Impact of culture on human resource management practices: A 10-country comparison

The Model of Culture Fit explains the way in which socio-cultural environme nt influences internal work culture and human resource management practices . This model was tested using 1,954 employees from business organisations i n 10 countries. Participants completed a 57-item questionnaire which measur ed managerial perceptions of four socio-cultural dimensions, six internal w ork culture dimensions and HRM practices in three areas. Moderated multiple regressions at the individual level analysis revealed that managers who ch aracterised their socio-cultural environment as fatalistic also assumed tha t employees, by nature, were not malleable. These managers did not administ er job enrichment, empowering supervision, and performance-reward contingen cy. Managers who valued high loyalty assumed that employees should fulfil o bligations to one another, and engaged in empowering HR practices. Managers who perceived paternalism and high power distance in their socio-cultural environment assumed employee reactivity, and furthermore, did not provide j ob enrichment and empowerment. Culture-specific patterns of relationships a mong the three sets of variables, as well as implications of this research for cross-cultural industrial/organisational psychology, are discussed.