Cultural Influence on Strategic Human Resource Management Practices : A Jordanian Case Study

This study aims to investigate the impact of national culture on strategic human resource management (SHRM) practices on Pharmaceutical industries in Jordan. A quantitative research design using regression analysis was applied in this study and a total of 133 were obtained through a questionnaire distributed to pharmaceutical industries in Jordan. The results showed that national culture dimensions significantly affect SHRM practices and namely, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation, and individualism have an impact on SHRM practices. Except power distance has insignificant effect on SHRM practices. This study implies that HR managers must be aware of national culture of their country, and try to link it with SHRM practices to improve the company‟s performance. Moreover, since national culture explained 20% of the variance in SHRM practices, future researches should be directed towards examining other factors affecting SHRM practices.


Introduction
The impact of national culture on organization culture is reflected in several ways.Such as, the constraints imposed on organizations by the external environment and the mentality and habits of organization"s members (Al-Busaidi et al., 2010;Abbasi et al., 2015).Also, organizations culture has an important impact on the strategies of organizations and their success (Alenezi et al., 2015;Masa"deh et al., 2016).
Strategic management is important and useful to any organization, since it provides a clear direction in which the organization is heading to, such as strategic plans, mission, vision, objectives and goals (Kemp and Dwyer, 2001;Hajir et al., 2015;Almajali et al., 2016).Thus, effective management of people can produce substantially enhanced economic performance in organization (Pfeffer, 1998;Masa"deh et al., 2015).In addition, strategic human resource management (SHRM) demonstrates the importance of HR practices for organization performance (Yan, 2010).Moreover, human resource (HR) practices considered to be an important element to the organizations to achieve their competitive advantage (Ismail et al., 2010).Accordingly, HR practices must be aligned to the organization strategy in order to achieve the competitive advantage and to enhance the performance in organizations (Wan et al., 2002;Masa"deh et al., 2015).
In order to effectively implement SHRM practices in any organization, it must be congruent with the national culture.Thus, we can imply that national culture play an important role in shaping SHRM practices, since these practices are implemented by managers who in turn affected by the environment where they live, which impact their perception, behavior, and their decision.Beside, societies are formed of firms, institutions and organizations that reflect the prevailing values of their culture of a country (Hofstede, 1984a).
Managers and administrators, in both private and public organizations, are becoming increasingly aware that a critical source of competitive advantage does not often come from original product or services, but from having an appropriate system of attracting and managing the organization"s human resources (Al-Busaidi, 2010;Ayanda and Sani, 2011;Shannak et al., 2012;Altamony et al., 2016).Because countries often have unique cultures (i.e. values, norms, and customs), it was widely presupposed that multinational enterprises had to understand the culture of the region in which they operate in order to effectively manage their human resources (Jackson and Schuler, 1995).
As culture tends to spend strong influence on management practices and on organizational behaviors, effective HRM practices may vary across different cultures (Abdul Hamid, 1996;Maqableh et al., 2014).Numerous theoretical discussions argued that effective SHRM practices must be matched with the social and organizational context (Aycan, 2005).Since, the national culture dimensions impact the design and implementation of SHRM policies and practices across different conditions (Reiche et al., 2009).There is a need to examine culture"s impact on management practices in less developing countries, because of the rapid of business globalization and the increased of international trade with these countries (Abdul Hamid, 1996;AL-Syaidh et al., 2015).
To the best of the authors" knowledge, there are few studies that shed light on the implications of national culture on SHRM practices in Jordan.Based on the above discussion, this research aims to study the impact of national culture on HRM practices in Pharmaceutical industries in Jordan.In order to reach full potential for economic and social development, the Jordanian government has focused on developing the industrial sector, a sector which provides the majority of new jobs and produces much of the creativity and innovation that fuels economic progress (Ministry of industry and trade, 2012).The Pharmaceutical industry accounts for 20% of manufacturing GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and has had 17.5% manufacturing growth in 2006 (Jordan Investment Board, 2012).Also, the pharmaceutical industry in Jordan is the 2nd largest export industry, exporting 80% of production to 60 countries worldwide, major export markets include Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Iraq, whereas capital investments exceeded over $500m in 2007 (Jordan Investment Board, 2012).
The rest of the paper is organized as follows.The next section review the studies related to culture and strategic human resource management.The proposed theoretical framework is then presented in section 3. The data collection method, analysis and results are then described in Sections 4and 5 respectively.Section 6 concludes the paper and discusses the implications of the findings for both theory and practice as well as the limitations and future work of this study are highlighted.

