2nd Global Conference of International Human Resource Management

The 2nd Global Conference on International Human Resource Management was held on May 14-15, 2015 at Penn State (University Park, PA) following the success of the 1st Global Conference held in May 2013. The conference attracted over seventy scholars from seventeen countries carrying out research in the field of international human resource management (IHRM). Some forty papers were presented covering a broad range of IHRM topics, including: global talent management; global leadership development; expatriate management and global careers; corporate social responsibility and the globalization of work; diversity and aging in different national settings; HRM in emerging markets; cross-national perspectives on IHRM; and high performance work systems in different country contexts.

Delegates were delighted to be able to hear keynote speeches from two leading scholars in the IHRM field. Xiao-Ping Chen (Philip M. Condit Endowed Chair Professor and Chair of Department of Management and Organization at the Foster School of Business, University of Washington) gave a highly engaging presentation on “Beyond Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation: Empowerment, Passion, Creativity, and Innovation”, drawing from her research with the well-known Alibaba corporation in China. Michael Morley (Professor of Management at the Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick, Ireland) was equally inspiring, helping us to move our thinking forward across the IHRM discipline with his very thought-provoking presentation on “Root Trajectories in International Human Resource Management Research and the Consequences for our Lines of Inquiry”. This conversation was continued in the concluding panel session of the conference, during which delegates shared thoughts on the future of IHRM research.

The conference was supported by the School of Labor and Employment Relations at Penn State, as well as a leading HRM academic journal, the International Journal of Human Resource Management. Additional sponsorship was also provided by the Center for Global Studies at Penn State. The Organizing Committee included Elaine Farndale, Maja Vidović, Sumita Raghuram, and Helen Liu, all in the School of Labor and Employment Relations.