Institutional Voids and the Hybridisation of Total Rewards: Navigating Non-Financial Motivators, Happiness at Work, and Employee Engagement in Unilever Uganda

Résumé fourni par la source

This study investigates how multinational corporations (MNCs) operating in Sub-Saharan Africa, with a focus on Unilever Uganda and selected rival firms in the consumer goods sector, hybridise human resource management (HRM) reward practices to navigate the dual pressures of global mandates and localised institutional voids. Anchored in New Institutional Theory, Paradox Theory, and Self-Determination Theory, the research employs a qualitative multiple-case study design that explicitly compares and contrasts findings across Unilever, competing MNCs, and external consultants to capture clear and detailed organisational responses. Using semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and documentary analysis with 30 organisational actors, the study reveals that institutional voids, such as unreliable labour market information and weak HR infrastructures, compel a shift from standardised financial compensation to relational, non-financial reward hybridisation heavily mediated by managerial discretion. The findings demonstrate how local cultural norms and infrastructural challenges shape these hybrid practices differently across cases. A key micro-political mechanism called “obedient deviance” emerges, whereby subsidiaries formally comply with global HR policies while informally adapting practices to local constraints, blending global legitimacy with local functionality. This hybridisation satisfies employees’ psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, fostering Happiness at Work (HAW), which acts as a mediating conduit sustaining employee engagement. By systematically distinguishing multinational subsidiaries’ experiences, the study contributes a rigorous cross-case understanding of how institutional voids and cultural contexts reshape total rewards in emerging markets. The research extends institutional, paradox, and psychological theories and offers actionable insights for MNC practitioners and policymakers aiming to design context-sensitive reward systems that promote both organisational performance and employee well-being in structurally constrained environments.

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