Miguel R. Olivas-Lujan

e‐HRM in Mexico: adapting innovations for global competitiveness

Purpose – Using information and communication technologies to deliver human resource services (also known as e-HRM) has become an important strategy for firms seeking to achieve a competitive advantage. A case-based study was carried out with the purpose of investigating how four of the most competitive Mexican firms are implementing their e-HRM strategy. Design/methodology/approach – Literature from e-HRM and human resource management in Latin America is reviewed and integrated. Four case studies developed in Mexican firms are depicted. Findings – Evidence suggests that, to fully understand the way e-HRM is used in firms from emerging economies, it is important to take into consideration local idiosyncrasies. Originality/value – This study integrates Latin American dimensions of HR management in the study of e-HRM, a budding research stream that is under-investigated in emerging countries.

Exploring career‐life success and family social support of successful women in Canada, Argentina and Mexico

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine career‐life issues of successful women in the Americas.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 30 interviews were conducted with successful women in Canada, Argentina and Mexico. Themes were pulled from the interview transcripts for each country, analyzed and then compared across countries, looking at universalities and differences of experiences.Findings – The women in all three countries conveyed more subjective measures of career success, such as contributing to society and learning in their work, with Canada and Mexico particularly emphasizing receiving recognition as a hallmark of career success.Practical implications – This research provides insight into the experiences of successful women in the Americas, which can inform the career development of women in business.Originality/value – This research contributes to the literature on womens careers, highlighting successful womens experiences across cultures and in an under‐researched area: Latin Ame...

Career success and satisfaction: a comparative study in nine countries

Purpose – This project aims to examine levels of career and life satisfaction among successful women in nine countries in the Americas.Design/methodology/approach – A structured survey and in‐depth interviews were used, and a variety of occupations, demographics, and personality characteristics assessed – 1,146 successful women from nine countries in the USA responded the survey: 105 from Argentina, 210 from Brazil, 199 from Canada, 84 from Chile, 232 from Mexico, 126 from the USA, and 190 from three countries in the West Indies (Barbados, Jamaica, SVG).Findings – Results show no differences in satisfaction based on occupation or country and most demographic variables investigated did not have a significant relationship with satisfaction. Age had a small, significant, relationship, with satisfaction increasing with age; married women were significantly more satisfied than single women. Higher scores on self efficacy and need for achievement, and a greater internal locus of control were all related to high...

Successful women of the Americas: the same or different?

Purpose – The intent of this cross‐national research is to study the personal and cultural characteristics of successful professional women. High‐achieving women may share certain personal characteristics, beliefs, and experiences, regardless of the countries in which they live. However, every individual is socialized within a particular national culture, and may be expected to share certain values and expectations with other members of that culture.Design/methodology/approach – Over 1,100 professionally “successful women” (including high‐level managers, entrepreneurs, academics, government personnel, and professionals) and 531 undergraduate business students in nine countries – Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico, the USA and the West Indies (Barbados, Jamaica, St. Vincent, and the Grenadines) completed surveys containing two sets of variables: national/cultural (collectivism/individualism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance) and personal (self‐efficacy, locus of control, need for achievement).Fi...

Attitudes towards Women and Values in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report results from an exploratory, empirical research study that describes personal values and attitudes toward women, two themes that strongly impact employment relations and a wide variety of management issues.Design/methodology/approach – Well‐established measures for the major themes for this paper were used in constructing a questionnaire. Data collection instruments were vetted for content, translated and back‐translated, and applied by native researchers, who also contributed local expertise to the paper.Findings – Female respondents across all four countries were more egalitarian in their attitudes towards women in the workforce than were men. Additionally, Colombian respondents had more egalitarian attitudes towards women scores, followed by Brazilians and Argentineans; Mexicans exhibited the least egalitarian attitudes toward women.Originality/value – This is the first empirical study that links two well‐validated constructs (personal values and attitud...

