China in sub-Saharan Africa: implications for HRM policy and practice at organizational level

Abstract

The presence of China in Africa has introduced a new geopolitical dynamic that should be incorporated into the way international human resource management (HRM) is studied cross-culturally. Despite a growing literature on China's international relations with and investment in Africa, little previous study has been undertaken at organizational level. We review relevant literature, together with that on management and organization in Africa and China, to develop a conceptual framework that incorporates critiques of North–South interactions including Dependency Theories that posit First World development is based on Third World underdevelopment, and Postcolonial Theory that posits the South's knowledge dependency on the North. We consider how a growing South–South dynamic may be integrated into a consideration of power dynamics and cultural crossvergence, and construct organizational and management ‘ideal types’ to enable us to frame a research agenda in this area. This is important, as it is difficult to sustain cross-cultural scholarship merely on cultural comparisons. By providing a way of studying cultural hybrid forms of organization, or cultural ‘third spaces’, it is hoped this will contribute to understanding the implications to people management practice in South–South partnerships, not only in Chinese organizations in Africa, and contribute theoretically to the development of cross-cultural management studies and its application to international HRM.

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