Literature Review
Since, Hofstede"s model is the most widely known in the business and in the cross cultural field (Manrai and K. Manrai, 2011;Tarhini et al., 2016).Besides, it has been considered as the benchmark of culture analysis for the last three decades (Orr and Hauser, 2008).This study will focus on investigating the impact of national culture on SHRM practices by using Hofstede"s model, thus the next subsections will review the concept of culture with a detailed explanation of Hofstede"s cultural dimensions and also its relation to strategic human resource management.

Hofstede's Cultural Dimensions at the National Culture
According to Hofstede (1991), culture is the collective programming of the mind that differentiates individuals of one group from another.Thus, culture refers to the common elements within each nation (the national norm) and it is not describing individuals (Hofstede, 1991).National cultures refer to beliefs, values, and practices that are shared by the majority of people belonging to a nation, and enriched by national laws and governmental policies with respect to education, family life, business, and etcetera (Oudenhoven, 2001).
The four dimensions of national culture were found through a combination of theoretical reasoning and massive statistical analysis, with a largest survey material obtained using a single questionnaire (Hofstede, 1980).Also, this survey material was collected between 1967 and 1973 among employees of one large U.S. multinational corporation (MNC) in 40 countries around the world (Hofstede, 1980).The total data contains more than 116,000 questionnaires collected from everyone in the corporation, from unskilled workers to Ph.D.s and top managers (Hofstede, 1980).The dimensions of national culture he used represent criteria for describing national cultures (Hofstede, 1980).The four dimensions are: Individualism versus Collectivism (IDV): Individualism stands for members who take care of themselves and their direct families only (Hofstede, 1984a).On the other hand, collectivism refers to which individuals can expect their relatives, clan, or other to look after them for unquestioning loyalty (Hofstede, 1984a).individualists tend to have a high need for personal achievements and value individual rights (Swaidan and Hayes, 2005;Tarhini et al., 2016).According to Hofstede, Jordan, with a score of 30 is considered a collectivistic society.People in Jordan tends to focus on relationships where everyone takes responsibility and take care of their families and others, the relationship between employee and employer are moral like a family link, also hiring and promotion decisions are making to the employee"s in-group.
Power Distance (PD): PD is the extent to which individuals accept that power in companies is distributed unequally (Hofstede, 1984a).For this reason, people in large power distance societies accept a hierarchical order (Hofstede, 1984a).Beside, members in high power distance prefer little consultation between superiors and subordinates, while in low power distance they prefer consultative styles (Daniels et al., 2011).Whereas, people in low power distance societies strive for power equalization and demand justification for power inequalities (Hofstede, 1984a).According to Hofstede, Jordan scores high on this dimension (score of 70) which means that people accept a hierarchical order, which reflecting inequalities and centralization exists since of hierarchical (www.geert-hofstede.com).
Uncertainty Avoidance (UA): UA is the extent to which people are uncomfortable with the uncertainty and vagueness (Hofstede, 1984a).Beside, strong uncertainty avoidance cultures preserve rigid codes of belief and behavior and are unforgivable towards deviant persons and ideas (Hofstede, 1984a).Also, in cultures where UA is high, most employees prefer following set rules even if breaking them may be in the company"s best interests, and they prefer the certainty of present positions over the uncertainty of potential advancement positions (Daniels et al., 2011).According to Hofstede, Jordan scores 65 on this dimension, thus Jordanians need for rules even if it never seems to work, also they value time, precision and punctuality, and they consider the security as important element in individual motivation.
Masculinity versus Femininity (MAS): Masculinity stands for achievement, courage, persistence, and material success (Hofstede, 1984a).While, femininity stands for relationships, humility, caring for the weak, and they value quality of life (Hofstede, 1984a).People in feminine cultures place a higher value on social relationship, quality of life, and concern for others (Griffin and Pustay, 2010).In other words, masculinity-femininity measures national culture according to the division of roles and values between the genders (Chiang, 2005).According to Hofstede, Jordan scores 45 on this dimension and it is considered a relatively feminine society, Jordanians focus on working in order to live, and managers pursue for consensus, also they value equality, consistency and quality in their working environment, also incentives such as free time and flexibility are preferable and they take decisions through involvement.
Long versus Short-Term Orientation: In brief, the four dimensions represent elements of culture systems of the countries, which they are based on human values and behavior (Hofstede, 1984a).In 1991, Hofstede added a fifth dimension to his model named it "Long versus Short-Term Orientation" (LTO).According to Hofstede, long-term orientation refers to the values oriented towards the future, like thrift (saving) and persistence (Hofstede, 1993).While, short-term orientation refers to the values oriented towards the past and present such as respect for tradition and loyalty social obligations (Hofstede, 1993;Manrai and K. Manrai, 2011).According to Hofstede, Jordan scores 35, which considered a short term orientation culture, this indicates there is a great respect for traditions, low, tendency to save, work for achieving quick results truth (www.geert-hofstede.com).

Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM)
Human resources are counted to be the most significant asset of any organization, but few organizations are able to completely employ its potential (Ahmad and Schroeder, 2003;Masa"deh et al., 2015).Moreover, Human resources management (HRM) is a necessary function in organizations, it involves all managerial personnel, and it considers people as the most important single asset of the organization and enhances company performance (Schuler, 2000).HRM is defined as, the policies and practices needed to carry out the people or human resource aspect of a management position, including selection, job definition, training, performance appraisal, compensation, career planning and are encouraging employee participation in decision making and measure the organizational performance, customer satisfaction and maximize the profitability of organization (Nayyab et al., 2011).Also, "HRM practices include analyzing and designing work, determining human resource needs (HR planning), attracting potential employees (recruiting), choosing employees (selection), teaching employees how to perform their jobs and preparing them for future (training and development), rewarding employees (compensation), evaluating their performance (performance management), and creating a positive work environment (employee relation)" (Noe et al., 2010, p.4).
Strategic human resource management is a sub field of human resource management (Lee, 2011;Obeidat et al., 2014).SHRM has developed as a field of management practices and became popular since 1980s (Jain, 2005;Altarawneh and Aldehayyat, 2011;Lee, 2011;Orozco et al., 2015).Wright and McMahan (1992) defined Strategic HRM as the pattern of planned human resource deployments and activities purposed to enable the company to achieve its goals.Delery (1998) argued that, SHRM focuses on several issues, that human resource management practices and policies are the main tools that organizations employ to develop and sustain the necessary human resources.
Furthermore, the concern of SHRM is to ensure that: (1) HRM is fully integrated with the organization through its strategy and the strategic needs of the firm; (2) human resource practices are consistent both across policy areas and across hierarchies (Schuler, 2000).Ismail et al. (2010) in their study, classified SHRM practices according to two terms the first one is instrumental practices which leads the organization to meet the strategic vision and mission such as recruitment/selection, training, performance and rewards management, and the second is administrative practices.
The goal of performance management or evaluation is to guide and encourage the employees" activities to be in line with the organization objective (Yan, 2010;Obeidat et al., 2016).Besides, it is considered a judgment decision for promotion, demotion, transfer, retention and pay; also it is a developmental guide for employees" feedback and for training needs for employees (Daley et al., 2002).Strategic pay requires that all decisions related to compensation are designed to attract and retain or motivate employees (Daley et al., 2002).Moreover, compensation is concerned with the salary increases and incentives for employee.Furthermore, compensation assists to encourage individuals, since they know they will share in the results of their work (Pfeffer, 1998).

