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The Influences on Direct Communication in British and Danish Firms: Country, ‘Strategic HRM’ or Unionization?

Paul Gooderham

Emma Parry

Middlesex University Business School, UK, Norges Handelshøyskole, Norway and Cranfield School of Management, UK

This article uses large-scale survey data to examine the influences on private-sector managers’ propensity to communicate directly to employees in Britain and Denmark. In both countries, this propensity is shaped by two factors: whether the senior HR manager is involved in strategy formation, and the degree of unionization. The findings are not consistent with Brewster's argument that European HR managers are constrained in applying American versions of HRM, or with ‘varieties of capitalism’ theories which imply that companies in the two countries would have different systemic drivers of their communications practices.

Key Words: Britain • Denmark • direct communication • strategic HRM • unionization • varieties of capitalism

European Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 12, No. 3, 267-286 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0959680106068913


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