Ownership, governance, and the diffusion of HRM practices in multinational worker cooperatives: Case-study evidence from the Mondragon Group
Human Resource Management Journal 28(1) : 76-91 (2018)
Abstract
Drawing on a qualitative study of one Mondragon multinational
worker cooperative (WC) based on longitudinal data and in‐depth
interviews, our research evidences the contradictions that
internationalisation poses in WCs, both through privileging
managerial control at the expense of worker–member participation
and through the setting‐up of capitalist subsidiaries in which
employees are excluded from ownership and decision‐making. It
further shows how institutions, power relations, and interests shape
transfer in WCs, supporting the diffusion of certain human resource
management (HRM) practices on grounds of efficiency but
hampering the implementation of core cooperative practices. We
make a threefold contribution: first, to a strand of inquiry focused
on the influence of corporate governance on HRM; second, to the
field of international HRM by analysing the cross‐national diffusion
of HRM practices in WCs; and third, to ongoing debates on the
challenges that WCs face when striving to balance the economic
and social dimensions in globalisation.