Cross-cultural Comparisons of HRM Styles: Based on Japanese Companies, Japanese Subsidiaries in Bangladesh and Bangladesh Companies

This study presents empirical research findings of the impact of national and corporate cultures on managerial beliefs about employees and on company styles of treating its employees (HRM styles), measured in terms of an autocratic-participative dimension, and based on managers from three different manufacturing entities: Japanese companies in Japan (JC; n=104), Japanese subsidiaries in Bangladesh (JBC; n=102), and Bangladeshi companies (BC; n=114). As hypothesized, BC managers were found to have stronger negative (‘work- avoidance’) beliefs about employees and to perceive their company's HRM style as more autocratic relative to JBC and JC managers. On the other hand, a positive (‘self-motivation’) belief about employees was highest among JC managers, followed by JBC and BC colleagues. The participative HRM style was found correlating negatively with the work-avoidance belief across all managers as hypothesized. However, the participative HRM style correlated positively with the self-motivation belief only among JC managers, but negatively among BC managers. National and cultural differences have been discussed to explain this contradiction among BC managers.