ABSTRACT
This Handbook of Human Resource Management (HRM) in Asia (hereafter Handbook) is motivated by two observations. First, existing books on HRM in Asia have not given sufficient attention to several important aspects of organizational life in Asian societies. For instance, in many Asian countries religion plays a significant role in people management. Family-oriented culture and gender inequality exert significant influences on Asian employees’ everyday organizational life. However, such themes have been insufficiently covered, if at all, in existing handbooks in this area. In addition, there is a continuing under-representation of employment/ industrial relations (IR) issues in existing scholarly books on HRM in Asia. Yet, a proper understanding of Asian firms’ HRM necessitates in-depth knowledge about the changes of labor regulations and IR both at the national and local level that are taking place under the context of rapid marketization and globalization. HR practices observed in Asian emerging economies (e.g., China, 1 India, and Vietnam) are often the results of the dynamics between organizations, regulators, and employee relations institutions.
