The Clash between “Best Practices” for Selection and National Culture

The primary knowledge base for human resource management (HRM) is the work of North American and Western European scholars. As noted by Rousseau and Tinsley (1997), “little explicit attention is given to location (i.e., region or country) and how it might impact the ways organizations obtain and manage people” (p. 39). Given this narrow research base, it is surprising that distinguished organizational scientists confidently proclaim “best practices” in HRM with little or no consideration of cultural limitations (Marchington & Grugulis, 2000). This chapter focuses on the implications of cultural differences for one of the practices that Pfeffer (1998) and others describe as a key to competitive success: the selective hiring of employees.