Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg Betriebswirtschaftliches Institut

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1 Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg Betriebswirtschaftliches Institut Lehrstuhl für Betriebswirtschaftslehre, insbesondere Internationales Management Prof. Dr. Dirk Holtbrügge Convergence and Divergence of Management Practices: The Case of Corporate Web Site Recruiting Jonas F. Puck Working Paper 4/2002 Dipl.-Kfm, Jonas F. Puck, Lehrstuhl für Internationales Management, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Lange Gasse 20, Nürnberg, Tel.: (0911) ,

2 Jonas F Puck Convergence and Divergence of Management Practices: The Case of Corporate Web Site Recruiting Abstract. This paper empirically analyses the influence of national culture on the intensity to which companies in different countries make use of corporate web site recruiting. The suggested relationships are tested against data from 330 companies in 11 countries. The results indicate that influences of non-cultural factors are stronger than those of cultural forces. Nevertheless, cultural effects remain existent when a highly standardized instrument like the World Wide Web. Thus, the results lend support for the divergence approach in international management research. Keywords: Corporate Web Site Recruiting; Internet; Country Culture; Hofstede An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2002 EAMSA annual conference, November 2002, Bangkok. 2

3 Introduction With the phenomenon of globalisation having become a dominant force in today s economy, the debate about convergence and divergence in the study of international management has increased over the last years. The convergence approach proposes that managers across different countries embrace similar attitudes and behaviours (McGaughey and DeCieri 1999; Rowley and Bae 2002). Globalisation is seen as leading to a more convergent use of management practices (Ralston et al. 1993, 1997). At the same time, the deregulation of economic activity and the global spread of advanced communication technologies, in particular the internet, are regarded as factors that reduce the impact of differences across cultures on organizational practices (Ohmae 1990). Furthermore, several studies show that multinational companies have been very effective in diffusing standardised practices across borders (see, for example, Kirkman and Shapiro 1997; Negandhi 1987). By contrast, the divergence view proposes that the variations in management practices across countries are deeply rooted in cultural differences, and individuals maintain culture-based values despite growing economic and social similarities between nations (McGaughey and DeCieri 1999). The continuing existence of cultural and attitudinal differences between managers across countries has also led many commentators to question the possibility of transplanting management techniques into other nations (Baldry 1994; Hofstede 1991; Hofstede 2001). Recent studies have put a strong focus on human resource management within the convergence and divergence debate, since it is seen as deeply grounded within the surrounding national culture (see, for example, Laurent 1986 or Teagarden and Glinow 1997). Furthermore, understanding the relations between contextual variables and the use of human resource techniques is of high importance for human resource professionals, because knowledge of this relationship allows them to develop and adopt appropriate practices for each country. Existing empirical research has tested the contextual influences on different fields of human resource management, for example, compensation practices (Schuler and Rogovsky 1998), flexible employment practices (Mroczkowski and Hanaoka 1997; Raghuram et al. 2001), selection methods (Clark 1993; Ryan et al. 1999), staff-related management practices (Liberman and Torbiörn 2000) or performance appraisal (Snape et al. 1998). Luthans et al. (1993), for example, found evidence for differences between human resource management techniques used by managers from the United States and those preferred by Russian managers. Similarly, Newman and Nollen (1996) found support for cultural 3

4 influences on managers propensity to introduce merit-base reward systems. All these studies showed that the use of human resource management techniques varies between nations, providing support for the existence of contextual influences. In this study, the impact of culture on the use of one specific HRM instrument is analysed: corporate web site recruiting. As mentioned above, the strong growth of the internet may lead to a convergence of organizational practices, although the question as to how services provided on the internet (like corporate web site recruiting) are affected by contextual variables is discussed controversially. Agre (1998), for example, sees an influence of culture on the extent to which firms use knowledge management software on the internet, while Graham (2001) suggests that the internet is helping to overcome barriers between nations. Puck s (2002) results, on the other hand, do not support any cultural influences on the use of corporate web site recruiting in Europe, although he found evidence for influences of other contextual variables. Surprisingly, extant literature is short of studies examining this topic, even though corporate web site recruiting has become a widely used human resource management practice; according to a recent study by ilogos RESEARCH (2002) 91% of all companies in the Fortune Global 500 use corporate web site recruiting. The aim of this study is to examine the relationships between various dimensions of national culture and the intensity to which firms from different countries use corporate web site recruiting. Based on the concept of Hofstede four hypotheses will be developed. These hypotheses will then be tested empirically. The study starts with a short introduction into corporate web site recruiting. Afterwards hypotheses about the influences of culture are derived. Then the measures and the methodology of the study are presented. In the main part, the results of an empirical analysis of 330 companies from 11 countries are described. Finally, the results of the study are discussed and implications for further research are indicated. 4

