Drivers of HR practices in Sri Lanka: a force field model

Abstract

Many theories can be used to understand the drivers that shape the human resource practices of a country’s organisations. The convergence and divergence debate discusses global and national level drivers, while integrated models also capture structural and human agent drivers at the organisational level. However, these integrated models have been developed based on research in multinational corporations of Western developed countries. As such, there is a gap in the research on the drivers of human resource practices in South Asian developing countries like Sri Lanka. This study addresses the gaps in research on the drivers of human resource practices in Sri Lanka, and research on the main human resource elements across industries. The mixed method research used a survey of human resource decision makers in 98 organisations across industries and focus groups with 30 participants in Sri Lanka. To analyse the data, the force field model of human resource practices was developed based on the strengths of four integrated models. A unique Sri Lankan human resources footprint was visible in the results, with social media influence on recruitment, high power distance shaped performance management systems, risk benefits shaped by uncertainty avoidance, and less family-friendly working arrangements despite the feminine culture. High performance human resource practices across organisations were also investigated. These were more prevalent in foreign owned organisations and organisations that had human resource managers with formal human resource education. The high performance human resource practices of manufacturing sector organisations were different from those of service sector organisations. The resultant model indicated a set of drivers unique to Sri Lanka such as post-colonialism, postfeudalism, post-separatist war impact, poverty, the influence of developed countries, and Sri Lanka’s own cultural value dimensions. Two sub force fields were uncovered within the force field of Sri Lanka. The first sub force field contained global and national level convergence-divergence drivers and the second sub force field contained competitive drivers unique to each organisation that made the organisations differentiate from each other. The importance of the organisation’s leaders’ personal characteristics as a driver of human resource practices was a highlight in the second sub force field. The force field model of human resource practices illustrated the interconnectedness between the convergence-divergence thesis, the resource based view of the firm, and human agents’ managerial strategic choices.