Cross-National HR Practices and Employee Well-Being: A Comparative Analysis

Thesis Abstract

This study investigates how cross-national human resource (HR) practices influence employee well-being across multinational enterprises operating in diverse institutional contexts, addressing the gap in comparative evidence on how HR configurations interact with national norms to shape well-being outcomes. The aim is to identify which HR practices and configurations most effectively promote employee well-being and to examine the moderating role of national context, organizational culture, and industry. Specific objectives are (1) to map HR practices related to performance management, training and development, rewards, work-life balance, and employee voice across five representative economies; (2) to assess their associations with employee well-being indicators (job satisfaction, perceived stress, and burnout) using multi-country data; (3) to test the moderating effects of institutional context (labor market rigidity, welfare provisions) and organizational culture on these relationships; and (4) to develop a parsimonious cross-national HR model linking HR configurations to well-being outcomes. A cross-sectional, multi-level research design will be employed. The population comprises employees from 60 multinational subsidiaries across five countries representing different institutional contexts (e.g., Germany, United States, Brazil, Singapore, and South Africa). A stratified random sample of 1,200 employees (approximately 240 per country) will be drawn to ensure sectoral diversity including manufacturing, services, and technology. Data will be collected through a structured questionnaire integrating validated scales the Instrument for Well-Being at Work (employee self-reported job satisfaction, perceived stress, burnout), the High-Performance Work Practices (HPWP) inventory tailored to cross-national relevance, and measures for organizational culture (Denison) and perceived organizational support. HR practice data will also be obtained from subsidiary HR managers to triangulate with employee responses. Additional national-level indicators will be drawn from OECD and World Bank datasets to capture institutional context. Quantitative analysis will proceed in three stages. First, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) will validate the constructs for cross-national HPWPs and well-being, ensuring measurement invariance across countries. Second, hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) will assess the relationships between HR practices at the subsidiary level and employee well-being at the individual level, accounting for country-level context. Third, moderation analyses will test whether institutional context and organizational culture alter the strength or direction of the HR-well-being relationships. To complement the quantitative analysis, a qualitative component comprising 20 semi-structured interviews with HR managers and 20 focus groups with employees (8–10 participants per group per country) will be conducted to explore contextual nuances and to triangulate findings. Thematic analysis will identify patterns related to implementation, perceived fairness, and cultural alignment. Expected findings anticipate that integrative HPWP configurations that emphasize continuous development, participative decision-making, and supportive work-life balance will be positively associated with well-being across contexts, but the magnitude of effects will vary by institutional context. Specifically, countries with stronger welfare provisions and less rigid labor markets may exhibit stronger benefits from work-life balance practices, whereas high-trust organizational cultures may amplify the positive impact of employee voice and participation. The study will contribute to theory by integrating the universalistic and contingent perspectives in HRM, offering a cross-national model that links HR configurations to well-being outcomes through cultural and institutional channels. Methodologically, it will advance measurement equivalence and multi-level analysis for cross-national HR research. The study’s contributions to knowledge include providing empirical evidence on which HR practices are most effective for promoting well-being in multinational settings, clarifying the role of national context in shaping HR outcomes, and delivering a validated cross-national HRW model with practical implications for global firms aiming to enhance employee well-being while maintaining performance. Policy implications will address how subsidiaries can tailor HR practices to national contexts without compromising core well-being-enhancing principles. Limitations include cross-sectional design and potential response biases; future research should consider longitudinal designs to examine causality and changes over time. Recommendations for practice focus on designing context-sensitive HPWP bundles, strengthening employee voice mechanisms, and aligning well-being initiatives with national welfare characteristics to sustain organizational performance and workforce health.