5 Corporate Web Site Recruiting The use of technology in personnel recruiting has increased tremendously within the last years. In particular, the World Wide Web (www) has gained importance for HR managers (see, for example, Bussler and Davis 2001; Piturro 2000). Different ways of electronic recruiting have been developed, i.e. job boards, career networks, newsgroups or corporate web site recruiting (Pearce and Tuten 2001). The latter is regarded as the most important method, since it allows a company to present itself within its corporate identity as well as an easy integration of (incoming) applicant data with the companies IT network (Brice and Waung 2002; Finn 2000). Furthermore, the use of a firm s web site is viewed as more authentic than other ways of electronic recruiting (Gale 2001). Web site recruiting can also be expected to be cheaper per potential applicant, as companies with high levels of traffic on their homepage can reap scale effects. In this study, recruiting is understood as the combination of personnel pooling and personnel selection, with the objective of obtaining and selecting an adequate number of applicants with the necessary qualifications. It is open to discussion whether the definition of recruiting should include induction and other successive activities (like mentoring) or exclude the process of selection. For the purpose of this article, all induction and introductory activities have been excluded. This, however, does not imply that these post-selection activities are less important or cannot be assisted electronically. Pullig (1993) and Schneider (1995) determine four aims of personnel pooling: information, acquisition, selection and action. Information is aimed at fulfilling the applicants information needs. When compared with newspaper advertising, homepages enable companies to provide far more information to potential applicants, due to the interactive and multimedia capabilities of the internet (Murphy 1999). In particular, the ability to connect job advertisements with multimedia company presentations allows a company to meet the individual applicant s information needs more efficiently (Capelli 2001). At the same time, however, many users complain about problems in finding the specific information they are looking for (see, for example Charles 2000; Feldmann and Klaas 2002; Martinez 2000; Zall 2000). Acquisition in Pullig s (1993) and Schneider s (1995) view referring to the creation of interest - is not as important in the case of corporate web site recruiting because of the selective use of the internet: a user visiting a company s homepage already has an interest in the company and its 5

6 services and/or job opportunities. A more important role is played by the selection function: electronic recruiting makes it easier for an applicant to apply for a job. Numerous applications can be sent within a very short period of time. Since an increased volume of (prevalently unsuitable) job applicants may lead to information overload, companies attempt to improve and assist the self-selection of applicants (Hays 1999). Some companies try to achieve this by offering culture-fit tests on their homepage, which candidates can use to test whether they fit into the corporate culture (Puck 2002). The aim of action, i.e. getting qualified people to apply, can only be reached if the personnel homepage is easy to use and to understand. At first, there has to be a direct link from the company s homepage to the homepage where job offers are located. The same applies to the process of applying itself. Two different methods of applying via the internet can be distinguished: the application via and the application via standardized forms. The first method gives room for the individuality of an application, whereas the second one aims to reap the benefits of standardized processing of applications. Depending on the quantity of applications and their quality, companies have to find their own best way. In case of a large amount of applications as mentioned above the second method should be used (Kumar and Mohr 2000). As to the process of personnel selection, the conventional wisdom is that corporate web site recruiting will not take over the complete selection process, because neither the company nor the job applicant can generate sufficient valid information (Mooney 2002). Nevertheless, web-enabled pre-screening is going to play an important role in the future, and so called online games are already used by various companies. In these games the player, i.e. the job applicant, has to carry out a number of different tasks on-line; the company then evaluates the suitability of the candidate for a given position (Wild et al. 2001; Crusius 2000). Chats are used in the pre-screening process, too, but their use is not very common. Other pre-screening methods are either not used on the internet or their use is very uncommon, even though online assessment-centres are seen as a possible development in the future (Kotlyar and Ades 2002). 6

