Human resource management practices in the context of rising right‐wing populism

• Published date: 01 November 2020
• Author: Geoffrey Wood,Shaker A. Zahra,Douglas J. Cumming
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12269
• Date: 01 November 2020

SPECIAL ISSUE

Human resource management practices in the

context of rising right-wing populism

Douglas J. Cumming

1,2

| Geoffrey Wood

3,4

| Shaker A. Zahra

5

1

DeSantis Distinguished Professor, College of

Business, Florida Atlantic University, USA

2

Visiting Professor, Birmingham Business

School, University of Birmingham, UK

3

DAN Management, Western University,

Canada

4

Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

5

Carlson School of Management, University

of Minneapolis, USA

Correspondence

Geoffrey Wood. DAN Management, Western

University, London, Ontario, ON N6A 3K7,

Canada.

Email: geoffreywood65@hotmail.com

Funding information

Social Sciences and Humanities Research

Council of Canada

Abstract

We review the relationship between the causes and impact

of rising right-wing populism and human resource manage-

ment practice, drawing on the recent experiences of the

United States and the United Kingdom. Specifically, we

explore the links between right-wing populism and firms

and their HRM practices. Although the links between

declining standards of work, employment, and populism

may be indirect and spatially uneven, each impacts the

other in a manner that reinforces existing trends. We pay

particular attention to migration and labour mobility, pay

dispersion, and job and occupational security. At the level

of the workplace, the populist turn undermines workforce

diversity and makes transnational mobility more difficult. At

the same time, structural pressures mitigating against a

greater commitment to employees and their development

and well-being contribute to a general climate of insecurity,

which, in turn, reinforces populism.

KEYWORDS

Brexit, entrepreneurship, human resource management,

international business, right-wing populism, Trump

1|INTRODUCTION

The populist turn in the United Kingdom and the United States has already impacted firms and their employees.

However, much of the existing literature has focused on contextual causes and outcomes, rather than an exploration

of how this is articulated through organisations. This essay explores the links between HRM and populism, in terms

of both causes and effects. Populism is a broad catch-all phrase that encompasses not only a formal rejection of the

status quo but also “antipluralism”; populist leaders claim to be authentic voices of the people and render alternative

voices illegitimate, in some manner or other (Mueller, 2017). Many causes may be labelled as populist in their

Received: 1 June 2018 Revised: 6 October 2019 Accepted: 14 November 2019

DOI: 10.1111/1748-8583.12269

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