National Culture and SHRM Practices
The era of strategic HRM was started in nearly two decades ago, and since then, a behavioral perspective has emerged as the predominate paradigm for research (Wan et al., 2002;Obeidat et al, 2012).However, in the 1990s the concept of bundling of human resource practices became popular and attracted to numerous studies (Wan et al., 2002).On the other hand, a few studies had addressed the implications of the cultural dimensions on HRM management processes and practices that can be applied to any country or organization (Milikic, 2009).However, there has been some concern about the extent to which models and practices of HRM are capable of being transferred from one country to another (Easterby-Smithy et al., 1995).For this reason, in the late 1970s, there was a concern that Japanese ideas might be adopted by US companies and to some extent there are considerable variations in the form of HRM in different settings (Easterby-Smithy et al., 1995;Al-Sarayrah et al., 2016).
In another study, Schuler and Rogocsky explored a number of relationships between the cultural dimensions suggested by Hofstede (Power Distance, Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism-Collectivism, and Masculinity-Femininity) and specific compensation practices (four categories of compensation practices based on status, performance, social benefits and programs, and employee ownership plans).They analyzed the relationships between Hofstede's dimensions and specific HR practices (Schuler and Rogocsky, 1998).In summary, the results suggest that national culture provides an important explanation for the variance in the utilization of different compensation practices in different countries (Schuler and Rogocsky, 1998).
Moreover, a comparative study shows that managers from different national cultures hold different assumptions and values as to the nature of management and organization (Laurent, 1986).These different sets of assumptions shape different value systems and translated into different management and organizational practices which in turn enhance the original assumptions (Laurent, 1986).Another study by Myloni et. al. (2004) showed that the effect of national culture on HRM in Greece is quite prominent, for example HR practices, such as planning, recruitment and performance appraisal are to a great extent in congruence with the cultural values of Greek society.
In another study, the managerial attitudes, values, behaviors differ across national cultures and these differences call for differences in management practices (Newman and Nollen, 1996).For example, the main differences in HRM between these two countries (china and UK), appear in the 'softer' areas where relationships are important: appraisal, reward systems, the process of assessing potential and the basic stance of unions towards management, such these differences can be linked to known cultural factors such as the greater concern for relationships, for harmony and the preservation of 'face' in China (Easterby-Smithy et al., 1995).In another study, substantial use of pay and promotion should improve profitability in masculine countries, such as Anglo and Germanic countries, but worsen it in feminine countries, such as Nordic countries (Newman and Nollen, 1996).Furthermore, Aycan (2005) found out that job analysis may be affected by three of Hofstede`s cultural dimensions: Uncertainty Avoidance, Individualism vs. Collectivism, and Power Distance.In order that, these three dimensions affect the specificity of job description and job specification, the unit of analysis and the method of job analysis (Milikic, 2009).
Moreover, the culture influences many aspects of the recruitment process, so only those recruitment methods and practices that fit the culture are probably to be effective (Milikic, 2009).Also, numerous studies have focused on many aspects of recruitment, including the methods of recruitment and recruitment sources, and the plurality of studies have focused on the influence of only two of Hofstede`s cultural dimensions: Collectivism vs. Individualism and Power Distance (Milikic, 2009)

