Out of Sight and Out of Mind? Networking Strategies for Enhancing Inclusion in Multinational Organizations

Abstract

How can employees of multinational corporations (MNCs) who are dispersed in various locations around the globe feel included? Integrating social capital theory and the MNC literature regarding resource and status differences between employees located in headquarter (HQ) versus non-HQ (i.e., subsidiary) country locations, we examined the role of the focal employee's professional advice ties and specifically their centrality as a source of advice to HQ contacts in enhancing inclusion. Moreover, we assessed the efficacy of two agentic strategies (i.e., cross-border work and access to well-connected site leaders) in facilitating the formation of inclusion-enhancing professional advice ties and whether their impact depends additionally on the focal employee's location inside or outside HQ country locations. Testing our predictions in a sample of 362 MNC employees dispersed across 33 sites, our findings showed that being central as a source of professional advice to HQ contacts enhanced employees' perceived inclusion. We also found that although employees in non-HQ countries suffered a "geographic disadvantage" in building professional advice ties to HQ contacts, these employees gained centrality as a source of professional advice to HQ contacts when they engaged in work that required cross-border interactions, especially when they also had site leaders who were well-connected. For employees located inside HQ countries, their professional advice ties to other HQ contacts were facilitated by having well-connected site leaders. We discuss the theoretical implications of our findings and provide practical recommendations for enhancing the inclusion of MNC employees based on whether they are located inside or outside of HQ countries.