Language in international human resource management: current state of research and future research directions

Abstract

Research on language in international business has grown substantially during the last two decades. However, research that links language to human resource management (HRM) has remained scarce. This is unfortunate because attracting, developing, motivating, and retaining a multilingual workforce is essential for the long-term success of organizations in today’s global business world. The present special issue on language in international HRM contributes to tackling this gap. We provide an overview of the current state of research on language in nternational HRM and preview the papers in this special issue. Building on and extending current knowledge, we propose future research directions in terms of 1) a nuanced understanding of HRM functions, 2) language as part of multinational diversity management, 3) consideration of different actors and different contexts, 4) robust theorizing at multiple levels, and 5) more diverse methods to capture complex realities of a multilingual workforce.