Theoret
The theore impact of n

Operat
The dimen National c  (Hofstede, 1993).Moreover, a national culture is usually characterized by the values of the people who belong to that culture (Schuler and Rogocsky, 1998).Also, Hofstede suggested that culture at a national level can be classified according to five dimensions: "power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity and long-term versus short-term orientation (Leahy, 2008).Therefore, the operational measures of the national culture are: (1) power distance, (2) uncertainty avoidance, (3) individualism versus collectivism, (4) masculinity versus femininity, (5) long-term versus short-term orientation.For the purpose of this study 18-questions for measuring national culture were adopted from the value survey module 1994 by Hofstede.The operational measures of the strategic human resource management practices (Dependent Variable) are: (1) Analysis and design of work, (2) HR planning, (3) Recruiting /Selection, (4) Training and development, (5) Compensation, (6) Performance management, (7) Employee relation.Twenty nice items measuring HRM practices were adopted from (Abdul Hamid, 1996;Daley et al., 2002;Kelly, 2008;Yan, 2010;Noe et al., 2010).All items are measured using a fivepoint Likert scale ranging from 1-Strongly disagree to 5-Strongly agree.Appendix A and B show the questions used to measure the constructs and their items in this study.

Hypothesis
In order to test the impact of national culture on human resource management practices, the following null hypotheses were developed.
H1: There is no statistically significant relationship (at α ≤ 0.05) between national culture and SHRM practices.
H1.1:There is no statistically significant relationship (at α ≤ 0.05) between national culture and analysis and design of work.
H1.2:There is no statistically significant relationship (at α ≤ 0.05) between national culture and HR planning.
H1.3:There is no statistically significant relationship (at α ≤ 0.05) between national culture and Recruiting / Selection.
H1.4:There is no statistically significant relationship (at α ≤ 0.05) between national culture and Training and development.
H1.5:There is no statistically significant relationship (at α ≤ 0.05) between national culture and compensation.
H1.6:There is no statistically significant relationship (at α ≤ 0.05) between national culture and Performance management.
H1.7:There is no statistically significant relationship (at α ≤ 0.05) between national culture and employee relation.

Methodology
This study adopted a positivist philosophy and deductive approach to accomplish the main goal of this research.
Moreover, this research is quantitative and explanatory since this study is concerned with causal relationship between variables (Saunders et al., 2009;Zikmund et al., 2013).Data were collected using a convenience sampling technique from 133 employees working in the HR department from 14 of the biggest Pharmaceutical companies in Jordan using a self-administrated questionnaire.
The items selected to measure (national culture and HRM practices) were primarily derived and adopted from existing literature or prior studies to ensure content validity.A pilot study was conducted with employees from different HR departments of different companies for the questions related to SHRM practices in the questionnaire.The measurement items were refined and improved based upon their feedback and opinions; this feedback enhances the content validity of the questionnaire.
In this study, scale reliability was assessed using cronbach's alpha coefficient.The internal consistency coefficient should be minimum 0.70, and it is highly reliable if 0.80 ≤ a < 1.00 (Turan and Cetinkaya, 2012).
The results in Appendix A and B show that cronbach"s alpha coefficient range from 0.83 to 0.95.Therefore, all values are highly reliable since alpha above 0.8.This result indicates a good internal consistency among the items related to its dimensions, also to each variable, and the entire scale.

Respondents Demographic Profile
One hundred thirty-three respondents from pharmaceutical industries in HR department participated in this study.The data were gathered using a self-administrated questionnaire and Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 21 was used to analyze them.Among the 133 participants, there was 47.4% male.In addition, more than half of the respondents belong to the age group between 20-29 years (60.9%),followed by (21.8%) belonging to the age between 30-39 years, (9%) between 40-49 years, (6.8%) less than 20 years, and small percentage (1.5%) between 50-59, beside (0 %) of the respondents belonging to the age group above 60.When considering the educational level of the respondents, it can be noticed that majority of them hold a bachelor degree (61.7%), followed by (21.8%) hold a diploma degree and the rest of them are distributed in the other levels with (8.3%), (6.8%), and (1.5%) for master degree, Tawjihi, and Doctorate respectively.

