Bringing it all back home: the HRM role in workforce localisation in MNEs in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

The school of Business and Technology, university of gloucestershire, oxstalls campus, gloucester, uK; b leadership & organizational agility Department, college of Business and economics, united arab emirates university, al ain, uae; c Institute of Public administration (IPa), riyadh, saudi arabia; d Dubai Business school, university of Dubai, Dubai, uae; e henley Business school, university of reading, reading, uK

Does the overall justice climate enhance self-initiated expatriates' creativity during uncertain times ? The mediating role of cross-cultural psychological capital

“…In this vein, a review of the existing literature suggests that implementing an OJC can offer host organisations a unique opportunity to foster creative behaviours amongst expatriates' cohort (Fernandes and Awamleh, 2006). The perception of fairness is an important point of interest of this study in contexts where the indigenisation of human resources (HR) policies is accelerating in Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC), such as in KSA (Darwish et al, 2022;Amari, 2022). This indigenisation of HR policiesaiming to reduce the recruitment of expatriates and provide employment for nationals-may result in social exclusion (e.g.…”

Development of Gulf Cooperation Council human resources: an evidence-based review of workforce nationalization

“…(2011), for their part, pointed out the importance of effective training and development programs and career planning that would constantly monitor and guide nationals as vital if Qatarization is to be achieved. HRM practices are equally important for all the MNEs that operate in the region to successfully localize their workforce, through their ability to identify local job candidates, hire locals following the recommendations of government agencies that endorse localization, and invest in training and development for local employees (Darwish et al ., 2022). Overall, while calls and recommendations to improve HRM for effective nationalization are obvious in the current literature, a deeper understanding of the mechanisms for improving the current HRM programs is not apparent.…”

Expatriate Academics’ Positive Affectivity and Its Influence on Creativity in the Workforce Indigenization Context: Revealing the Role of Perceived Fairness

“…Concomitantly, workforce indigenization in organizations within Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) countries, including higher education institutions, has accelerated during the last decade (Jabeen et al 2018). Indigenization refers to the adaptation or localization of human resource (HR) policies and practices to suit the cultural context of particular countries or regions (Amari et al 2023;Darwish et al 2022) and align with local norms, values, and legal requirements, which ensures that HR practices are relevant, effective, and respectful of the local culture. Then, inclusive HR policies (e.g., training and recruitment) are employed to activate the localization agenda in KSA, called "Saudization".…”

“…Saudization aims to reduce the number of international employees in KSA, which currently represent 41% of the workforce (GASTAT 2022), and provide employment for KSA nationals (e.g., the Nitaquat program in the Saudi private sector). In line with Saudization, the Saudi General Authority for Statistics reports that 1.2 million expatriates left the country in 2020 (Darwish et al 2022).…”

“…These challenges have changed their abilities to enhance their performance (Bader et al 2022;Caligiuri et al 2020). Among these challenges, expatriation scholars point out the hostility and discrimination against international workers (Bader et al 2018;Peltokorpi et al 2021;Amari et al 2021), turnover intention (Davies et al 2019;Amari 2022); mental health problems (Selmer and Lauring 2014;Amari et al 2023;Tripathi and Singh 2021), and indigenization of the workforce (Darwish et al 2022;Jabeen et al 2018;Amari et al 2023). Yet, in spite of this abundant research, little is known about how expatriates experience these challenges (Bader et al 2022).…”