

  • Published:
Journal of Business Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this conceptual paper, we aim to develop a much needed ethical research agenda for international Human Resource Management (HRM), given that the changing geopolitical dynamics interrogate the political role of multinational companies and the ethical stance they take in their HRM practices. To theoretically ground this agenda, we turn to cosmopolitanism and distinguish three main perspectives—political, cultural, and social—each of which implies a different understanding of the self–other relation in the context of the global world. We translate the core and ethical stance of each perspective to the field of international HRM, presenting three different foci of an ethical research agenda in terms of the ethical implications for multinational companies, research focus, methodological suggestions, and inherent limitations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adams, M. P. (2009). Empirical evidence and the knowledge-what/knowledge-how distinction. Synthese, 170, 97–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity at large: Cultural dimensions of globalization. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Appiah, K. A. (1998). Cosmopolitan patriots. In P. Cheah & B. Robbins (Eds.), Cosmopolitics: Thinking and feeling beyond the nation (pp. 91–115). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Appiah, K. A. (2005). The ethics of identity. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Appiah, K. A. (2006). Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a world of strangers. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aycan, Z., Kanungo, R. N., Mendonca, M., Yu, K., Deller, J., Stahl, G., et al. (2000). Impact of culture on human resource management practices: A 10-country comparison. Applied Psychology: An International Review, 49(1), 192–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banerjee, B. S. (2010). Governing the global corporation: A critical perspective. Business Ethics Quarterly, 20(2), 265–274.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baur, D., & Schmitz, H. P. (2012). Corporations and NGOs: When accountability leads to co-optation. Journal of Business Ethics, 106, 9–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U. (2002). The cosmopolitan society and its enemies. Theory, Culture and Society, 19(1), 17–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U. (2004). Cosmopolitical realism: On the distinction between cosmopolitanism in philosophy and the social sciences. Global Networks, 4, 131–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beck, U., & Sznaider, N. (2006). Unpacking cosmopolitanism for the social sciences: A research agenda. The British Journal of Sociology, 57(1), 1–23.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhabha, H. K. (1994). The location of culture. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyacigiller, N. A., & Adler, N. J. (1991). The parochial dinosaur: Organizational science in a global context. Academy of Management Review, 16(2), 262–290.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brewster, C., Wood, G., & Brookes, M. (2008). Similarity, isomorphism or duality? Recent survey evidence on the human resource management policies of multinational corporations. British Journal of Management, 19, 320–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calás, M. B., & Smircich, L. (2011). In the back and forth of transmigration: Rethinking organization studies in a transnational key. In D. Knights, P. Y. Martin, & E. Jeanes (Eds.), Handbook of gender, work and organization (pp. 411–428). London: Wiley-Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Calhoun, C. (2002). The class consciousness of frequent travellers: Towards a critique of actually existing cosmopolitanism. In S. Vertovec & R. Cohen (Eds.), Conceiving cosmopolitanism: Theory, context, practice (pp. 86–109). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter, C., Clegg, S., Kornberger, M., Laske, S., & Messner, M. (Eds.). (2007). Business ethics as practice: Representation, reflexivity and performance. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cheung, L. L. (2008). Let the “Other” speak for itself. Understanding Chinese employees from their own perspectives. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 4, 277–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, M. (2002). Rooted cosmopolitanism: Thoughts on the left, nationalism and multiculturalism. Dissent, 39(Fall), 478–483.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cooke, W. N. (2007). Multinational companies and global human resource strategy. In P. Boxall, J. Purcell, & P. Wright (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of human resource management (pp. 489–508). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crane, A., Gilbert, D. U., Goodpaster, K. E., Miceli, M. P., Moore, G., Reynolds, S. J., et al. (2011). Comments on BEQ’s twentieth anniversary forum on new directions for business ethics research. Business Ethics Quarterly, 21(1), 157–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delanty, G. (2006). The cosmopolitan imagination: Critical cosmopolitanism and social theory. British Journal of Sociology, 57(1), 25–47.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delanty, G. (2009). The cosmopolitan imagination: The renewal of critical social theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Delanty, G., & Inglis, D. (2011). Introduction: An overview of the field of cosmopolitan studies. In G. Delanty & D. Inglis (Eds.), Cosmopolitanism: Critical concepts in the social sciences (pp. 1–27). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Delbridge, R., Hauptmeier, M., & Sengupta, S. (2011). Beyond the enterprise: Broadening the horizons of international HRM. Human Relations, 64(4), 483–505.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Demel, B., & Mayrhofer, W. (2010). Frequent business travelers across Europe: Career aspirations and implications. Thunderbird International Business Review, 52(4), 301–311.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Doh, J., Husted, B. W., Matten, D., & Santoro, M. (2010). Ahoy There! Toward greater congruence and synergy between international business and business ethics theory and research. Business Ethics Quarterly, 20(3), 481–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dowling, P. J., Festing, M., & Engle, A. (2008). International human resource management: Managing people in a multinational context. London: Thomson Learning.