7 The influence of culture on the intensity of corporate web site recruiting In order to examine the effects of cultural differences, Hofstede s (1998; 2001) concept was used. He identified four dimensions along which different cultures vary: power distance, individualism-collectivism, masculinity-femininity and uncertainty avoidance. The claim that differences in national culture can be represented in terms of these four dimensions has been subject to criticism, not least for the reasons that Hofstede s data was confined to one company, his questions focused exclusively on work values, and his research framework biased by Western standards (see, for example, Erez and Early 1993 for a summary). It is not the intention of this study to enter into the debate about the validity of Hofstede s model. His study continues to be the largest empirical study connecting cultural orientation with observable institutional differences between countries within a single framework. In addition, the framework has been used successfully in similar other studies (see, for example, Snape et al. 1998; Ryan et al. 1999; Newman and Nollen 1996). Thus, Hofstede s model will be applied in this study. Due to the fact that Hofstede s original study did not comprise any countries from Eastern Europe, new data from the Etim Institute was used for Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. In the following, the influence of each dimension is examined on the use of the internet by HR departments. Power distance describes the extent to which inequalities in the distribution of power are expected and accepted, inequality that is inevitable in every society (Hofstede 1991). Power distance influences centralization, participation, leadership style and use of status symbols. Most important for this study is the impact of power distance on the organizational decision process. Hofstede (2001) proposes that managers in companies from countries with a lower power distance have a more participative and independent attitude towards work. In countries with a higher power distance managers are more likely to show and use their power. Taking into account that corporate web site recruiting allows a company to better present itself, its employees and its way of business within its corporate identity than print media, companies from countries with a high degree of power distance can be expected to use corporate web site recruiting more intensely than companies from countries with a lower degree of power distance. Furthermore, the relative anonymity of corporate web site recruiting, as well as the existence of possible hurdles (pre-screening) that potential applicants have to overcome to get access to the company, do appear to be more in line with a culture characterised by high power-distance. Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed: 7

8 Hypothesis 1: The higher the index of power distance in a country, the more intensely do companies use corporate web site recruiting (cp.). Individualism-collectivism describes the degree to which individuals identify themselves with the group and are integrated into the community. Individualism exists in societies in which the ties between individuals are loose. In collective societies, people are born into and remain, with great loyalty, in strong and cohesive groups throughout their lives (Hofstede 1991; Early 1994). In organizations, individualism is manifested in high levels of autonomy of employees, in an employee-employer-relationship that is predominantly based on the employmentcontract, and in work conditions that provide employees with sufficient personal time. Collectivism (or low individualism), on the other hand, is manifested in work unit solidarity, group responsibility for results, moralistic/family-like relationships with employers, and the priority of relationships over tasks. Collective societies are characterised by putting the group interest above the interest of the individual. Kumar/Steinmann/Dolles (1993), for instance, point out that the stronger the identification with a group, the stronger the mistrust of other groups and individuals. The internet, not only when used for recruiting purposes, is often described as anonymous (see, for example, Allen 1999). It seems unlikely that companies from more collective societies try to pool and pre-select job-applicants from the internet. The fact that individuals find their way into the group through the anonymous internet contradicts the central ideas of a group, and might even be (viewed as) a threat to it. Thus, the following hypothesis is formulated: Hypothesis 2: The lower the degree of individualism in a country, the less intensely do companies use corporate web site recruiting (cp.). Masculinity and femininity describe the extent to which a society emphasizes assertive and competitive as opposed to nurturing values. In more feminine societies managers strive for consensus; equality, solidarity and quality of life are emphasized, and conflicts are solved by negotiation and compromise. In masculine societies managers are expected to be assertive and decisive, emphasis is laid on performance and competition among colleagues (Hofstede 1991; 2001). Characteristics of the internet, such as speed and anonymity, are probably more attractive to masculine than to feminine nations. Furthermore, the fact that only hard facts count within the selection process of corporate web site recruiting seems to be linked with the 8

9 attribute decisiveness that Hofstede (1998) used to describe masculine societies. Thus, the following hypothesis is proposed: Hypothesis 3: The higher the degree of masculinity in a country, the more intensely do companies use corporate web site recruiting (cp.). Uncertainty avoidance is defined as the extent to which the members of a culture feel threatened by uncertain or unknown and ambiguous situations. This feeling of threat results in the greater need of individuals for predictability and for written or unwritten rules. In organizations, uncertainty manifests itself in an increased clarity of reporting relationships, procedures and systems in order to reduce employees feelings of anxiety stemming from unknown situations. Emphasis is placed on punctuality and precision. Individuals from societies with a lower degree of uncertainty avoidance are more tolerant towards other cultures and opinions, and try to keep the number of rules to a minimum: People in such societies will tend to accept every day as it comes. They will take risks rather easily. They will not work hard. They will be relatively tolerant of behaviour and opinions different from their own because they do not feel threatened of them (Hofstede 1983: 51). Corporate web site recruiting allows companies to pre-test applicants and to minimize their risks, especially when standardized application forms are used. Furthermore, corporate web site recruiting gives companies the opportunity to easily gather information about many applicants without confining themselves to a specific group in the early recruiting process. Thus, analogous to Ryan et al. (1999), the following impact of uncertainty avoidance on the use of corporate web site recruiting is expected: Hypothesis 4: The higher the degree for uncertainty avoidance in a country, the more intensely do companies use corporate web site recruiting (cp.). Control variables Within this section we discuss a series of control variables that were were expected to have an impact on the use of the internet, thus potentially overlapping or contradicting the influence of the cultural factors discussed above. Internet access. The extent to which people of a country have access to the internet obviously puts a ceiling on the intensity the internet use for recruiting purposes in the respective country. For example, there is a higher user rate of the internet in the United States than in 9

