This paper applies the institutional work perspective to elucidate how and why dysfunctional effects are reproduced by HRM practices. Our analysis of headhunter-assisted recruitment of local employees in foreign subsidiaries demonstrates how mutual dependence, self-interests, and a stratified labor market lead to specific candidate search criteria and limit the scope of search. It also shows how these practices result in limited positive effects from the key actors’ perspective, but in the long run reproduce voluntary turnover, communication-competence misalignment, and limited use of local talent pools. However, because these practices have become commonly used, the actors are unwilling and/or unable to change the system.

本文运用机构工作的视角来阐明 HRM 实践如何以及为什么会再现功能失调的影响。我们对猎头协助外国子公司招聘当地员工的分析表明，相互依赖、自身利益和分层的劳动力市场如何导致特定的候选人搜索标准并限制搜索范围。它还显示了这些做法如何从关键参与者的角度产生有限的积极影响，但从长远来看，会重现自愿离职、沟通能力失调和对当地人才库的有限使用。然而，由于这些做法已经变得普遍，参与者不愿意和/或无法改变系统。