1. ¹Department of Management of Organizations, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong
2. ²Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, USA
3. ³Department of Management, University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL, USA
4. ⁴Office of the Vice-President, Lingnan University, Hong Kong

Correspondence: Y Gong, Department of Management of Organizations, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Tel: +852 2358 7748; Fax: +852 2335 5325; E-mail: mnygong@ust.hk

Received 9 October 2002; Revised 8 September 2004; Accepted 15 November 2004; Published online 2 June 2005.

Abstract

Building on general systems theory, we argue that the multi-system nature of the international joint venture (IJV) drives two distinct but inter-related sets of human resource (HR) issues: a set whose core is mainly within the venture subsystem (within-IJV HR set), producing a detrimental impact on venture performance; and a set associated mainly with the relational tension along the interface between the parent and the venture subsystem (relational/interface HR set). The relational set is detrimental at the system level, but actually has a positive performance impact at the venture subsystem level. Hierarchical regression results from a sample of 265 China-based IJVs offer support for the above hypotheses developed around the two sets of HR issues. We discuss implications for IJV theory, research, and practice.