    Google Scholar 

  • Egri, C. P., & Ralston, D. A. (2008). Corporate responsibility: A review of international management research from 1998 to 2007. Journal of International Management, 14, 319–339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Featherstone, M. (2002). Cosmopolis: An introduction. Theory, Culture and Society, 19(1), 1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferrara, A. (2007). Political cosmopolitanism and judgment. European Journal of Social Theory, 10(1), 53–66.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, J. (1994). Cultural identity and global process. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frenkel, M. (2008). The multinational corporation as a third space: Rethinking international management discourse on knowledge transfer through Homi Bhabha. Academy of Management Review, 33(4), 924–942.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Frenkel, M., & Shenhav, Y. (2006). From binarism back to hybridity: A post-colonial reading of management and organization studies. Organization Studies, 27, 855–876.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, M. (2002). Ethics and HRM: A review and conceptual analysis. Journal of Business Ethics, 36, 261–278.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gould, C. C. (2010). Moral issues in globalization. In G. G. Brenkert & T. L. Beauchamp (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of business ethics (pp. 305–331). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. (2003). Towards a cosmopolitan. Journal of Democracy, 14(4), 86–100.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hannerz, U. (1990). Cosmopolitans and locals in world culture. Theory, Culture and Society, 7, 237–251.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, M., Novicevic, M. M., & Garrison, G. (2004). Challenges to staffing global virtual teams. Human Resource Management Review, 14(3), 275–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harzing, A.-W. (2001). Of bears, bumble-bees, and spiders: The role of expatriates in controlling foreign subsidiaries. Journal of World Business, 36(4), 366–379.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harzing, A.-W., & Pinnington, A. (2011). International human resource management. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hayden, P. (2005). Cosmopolitan global politics. Aldershot: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hebdige, D. (1990). Fax to the future. Marxism Today, January, 1118–1123.

  • Held, D. (1995). Democracy and the global order: From the nation-state to cosmopolitan governance. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Held, D. (2002). Cosmopolitanism: Ideas, realities and deficits. In D. Held & A. McGrew (Eds.), Governing globalization (pp. 305–320). Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hofstede, G. (1980). Motivation, Leadership and Organization: Do American Theories Apply Abroad? Organizational Dynamics, 9(Summer), 42–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hollinger, D. A. (1995). Postethnic America: Beyond multiculturalism. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ibarra-Colado, E., Clegg, S. R., Rhodes, C., & Kornberger, M. (2006). The ethics of managerial subjectivity. Journal of Business Ethics, 64, 45–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jabri, V. (2007). Solidarity and spheres of culture: The cosmopolitan and the postcolonial. Review of International Studies, 33, 715–728.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jack, G., & Westwood, R. (2009). International and cross-cultural management studies: A postcolonial reading. Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jackson, T. (2011). International management ethics: A critical, cross-cultural perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Janssens, M., Cappellen, T., & Zanoni, P. (2006). Successful female expatriates as agents: Positioning oneself through gender, hierarchy and culture. Journal of World Business, 41(2), 133–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Janssens, M., & Steyaert, C. (2009). HRM and performance: A plea for reflexivity in HRM studies. Journal of Management Studies, 46(1), 143–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaldor, M. (1999). New and old wars: Organised violence in a global era. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kobrin, S. J. (2009). Private political authority and public responsibility: Transnational politics, transnational firms, and human rights. Business Ethics Quarterly, 19(3), 349–374.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamont, M., & Aksartova, S. (2002). Ordinary cosmopolitanisms: Strategies for bridging racial boundaries among working-class men. Theory, Culture and Society, 19(4), 1–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loacker, B., & Muhr, S. L. (2009). How can i become a responsible subject? Towards a practice-based ethics of responsiveness. Journal of Business Ethics, 90, 265–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maak, T. (2009). The cosmopolitan corporation. Journal of Business Ethics, 84, 361–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maznevski, M. L., & DiStefano, J. J. (2000). Global leaders are team players: Developing global leaders through membership on global teams. Human Resource Management, 39, 185–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McMurray, R., Pullen, A., & Rhodes, C. (2011). Ethical subjectivity and politics in organizations: A case of health care tendering. Organization, 18(4), 541–561.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. W., Boli, J., Thomas, G. M., & Ramirez, F. O. (1997). World society and the nation state. American Journal of Sociology, 103(1), 144–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mir, R., Banerjee, S. B., & Mir, A. (2008). Hegemony and its discontents: A critical analysis of organizational knowledge transfer. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 4, 203–227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Molz, J. G. (2006). Cosmopolitan bodies: Fit to travel and travelling to fit. Body & Society, 12(3), 1–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nava, M. (2002). Cosmopolitan modernity: Everyday imaginaries and the register of difference. Theory, Culture & Society, 19(1–2), 81–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nussbaum, M. (1994). Patriotism and cosmopolitanism. Boston Review, 19(5), 3–34.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nussbaum, M. (2002). Education for citizenship in an era of global connection. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 21, 289–303.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ong, A. (1999). Flexible citizenship: The cultural logics of transnationality. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Osland, A., & Osland, J. S. (2005). Contextualization and strategic international human resource management approaches: The case of Central America and Panama. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 16(12), 2218–2236.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Parker, M. (2002). Against management. Organization in the age of managerialism. Oxford: Polity.

