Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze cross-national and cross-cultural similarities and differences in perceptions and conceptualizations of workplace bullying among human resource professionals (HRPs). Particular emphasis was given to what kind of behaviors are considered as bullying in different countries and what criteria interviewees use to decide whether a particular behavior is bullying or not. Design/methodology/approach: HRPs in 13 different countries/regions (n=199), spanning all continents and all GLOBE cultural clusters (House et al., 2004), were interviewed and a qualitative content analysis was carried out. Findings: Whereas interviewees across the different countries largely saw personal harassment and physical intimidation as bullying, work-related negative acts and social exclusion were construed very differently in the different countries. Repetition, negative effects on the target, intention to harm, and lack of a business case were decision criteria typically used by interviewees across the globe – other criteria varied by country. Practical implications: The results help HRPs working in multinational organizations understand different perceptions of negative acts. Originality/value: The findings point to the importance of cultural factors, such as power distance and performance orientation, and other contextual factors, such as economy and legislation for understanding varying conceptualizations of bullying.

This article aims to extend understanding of the firm-level impact of strategic HR practices on organizational performance. Adopting a contingency approach, it develops a structural model that considers direct and indirect influences of market growth, business strategy formalization and HRM centrality and practices on organizational performance in Europe. The study uses a comparative approach, revealing differences between northern and southern Europe. Clear differences appeared between the two clusters in the HR policies and practices correlated with higher performance, thus indicating that the link between HRM and performance may be different in different geographies.

Drawing on human capital theory, our study examines the relationship between international work experience and individuals' career success in terms of promotions and subjective financial success. We propose that these relationships are mediated by external employability and hypothesise a moderating role of national‐level economic freedom. Using data from 19,421 respondents, residing in 30 countries and working in different occupational groups (managers, professionals, clerical and blue‐collar workers), our results suggest that international work experience is positively related to promotions and subjective financial success across our study's different national contexts. These positive relationships were mediated by individuals' perceived external employability. Some support for the moderation of the relationship between international work experience and employability through economic freedom was only found when we differentiate between different types of international work experience. The findings enhance our understanding of the association between international work experience and career success from a human capital perspective.

This study examines the concept of mentoring as a career-strategy tool in Greek organizations from a protégé's point of view and the effect of mentoring on women's career advancement. In particular, we hypothesize, first, that seeking mentoring is a multidimensional concept, consisting of a number of activities and behaviours interconnected in a career strategy scheme; second, that mentoring has a positive effect on career advancement; third, that organizational culture has a moderating effect in the relationship between mentoring and career advancement. The research was carried out in a sample of 297 women employed in Greek organizations. A series of factor and regression analyses were performed. The findings support our hypotheses and indicate the necessity for women to assume proactive behaviours in developing mentoring relationships in order to advance their careers; they also stress the role of the organization in creating a relationship-oriented organizational culture in order to facilitate women's mentorship.

We introduce career success schemas as critical for understanding how people in different contexts perceive and understand career success. Using a comparative configurational approach, we show, in a study of 13 countries, that two structural characteristics of career success schemas—complexity and convergence—differ across country contexts and are embedded in specific configurations of institutional factors. Adopting complexity and convergence as primary dimensions, we propose a taxonomy of career success schemas at the country level. Based on this taxonomy, we contribute to the understanding of subjective career success across countries, discuss the importance of schemas for organisational career systems in multinational enterprises, and propose specific guidelines for future comparative careers research.