10 Europe, and corporate web site recruiting is therefore more important in the U.S. (ilogos Research 2002). The unemployment rate was included as a second control variable. The more people are unemployed, the bigger the pool out of which applicants can be selected. This reduces the necessity to put a high effort on the pooling function, both in print media and on the internet. Therefore, it can be expected that the unemployment rate of a country is negatively related to use of web recruiting by firms in that country. Figure 1: Cultural and Control Variables Cultural Influences Uncertainty Avoidance Power Distance Masculinity Femininity Individualism Collectivism Control Variables Internet Access Unemployment Rate Market Capitalization Intensity of Corporate Web Site Recruiting Finally, it can be assumed that the intensity of corporate web site recruiting is also influenced by the size of a firm. Larger firms have greater financial and personnel resources and might therefore be more likely to use web recruiting activities. For the purpose of this study, we decided to use the market capitalization as a measure of firm size as this data was easily available and accessible. Figure 1 summarises the predicted influences. Methodology The sample consists of the 30 largest, publicly listed companies - measured by their market capitalization - in each of the following 11 countries: Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, United States of America, Canada, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary. Thus, in total the sample comprises 330 companies from 11 different countries. These countries were selected for two reasons: firstly, these countries showed significant differences along Hofstede s cultural dimensions, and secondly, native speakers were available to conduct the research in these countries. A standardized procedure was developed to collect the relevant data to measure the intensity of corporate web site recruiting: 10

11 First of all, the market capitalization (MARKCAP) and the home country (NATION) of each company were noted. Then the company s home-country homepage was visited. If a link to a personnel homepage was found, we followed this link. In the case that more than one personnel homepage existed, the page of the company s head office was chosen. If a personnel homepage existed and one of the following variables (indicating the intensity of corporate web site recruiting) showed a positive result, the existence of corporate web site recruiting was assumed (ANYPR). In all other cases it was assumed that the company did not use corporate web site recruiting. By visiting the personnel homepage the quality and quantity of information in personnel pooling was measured with five dichotomous variables. Are there any specific job offers (INFORM01)? Is there a newsletter about jobs available (INFORM02)? Are the multimedia possibilities of the internet used (INFORM03)? Is information about career opportunities available (INFORM04)? Has a Chat been installed giving the visitor the possibility to talk with HRM managers of the company (INFORM05)? The selection function in personnel pooling was measured with the variable SELECT, with 0 indicating No Self Selection Tests and 1 indicating Self Selection Tests Available. The emphasis that companies placed on the action function was measured with two dichotomous variables. ACTION01 measured whether there was a direct link from the company s homepage to the corporate personnel page. ACTION02 measured if it was possible to apply online. To test the function of selection (does the company assist the self-selection of the applicants) one dichotomous variable (PRESCR) was used, with 0 for No pre-screening methods and 1 for prescreening methods used. Finally, in order to measure the overall intensity of corporate web site recruiting, the values of the dichotomous INFORM, ACTION, SELECT and PRESCR variables were added up into one composite variable (PRPOWER). As nine dichotomous variables were combined, the scale for PRPOWER is 0 for non-existent, and 9 for a very high intensity, to which firms make use of corporate web site recruiting. Results Descriptive Results As mentioned above, the data of 330 companies from 11 countries was collected and evaluated. The following Table 1 shows the values of the four dimensions as suggested by Hofstede s model, as well as the internet user rate and the standardized unemployment rate of 11

