Although the country-of-origin effect on staffing practices of multinational corporations (MNCs) is well-known, its underlying mechanisms are under-theorized. Drawing on the cross-cultural management and comparative institutionalism literatures, we propose an overarching, theory-based framework with two mechanisms, dispositional and contextual, that might explain country-of-origin effects in MNCs’ use of parent-country nationals (PCNs) in their foreign subsidiaries’ top management teams. The tendency of MNCs from some home countries to staff these positions with PCNs is typically labeled as “ethnocentric”, a word imbued with negative intentions referring mainly to the dispositional rationale behind this staffing choice. However, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) of staffing practices of MNCs from ten home countries shows that both mechanisms – dispositional and contextual – have considerable explanatory power. Our methodological approach enables us to analyze conceptually distinct, yet empirically intertwined, societal-level explanations as a pattern, and thus offers a viable solution to integrate different perspectives in international and comparative research.

尽管起源国对跨国公司（MNC）人员配置做法的影响是众所周知的，但其潜在机制却理论不足。借鉴跨文化管理和比较制度主义的文献，我们提出了一个基于理论的总体框架，该框架具有处置和上下文两种机制，可以解释跨国公司使用母国国民（PCN）的原籍国影响。在其外国子公司的最高管理团队中。一些母国的跨国公司倾向于用PCN来担任这些职位，这种趋势通常被贴上“以民族为中心”的字眼，充满了消极意向，主要是指这种职员选择背后的处分理由。然而，对来自十个母国的跨国公司的人员配备做法进行的模糊集定性比较分析（fsQCA）表明，处置和上下文两种机制都具有相当大的解释力。我们的方法论方法使我们能够将概念上不同但在经验上交织在一起的社会层面的解释作为一种模式进行分析，从而为在国际和比较研究中整合不同观点提供了可行的解决方案。