    Google Scholar 

  • Parker, M. (2006). Foreword. In S. Clegg & C. Rhodes (Eds.), Management ethics: Contemporary contexts (pp. x–xii). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rabinow, P. (1996). The anthropology of reason. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Regev, M. (2007). Cultural uniqueness and aesthetic cosmopolitanism. European Journal of Social Theory, 10(1), 123–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhodes, C., & Westwood, R. (2007). Letting knowledge go: Ethics and representation of the other in international and cross-cultural management. In C. Carter, S. Clegg, M. Kornberger, S. Laske, & M. Messner (Eds.), Business ethics as practice: Representation, reflexivity and performance (pp. 68–83). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scherer, A. G., & Palazzo, G. (2011). The new political role of business in a globalized world: A review of a new perspective on CSR and its implications for the firm, governance and democracy. Journal of Management Studies, 48(4), 899–931.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scullion, H., & Collings, D. (2011). Global talent management. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sen, A. (1996). Identity and violence. The illusion of destiny. London: Penguin Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shen, J. (2011). Developing the concept of socially responsible international human resource management. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 22(6), 1351–1363.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skrbis, Z., & Woodward, I. (2007). The ambivalence of ordinary cosmopolitanism: Investigating the limits of cosmopolitan openness. The Sociological Review, 55(4), 730–747.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Spivak, G. C. (1993). Outside in the teaching machine. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steyaert, C., & Janssens, M. (1999). Human and inhuman resource management: Saving the subject of HRM. Organization, 6(2), 181–198.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ten Bos, R., & Willmott, H. (2001). Towards a post-dualistic business ethics: Interweaving reason and emotion in working life. Journal of Management Studies, 38(6), 769–793.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Townley, B. (1994). Reframing human resource management: Power, ethics, and the subject of work. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vertovec, S., & Cohen, R. (2002). Introduction: Conceiving cosmopolitanism. In S. Vertovec & R. Cohen (Eds.), Conceiving cosmopolitanism. Theory, context and practice (pp. 1–22). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner, A.-C. (1998). Les Nouvelles Elites de la Mondialisation. Une Immigration Dorée en France. Paris: PUF.

    Google Scholar 

  • Waldron, J. (1992). Minority cultures and the cosmopolitan alternative. University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform, 25(3), 751–793.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weenink, D. (2008). Cosmopolitanism as a form of capital: Parents preparing their children for a globalizing world. Sociology, 42(6), 1089–1106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westwood, R. (2004). Towards a postcolonial research paradigm in international business and comparative management. In R. Marschan-Piekkari & C. Welch (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research methods for international business (pp. 56–83). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wettstein, F. (2009). Beyond voluntariness, beyond CSR: Making a case for human rights and justice. Business and Society Review, 114(1), 125–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the editors of the special issue for their inspiring comments and insisting guidance.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Organisation Studies, KU Leuven, Naamsestraat 69, 3000, Leuven, Belgium

    Maddy Janssens

  2. Research Institute for Organizational Psychology, University of St Gallen, Varnbüelstrasse 19, 9000, St Gallen, Switzerland

    Chris Steyaert

Authors
  1. Maddy Janssens
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Chris Steyaert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maddy Janssens.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Janssens, M., Steyaert, C. Towards an Ethical Research Agenda for International HRM: The Possibilities of a Plural Cosmopolitan Framework. J Bus Ethics 111, 61–72 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1478-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-012-1478-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation