This paper responds to calls for theory development in relation to processual and meso-level explanations of ‘crossvergence’ in strategic partnerships. It contributes by reviewing the extant literature on convergence-divergence-crossvergence theory in the context of the global information technology (IT) industry and argues for the presence of ‘multivergence’ or ‘multiple configurations of crossvergence’ in an industry sector that relies extensively on strategic business partnerships. We posit and argue that the relevance of multivergence extends beyond the global and offshore IT industry to include strategic partnerships in offshoring in services and manufacturing firms. Overall, this paper identifies the processes and meso-level factors that lead to multivergence in IHRM practices and presents future research directions and ideas on this topic.

本文响应了对战略伙伴关系中“交叉融合”的过程和中观层面解释的理论发展的呼吁。它通过回顾全球信息技术 (IT) 行业背景下有关收敛-发散-交叉收敛理论的现有文献做出贡献，并主张在广泛依赖于信息技术 (IT) 行业的行业部门中存在“多重收敛”或“交叉收敛的多重配置”。战略业务伙伴关系。我们假设并认为多聚化的相关性超出了全球和离岸 IT 行业，包括服务和制造公司离岸外包的战略合作伙伴关系。总体而言，本文确定了导致 IHRM 实践多趋化的过程和中观层面的因素，并提出了有关该主题的未来研究方向和想法。