Locals know best? Subsidiary HR autonomy and subsidiary performance

In this paper we examine the relationship between subsidiary HR autonomy and subsidiary performance, the mediating role of absenteeism, and the moderating effect of cultural distance and institutional distance. We find that subsidiary HR autonomy is associated with higher subsidiary performance and that this relationship is mediated by employee absenteeism. We also find that the negative relationship between HR autonomy and absenteeism is stronger in the cases of low cultural and low institutional distance and that the positive relationship between HR autonomy and performance is stronger in the cases of low institutional distance between home and host country