12 2001 for those countries. Furthermore, the table shows the means and standard deviations for the dependent variable (PRPOWER) for each nation included in our survey. Table 1: Hofstede s Dimensions of Culture, Internet User Rate, Unemployment Rate and Means of PRPOWER POWERDIS INDIVID MASCULIN UNCERT UNEMRATE RENETUSE PRPOWER Mean (SD) Germany ,7% 21,68% 3,77 (2,11) United Kingdom ,0% 32,63% 2,40 (3,08) Italy ,4% 20,11% 1,47 (3,15) United States ,8% 53,23% 3,93 (1,86) Canada ,2% 9,1% 2,50 (3,71) Finland ,1% 43,86% 2,32 (2,45) Poland ,2% 7,25% 0,61 (1,43) Sweden ,1% 50,70% 2,13 (3,59) Norway ,6% 52,40% 1,39 (2,54) Hungary ,8% 6,43% 0,36 (1,13) Czech Republic ,2% 8,76% 1,14 (2,28) Means (SD) ,65% (3,77) 30,67% (17,69) 2,03 (1,91) Notes 1 Weighted means and standard deviations of all firms, not countries Sources: Hofstede (1980), OECD (2002), CIA (2002), ETIM (2002) The descriptive statistics regarding the intensity of web site recruiting in Table 1 show that the use of corporate web site recruiting varies markedly between the countries included in this study. Overall, 56% of all companies use corporate web site recruiting, but with varying intensity across countries: For instance, companies from the United States in the sample show a mean PRPOWER of 3,93 (SD: 1,86), while the mean PRPOWER in Hungary is only 0,36 (SD: 1,13). Testing of Hypotheses Multiple regression analyses were applied to test the influence of the variables on corporate web site recruiting. To check for multicollinearity, Table 2 provides the means, standard deviations and bivariate Pearson correlations for the variables used. As can be seen in Table 2, all independent variables except for MASCULIN are significantly correlated with PRPOWER. Although there are significant inter-variable correlations among the independent variables, none of the coefficients exceeds.40. Thus, due to the low levels of inter-variable correlation, multicollinearity does not appear to be a serious problem. Similarly, the results of using each variable as dependent variable within the regression analyses also suggested low levels of multicollinearity. We computed three distinct models to allow for an interpretation of differences in explanatory power of cultural and control variables: the first model included only the cultural factors, the second only the control variables, and a third model combined the cultural factors and control 12

13 variables to explain variances in PRPOWER. The Durbin-Watson-Test on autocorrelation delivered acceptable results for all three regression models (1,75 for Model 1; 1,81 (M 2); 1,85 (M 3)). Table 2: Means, Standard Deviation and Correlations Mean SD PRPOWER 2,03 1,91 1, POWERDIS 39,06 7,44 -,244** 1, INDIVID 71,31 11,47,380** -,142* 1, MASCULIN 50,39 23,73,003,172**,109 1, UNCERT 56,22 17,16 -,262**,043 -,206,129** 1, RENETUSE 30,67 17,69,336** -,295**,295* -,231* -,208* 1, UNEMRATE 7,65 3,77 -,219**,195* -,121*,283**,214* -,273** 1, MARKCAP 28,44 55,85,342** -,027,321**,235* -,273*,313** -,253** 1,000 * Level of significance.05; ** Level of Significance.01 in two tailed Tests (Pearson s correlations) Regression analysis The first model was computed without the control variables. The results of Model 1 imply that cultural factors can only explain 29.7% of the variance in the intensity to which companies in our sample use their web site as a recruiting tool. It was predicted in hypothesis 1 that the level of power distance will positively influence the intensity of corporate web site recruiting. Contrary to hypothesis 1, correlation analysis delivers a negative correlation coefficient of r=-.244 on a high level of significance (p.01). This negative correlation between POWERDIS and PRPOWER is also supported by the results of the regression analyses in model 1 and 3 (see table 3). These results suggest that Hypothesis 1 has to be rejected, as a positive influence was predicted. Hypothesis 2 suggested a positive influence of the degree of individualism on the intensity of corporate web site recruiting. The correlation results in Table 2 lend support for hypothesis 2 (r=.380; p.01). The regression analyses (models 1 and 2) show a similar result: the coefficient for individualism is positively and significantly associated with the intensity of web recruiting, again supporting hypothesis 2. Hypothesis 3 predicted that the higher the degree of masculinity (MASCULIN) in a country, the more intensely companies use corporate web site recruiting (PRPOWER). The correlations in Table 3 show that this hypothesis has to be rejected. Similarly, the regression models show no significant influence of MASCULIN on PRPOWER. Hypothesis 4 proposed that the intensity of corporate web site recruiting is positively associated with the degree of uncertainty avoidance in a society. The results of the survey 13

