Employee reactions to cross-border acquisitions: Evidence from an acquired Serbian Company

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine factors influencing employee reactions to changes brought about by cross-border acquisitions. The research was conducted in a company operating in Serbia’s retail sector that was acquired by a Belgian multinational company. The data were collected from 344 respondents. Measures of central tendency, the Mann-Whitney U test, and regression analysis were used to test the research hypotheses. The research results show that employee reactions to changes brought by cross-border acquisition were generally positive. The study show that corporate cultural differences between the acquiring company and the acquired company and the support of transformational leaders resulted in employees reacting positively to the changes. The study attempts to improve understanding of employee reactions during the process of change occurring as a result of cross-border acquisition. Additionally, this study has practical implications, as it points to how the appropriate management of human resources contributes to positive employee reactions.