International HRM Practices in Africa: The Implications of Chinese Firms Operating in Africa

The emerging literature on China–Africa cooperation has provided some insight into human resource management (HRM) and organisation studies. More research is therefore needed, and this necessitates a deeper comprehension of how Chinese MNCs’ development and their increasingly apparent strategic interest/intent and capabilities could be conceptualised with implications for HRM. Therefore, this chapter explores international HRM practices in Africa and the implications of Chinese firms operating on the continent. The chapter reviewed the extant literature that has examined Chinese operations in Africa and the emerging implications of these operations for HRM research and practice. Specifically, we found that while resource-seeking remains the primary motive for Chinese internalisation in Africa, these internalisational strategies tend to vary in different industries and may also be determined by MNCs’ ownership structure. Moreover, given the similar cultural attributes (Chinese Confucianism and African Ubuntu) and differences in labour participation, there appears to be a crossvergence of HRM practices in Chinese MNCs operating in Africa, as well as the different adaptive measures implemented by Chinese MNCs to maintain their internationalisation intent.