WHAT DETERMINES EMPLOYEE PERCEPTIONS OF HRM PROCESS FEATURES? THE CASE OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL IN MNC SUBSIDIARIES

Against the background of Bowen and Ostroff's (2004) human resource management (HRM) process theorization, this study explores influences on individual employee perceptions of the visibility, validity, and procedural and distributive justice of performance appraisal in subsidiaries of multinational corporations, and at what levels these influences reside. The study adopts an embedded, multiple-case design with interview data from 33 managers and professionals in six subsidiaries of three corporations. The findings show that perceptions of the performance appraisal process are driven by a number of influences pertaining to the unit, relationship, and individual levels. Further, the study highlights differences and similarities of influences across four performance appraisal process features, and identifies overlaps and inter-linkages between the process features suggested by Bowen and Ostroff (2004). For practitioners, the value of our study lies in the identification of steps that can be taken to increase the likelihood that HRM practices are perceived positively and as intended by the organization. (C) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.