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.
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