Mentoring experiences of successful women across the Americas

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to compare womens mentoring experience in nine countries within the Americas, and to explore linkages between personal characteristics, mentoring practices, mentoring functions, and consequences of being mentee.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 1,146 successful women are questioned about their mentoring experiences as a mentee: 105 from Argentina, 210 from Brazil, 199 from Canada, 84 from Chile, 232 from Mexico, 126 from the USA, and 190 from three countries in the West Indies (Barbados, Jamaica, and St Vincent).Findings – Most of the women have more than one mentor. Across all countries mentoring practices are more strongly linked to career mentoring function while the age and gender of the mentor are more strongly linked to psychosocial mentoring. Mentoring from the perspective of mentee has the same directional relationship with situational and individual variables, but the significance of those relationships vary by country. A possible cultural difference...

Work, Family and Values in Four Latin-American Countries

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore work‐family conflict antecedents in four Latin American countries by studying whether marital status and number of children impacted values.Design/methodology/approach – A convenience sample of 3,529 working adults in major cities in Argentina (n=1,198), Brazil (n=186), Colombia (n=989) and Mexico (n=1,156) were surveyed using the Rokeach Value Survey.Findings – There were statistically significant differences in values depending on marital status for the terminal values an exciting life, national security, and pleasure, and also differences between respondents depending on having or not, and number of children for the terminal values pleasure, national security, and for the instrumental values logical, and polite.Originality/value – This study fills a research gap, as no previously published studies have explored whether marital status or number of children impact values.

Professionally Successful Women: Some Evidence from the English-Speaking Caribbean

Abstract This article reports on a study of professionally successful women in three countries in the English-speaking Caribbean—Barbados, Jamaica, and St. Vincent & the Grenadines. The study is part of a larger study that includes countries throughout the Americas. The overall objective of the study was to identify personal and social characteristics of professionally successful women, and to consider these across nations, by incorporating cultural measures. The study uses both quantitative and qualitative measures. Results suggested that, as hypothesized, professionally successful women scored higher on need for achievement, internal locus of control, and self-efficacy than did a comparative student group. Contrary to expectations, mentoring was not identified as especially important in achieving success, but family support was identified as important. On the cultural variables, successful women and the comparative student group scored similarly—moderate on collectivism/individualism, low on power distance, and high on uncertainty avoidance. The similarities and differences across the three countries included in the study are discussed.

Prevention of and interventions in workplace bullying: a global study of human resource professionals’ reflections on preferred action

Abstract The aim of this study was to analyze Human Resource Professionals’ reflections on the prevention of and intervention in workplace bullying across different countries. More specifically, the study sought to identify what actions were, in the experience of human resource professionals, best to prevent and intervene in bullying and uncover organizations’ motives for engaging in such work. The study was conducted through semi-structured interviews (n = 214) in 14 different countries/regions, representing all continents and all GLOBE cultural clusters. Qualitative content analysis was performed to analyze the material. The findings indicate that bullying was largely conceptualized as a productivity and cost issue, and that was largely driving efforts to counter bullying. Training and policies were highlighted as preferred means to prevent bullying across countries. In contrast, there were large national differences in terms of preferences for either disciplinary or reconciliatory approaches to intervene in bullying. This study advances our understanding of what human resource professionals consider preferred ways of managing workplace bullying, and adds to our understanding of cross-national differences and similarities in views of this phenomenon. As such, the results are of relevance to both practitioners and scholars.

Predicting HR’s involvement and influence in strategic decision-making

While it has become increasingly common to envision the HR function having an expanded role in business, we know little about the determinants of its strategic involvement and influence. Drawing on strategic contingencies theory (SCT) and institutional theory, a model for both constructs was developed and tested. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze web-survey data from 167 firms in the U.S. and Canada. As predicted, HR coping ability, firm size, and human-capital munificence were positively related to strategic involvement. Strategic influence, in turn, was directly related to HR centrality and the level of involvement. Moderated regression analysis failed to support either of the hypothesized country effects. Implications for future research and management practice are discussed at the end of the article.