14 point into a different direction. With r=-.262 (p.01) in the correlation analysis and similar results in the regression models, the level of uncertainty avoidance appears to have a negative influence on the intensity of corporate web site recruiting. Table 3: Regressions on PRPOWER Independent Variables Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Power Distance -.376*** -.410** Individualism.270***.251* Masculinity Uncertainty Avoidance -.497** -.481** Control Variables Internet usage.192***.201*** Unemployment rate -.513*** -.497*** Market Capitalization.207***.243*** R² Adjusted R² Change in Adjusted R F *** *** *** Notes *** Level of significance <.001; ** <.01;*<.05 Change in Adjusted R 2 compared to Model 1 Standardised Coefficients shown In a second model we included only the control variables, which led to an increased R² adj. of 42,6%. The control variables are significantly related to the intensity of corporate web site recruiting in both correlation analysis and regression. We suggested a positive influence of the spread of the internet in a country (RENETUSE) on the intensity of corporate web site recruiting (PRPOWER). The coefficient for this control variable is positive on a.01-level, thus confirming the crucial role of internet access outlined above. As a second control variable, we expected the unemployment rate (UNEMRATE) to have a negative influence on the intensity of web recruiting by firms in that country. As expected, the coefficient is significantly negative, supporting our arguments. The regressor for the market capitalization of the sample firms (MARKCAP) was expected to be positive, as larger firms were argued to be more likely to have the financial and personal resources necessary for the use of web recruiting. As shown in Table 3, the coefficient is positive on a.01 level, thus lending support for our reasoning. Finally, we combined both cultural and control variables in model 3, which caused an increase of R 2 adj. to 55,9%. In general, the differences in explanatory power between the models suggest that cultural factors when compared to hard factors, such as the market capitalization of firms have a lower influence on the intensity to which firms make use of their web site for recruiting purposes. Nevertheless, the results suggest that cultural factors do play a role in determining HRM departments use of web recruiting. 14

15 Discussion and Conclusion This study has empirically tested cultural influences on the intensity of corporate web site recruiting. The findings suggest that cultural factors while still playing a role - are of less importance than other contextual influences, such as the unemployment rate. In particular, the results show that the level of individualsm in a country positively affects the use of corporate web site recruiting. Firms from societies that show a high level of individualism tend to make more intensive use of corporate web site recruiting than firms from more collective societies. The influence of power distance and uncertainty avoidance is contrary to our expectations, i.e. both dimensions were negatively related to the intensity of corporate web site recruiting. In the case of power distance a possible explanation for this result may be the fact that the implementation of corporate web site recruiting needs open-minded managers. Since the use of web-related management techniques (like other new information technologies) might change the power structure of a company, managers might fear a loss of power and therefore resist the implementation of those techniques. Furthermore, an increased desire for communication resulting from lower power distance could explain this finding. In the case of uncertainty avoidance we argued that the desire to reduce uncertainty in the recruiting process may encourage managers to use corporate web site recruiting. But as Ryan et al. put it, it might be that uncertainty about the usefulness of methods themselves is what is the cause for concern (1999: 383). Finally, masculinity does not have any significant influence on the intensity of corporate web site recruiting in this study. An explanation for this might be that this variable may have both positive and negative impacts on the intensity of corporate web site recruiting. It could be argued that in countries with a higher degree of femininity a more intense personnel marketing is necessary, as the higher importance attributed to issues such as the quality of life makes an application less likely. So more marketing activities would be necessary to receive applications which would reflect on a more intense use of corporate web site recruiting, too. In conclusion the results of this study lend support for the divergence approach in international management research, by showing that even the use of the internet for management purposes, i.e. corporate web site recruiting, is affected by cultural factors. This underlines the fact that multinational corporations have to be careful when trying to standardize their corporate web site recruiting practices, as well as other management practices among their international subsidiaries. They need to be aware of the cultural and other contextual differences between subsidiaries in different countries, and adapt their HRM 15

16 practices accordingly. As Schuler et al. (1993) put it, adapting human resource practices to the cultural context may even lead to achieving strategic advantage. If this is also true for corporate web site recruiting has to be tested in future studies which include measures of its efficiency. Considering the results of this study, some limitations should be taken into account. Firstly, the study was based on a relatively small sample (n=330). Secondly, the caveats associated with Hofstede s model (as mentioned above) have to be borne in mind, and future research might use different conceptualisations of (national) culture. Finally, the canon of control variables (internet user rate, rate of unemployment and market capitalization) could be extended to better explain variances in the intensity of web site recruiting across nations. 16

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