Purpose This study aims to investigate whether the historical and institutional re-construction of Ghana support the transfer of human resource management (HRM) practices and if so, what local conditions support such transfer? Design/methodology/approach The paper draws from an exploratory qualitative study design by assimilating history, culture and institutions (social institutionalist perspective) to explore host-country factors and conditions supporting the transfer of HRM practices in a developing country context. Findings The study finds the colonial history, and the political and economic interests of Ghana to mimic best HRM policies and practices from its colonial masters and other advanced economies provided strong institutional support for the transfer of HRM practices. Research limitations/implications This paper complements the understanding of HRM practice transfer literature by highlighting the significance of host-country historical and institutional re-construction support in developing economies as key drivers for the diffusion of HRM practices. Practical implications By incorporating institutions, history and culture to form the underpinning social context, it offers a new perspective into how historical, cultural and colonial institutional legacies as entrenched social instruments facilitate HRM practice transfer in Sub-Saharan Africa. Originality/value The integration of institutions, history and culture (social institutionalist perspective) provide a wider understanding of factors that denote the effect of Ghanaian contextual distinctiveness as against the continued colonial institutional legacies (inheritance) supporting the transfer of HRM practices. This is the first study to consider how local institutions, culture and history of Ghana support the transfer of HRM practices to subsidiaries.

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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate and examine the mediating effect of trust and commitment on employees’ performance in the context of transformational leadership at Civilian Para-Police Force Institution. Design/methodology/approach – Leaders and employees at the Civilian Para-Police Force in Indonesia were surveyed and interviewed. Multiple regressions are used to examine and explore the direct and indirect relationship and also provide a model of transformational leadership. Findings – Transformational leadership does not directly influence towards employee performance; rather trust and commitment are found to be the mediating variables in the relationship between transformational leadership and employee performance. The result supports a model of transformational leadership that is considered to be more effective and suitable for improving performance in para-police organisations. Research limitations/implications – Limitations include the cross-sectional data analysis, the country and institutional specific focus, and a small sample size (n=132). Practical implications – Organisations with similar duties as those of the Indonesian para-police organisation could embrace the suggested transformational leadership model for the purposes of improving organisational performance through maintaining public order, while at the same time avoiding any abuse of social and religious norms, and human rights. Originality/value – This study provides a detailed account of the effectiveness of transformational leadership for para police organisations in the Indonesian context.

This paper highlights the nature of individualistic employee voice in the context of contemporary Indian organisations. As the demand for knowledge workers increase, more organisations are finding that employee voice is critical for developing business intelligence. Yet, organisations often find their employees mostly silent despite the potential of knowledge sharing. Considering the benefits and the implicit costs associated with employee voice, the paper draws on senior executives' accounts of employee voice that represent varied industry sectors and uses qualitative content analysis. The findings indicate broad themes around the nature, content, boundaries, avenues, and targets of voice along with its underlying mechanisms. The paper extends management perspectives on employee voice behaviour and contributes towards understanding the intricacies of individual dynamics and human experience in voice scholarship. The study has implications for Indian indigenous voice research and practice.

Purpose Using an institutionalist perspective, and through a case study analysis, the purpose of this paper is to examine whether subsidiaries of MNEs demonstrate a convergence across their HRM practices in a less developed host-country context. Design/methodology/approach This paper reports on an exploratory qualitative study involving five MNEs subsidiaries that operate in Ghana and originate from the UK, France, Germany, and India. The authors applied thematic and cross-case analysis techniques to explore similarities and differences in their HRM practices by drawing data from in-depth face-to-face interviews and document analyses. Findings Findings suggest that MNE subsidiaries demonstrate more convergence across their HRM practices as well as other HRM characteristics. Despite the similarities in their HRM practices, the evidence suggests that MNE subsidiaries’ HRM practices were similar to corporate headquarters HRM practices. It appears that the host-country has less influence in driving their convergence but rather the country-of-origin effect; competitive isomorphic pressure and global integration benefits were driving their convergence across their HRM practices. Originality/value This study makes a contribution to the convergence-divergence literature in the international HRM (IHRM) domain with specific focus on addressing an under-researched context of less developed host-countries. One of the puzzles in comparative and IHRM literature yet to be resolved is the convergence-divergence thesis of firms’ HRM practices.