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This research proposes a strategic human capital alignment framework to examine whether the alignment between subsidiary strategy (i.e., exportoriented vs local market-oriented strategy) and human capital (i.e., parent firm vs local-specific human capital) is positively related to subsidiary performance in multinational enterprises (MNEs). We further explore two important exogenous (i.e., foreign exchange rate change) and endogenous (i.e., MNE international experience) boundary conditions, since they may adjust the positive effect of strategic human capital alignment on performance. The analysis, based on 5604 subsidiary observations of 423 MNEs from 1990 to 2012, confirms the positive synergic effect of aligning subsidiary strategy and human capital and shows the moderating effects of foreign exchange rate change and MNE international experience. By presenting the importance of subsidiary strategy -global staffing alignment and the roles of external economic environments and internal organizational capabilities as boundary conditions, the strategic human capital alignment framework suggests that what makes human capital valuable for the firm is its alignment with strategic orientation. Thus managers should carefully deploy the appropriate type of human capital to fulfill the requisite organizational strategy and take into account changing external and internal contextual conditions in applying the framework.

PurposeThrough a literature review, we found four potential research topics that are rarely studied in the extant literature, i.e. the missing link between web site quality and flow, an integrative relationships between web site quality, flow, customer satisfaction, and relationship intention even though part of the integrative relationships have been investigated in the previous studies, those flow‐related consumer behaviors in C2C e‐marketplaces, and cross‐national studies on the flow‐related consumer behaviors in the East‐Asian domain. Thus, we attempted to explore the relationships between web site quality, flow, customer satisfaction, and relationship intention in Chinese and Korean C2C e‐marketplaces as well as their cross‐national similarities and differences.Design/methodology/approachIn all, 212 Chinese and 219 Korean online shoppers were surveyed to conduct the above research agenda by structural equation modeling.FindingsWeb site quality had some effect on flow and satisfaction in both countries, but different results between the countries were found for the dimensions of web site quality. Flow has a positive impact on satisfaction, but the effect in China was greater than that in Korea. Both flow and satisfaction had a positive effect on relationship intention in the two countries.Originality/valueThere has been little research that addressed the above four research topics respectively or in combination. This study investigates the integrative model between web site quality and flow‐related consumer behaviors in C2C e‐marketplaces. The paper provides empirical evidence of online consumer behaviors in China and Korea, which will help global e‐commerce managers/practitioners in their development of strategies and tactics for the East‐Asian markets.