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Exploring Organizational Ambidexterity in International HRM: How Unilever Uganda Limited Balances Global Standardization and Local Responsiveness in HRM Practice Implementation

DOI: 10.4236/jhrss.2026.143020, PP. 372-405

Keywords: Organizational Ambidexterity, International Human Resource Management, Global Standardization, Local Responsiveness, Institutional Duality, Emerging Markets, Uganda

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Abstract:

This study investigates how foreign subsidiaries of multinational enterprises (MNEs) operationalize international human resource management (IHRM) ambidexterity amidst institutional duality in emerging economies. Drawing on an in-depth qualitative case study of Unilever Uganda Limited, the research adopts an interpretive approach informed by the Gioia Methodology and supplemented by doctrinal legal analysis. Data were collected via cross-sectional semi-structured interviews with 15 purposively selected informants spanning HR executives, line managers, and legal experts, and systematically triangulated with an analysis of 15 corporate documents, regulatory frameworks, HR Policy Memoranda, and 8 judicial court cases. Findings demonstrate that Unilever Uganda Limited strategically balances global corporate HR mandates, embodied in automated, algorithmic digital platforms such as Workday, with the stringent, procedurally focused legal demands of the Ugandan context. Central to resolving this legal-digital friction is the deployment of local HR managers as “institutional translators” who enact a “Glocal Compliance Matrix.” This matrix harmonizes rigid global HR templates with host-country statutory requirements, notably the strict due process mandates of Section 66 of the Ugandan Employment Act (2006)1 and the unpredictable interpretations of the Ugandan judiciary. Rather than testing causal or mediational relationships, the findings qualitatively reveal how dynamic managerial capabilities and continuous institutional negotiation serve as the operative mechanisms enabling this dual alignment. This research advances IHRM scholarship by shifting the focus from macro-level structural designs to the micro-foundations of ambidexterity, illustrating how subsidiary-level agency resolves the tension between global digital homogenization and localized legal compliance in institutionally complex, culturally collectivist emerging markets.

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