A contingency approach to HRM and firm innovation: The role of national cultures

Abstract

Companies adopt various HRM practices to enhance employees' abilities, motivations, and opportunities to foster innovation. Are these practices universally effective or culturally contingent? In this study, we draw on the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity (AMO) model and examine the effectiveness of three representative practices using a dataset of 304 companies from 13 countries or regions. We find that HRM practices need to fit in a supplementary/complementary way with national cultures to facilitate firm innovation: 1. cross-functional training (i.e., an ability-enhancing practice) is more effective in collectivistic rather than individualistic cultures (supplementary fit); 2. financial rewards for innovation (i.e., a motivation-enhancing practice) are more effective in masculine rather than feminine cultures (supplementary fit); and 3. employee participation (i.e., an opportunity-enhancing practice) is more effective in high rather than low power distance cultures (complementary fit). By building on the notion of supplementary/complementary fit, these findings extend our knowledge of the AMO model in the context of HRM and innovation management with a cultural contingency perspective.