Abstract:
This study explores the extent to which Australian exporting firms linked their
human resource (HR.)practices with their organisational structures in the early
stage of internationalisation. We propose that the export intensity of Australian
manufacturing firms is predicted by strategic HRM, human-capital-enhancing HR
practices, degree of knowledge retention, and decentralisation of decision-making
processes. There are two major findings. First, there is a strong level of intercorrelation
between the HP-M variables. while export intensity is correlated with
selective staffing HR practices. Second, the regression analysis shows that the
adoption of selective staffing together with the decentralisation in decision-making
predicts export intensity. The result implies that as the level of export intensity
increases. Australian firms adopt selective staffing practices to -enhance the human
stock required to engage in internationalisation. Decision-making is decentralised
to line managers to allow them to deal with strategic and operational issues
resulting from increasing internationalisation.
