PurposeThis paper sets out to present a detailed empirical investigation of the entrepreneurial intentions of business students. The authors employ the theory of planned behaviour (TPB), in which intentions are regarded as resulting from attitudes, perceived behavioural control, and subjective norms.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology used was a replication study among samples of undergraduate students of business administration at four different universities (total n=1,225). Five operationalisations of intentions are used as well as a composite measure. Prior to the main study, qualitative research conducted at two other universities (total n=373) was held to operationalise the components of the TPB.FindingsThe results show that the two most important variables to explain entrepreneurial intentions are entrepreneurial alertness and the importance attached to financial security.Research limitations/implicationsVarious research design features are used that result in better and more detailed explanations of entrepreneurial intentions.Practical implicationsShould one want to stimulate entrepreneurship in educational or training settings, then this paper's results provide guidance. Several suggestions are offered on how entrepreneurial alertness can be improved and financial security concerns can be reduced.Originality/valueThe study provides detailed and solid results on entrepreneurial intentions which are positioned in the career literature.

This article investigates the relationships between human resource management practices associated with New Ways to Work (employee empowerment, home‐based teleworking, and creating trust relationships) and work‐related flow as experienced by employees (absorption, work enjoyment, and intrinsic work motivation). Hypotheses, based on a combined perspective integrating insights from the HRM‐process model and the job demands‐resources model, are tested using multiactor multilevel data comprising employees (N = 1,017) and their line managers (N = 89), across 89 job categories in 30 organizations. Although organizations may implement management practices aimed at empowering employees in particular job categories, this study showed that anticipated effects on work‐related flow (particularly work enjoyment) are not achieved when employees themselves do not experience being empowered, and when they do not use and experience their working conditions as job resources (home‐based teleworking and trust relationships characterized by supporting leadership, collegial support, and collegial commitment). The article concludes with recommendations regarding organizational change aimed at implementing New Ways to Work and suggestions for future research. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The aim of this paper is to trace and explain variations in calculative and collaborative human resource management (HRM) practices between companies and across national borders. Variations and similarities are explained in terms of the convergence and divergence of HRM practices determined by national institutions, and the increasing influence of multinational companies (MNCs). We explore the diffusion of HRM practices in Europe over time, using data sets from two surveys conducted in several European countries in 1995 and 2000. We use institutional explanations for the development of three selected bundles of HRM practices: individual, calculative performanceoriented practices; collective incentive schemes for the alignment of interests; and collaborative practices that seek to enhance the commitment of employees. We found substantial effects of country-specific institutions and of the country of origin of MNCs, which clearly support the institutional duality thesis. Foreignowned MNCs, especially those that are US-based, appear to moderate countryspecific institutional effects on the diffusion of the three HRM bundles.

The impact of institutionalized contexts on the HRM activities of multinational firms has become a focus of increasing attention in recent literature. However, theories of how different types of business systems or market economies may influence HRM, and the impact of context on multinational corporations (MNCs) operating under these different conditions are still not fully tested. In this paper the influence of the extent of institutional embeddedness of different national contexts (based on varieties of capitalism theory) on the HRM activities of MNCs is explored through the use of extensive survey data from four countries: the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. Evidence is found of differences in HRM practices between foreign-and domestic-owned MNCs, as well as between MNCs and domestic organizations. Although less than expected, the restricted amount of leeway within a coordinated economy also appears to have differential effects on the various HRM practices explored in these foreign and domestic organizations.

This study explores patterns of human resource management (HRM) practices across market economies, and between indigenous firms and foreign MNE subsidiary operations, offering a novel perspective on convergence and divergence. Applying institutional theorizing to improve our understanding of convergence/ divergence as a process and an outcome, data collected from nine countries at three points in time over a decade confirm that convergence and divergence occur to different extents in a non-linear fashion, and vary depending on the area of HRM practice observed. Patterns of adoption and convergence/ divergence are explained through the effect of institutional constraints, which vary between liberal and coordinated market economies, and between indigenous firms and foreign MNE subsidiaries. The study contributes a more graded conceptualization of convergence/ divergence, which reflects the complex dynamic reality of international business.