Descriptive Analyses
The mean is a measure of central tendency that includes all data values in its calculation (average) (Saunders et al., 2009).Therefore, it provides an overview of the answers given by the respondents for each question, dimension, and variable.The standard deviation is a measure of dispersion that describes the extent to which data values differ from the mean (Saunders et al., 2009).Thus, if the data values are close to the mean, then the mean is more typical than if they vary widely from it is mean (Saunders et al., 2009).Overall, all means were greater than 2.5 which indicate that the majority of participants express generally positive responses to the constructs that are measured in this study.In addition, the standard deviation (SD) values ranged from 0.99 to 1.33 which showed a fairly narrow spread around the mean (see Appendix A and B).
The descriptive analysis showed that the respondents had negative attitude toward HRM practices and national culture.In addition, the dimensions of national culture were calculated using VSM94, Jordan scores low on power distance, high on individualism, relatively feminine, high on uncertainty avoidance and had a short term orientation, are somewhat different from Hofstede (www.geert-hofstede.com)findings that Jordan high power distance, short term orientation, relatively feminine, high uncertainty avoidance, and collectivistic society.Likewise, Alkailani et al. ( 2012) their data obtained from students studying for their master degrees in different universities in Jordan, they found out that Jordan appeared to be collectivistic society, low on power distance, masculine society, and high on uncertainty avoidance.Furthermore, Fischer and Al-Issa (2012) conclude from a study conducted with an Arab student sample that the scores for power distance and uncertainty avoidance were lower than expected, while scores for masculinity and individualism were higher, which conclude that there are doubts about the convenience of Hofstede procedure and dimensions.

Hypothesis Testing
Hypothesis testing is a statistical tool that provides an objective framework for decision making, using a set of rules, instead of relying on subjective impressions (Vasilopoulos, 2011).In order to test the hypotheses developed for this study, hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used in this study.The level of significance was chosen to be 0.05 and thus 95% level of confidence.Finally, according to the results of regression analysis, null hypotheses were either accepted or rejected.

Main Hypothesis H0
.1: There is no statistically significant relationship (at α ≤ 0.05) between national culture and HRM practices.
In order to test this hypothesis, multiple regression was used.National culture was tested as the independent variable (power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity, Individualism, Long -term Orientation) and HRM practices as dependent variable.Table 1 shows the results of the multiple regression for the main hypothesis.The ANOVA table shows that F=7.669 and p-value = 0.000.Since the p-value is less than 0.05 the significance level, the null hypothesis is rejected at p ≤ 0.05.Hence, there is a statistically significant relationship between national culture (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation) and HRM practices.
The adjusted R square"s value of (0.202) indicates that 20% of the variation that occur in dependent variable (HRM practices) has been significantly explained by national culture.Accordingly, national culture explained 20% of the variance in HRM practices, may be due to the presence of other factor explaining the 80%.Likewise, Easterby-Smithy et al., (1995) argue that the degree of culture impact on HRM practices differs according to specific practice, with some practices being more culture-bound than others.Moreover, HRM are affected by the internal (technology, structure, size, organizational life cycle, business strategy) and external environment (legal, social, political environment, labor market conditions, industry characteristics, national cultures) (Jackson and Schuler, 1995).Furthermore, the differences between Mexico and U.S according to their human resources practices are due more to legal and economics factor than national culture (Schuler et al., 1996).Therefore, there are other factors affecting HRM practices as well as national culture, which give a clarification about the other factors explaining the 80%.
The t and P values used to decide the acceptance/rejection of Ho (Vasilopoulos, 2011).Also, t-statistic helps to determine the relative importance of each of independent variable in the model (Chadha and Kapoor, 2009).Thus, a large absolute t value and p ≤ 0.05 is statistically significant and having a large impact on criterion variable.The results show that national culture dimensions have a significant impact on HRM practices.Except power distance which has insignificant impact on HRM practices, since p=0.121.
The majority of studies argue that, most investigated of Hofstede`s dimensions are power distance and individualism, if they aligned it will influence on HRM practices, such as large Power Distance with Collectivism, and small Power Distance with Individualism (Milikic, 2009).
The findings revealed that individualism is the most important predictor of HRM practices in pharmaceutical industries in Jordan.This may be due to the fact that employees are strongly individualist, and they supposed to look after themselves and their direct family only.Moreover, employees are promoted according to their achievements.Furthermore, hiring employees is depending on their qualifications and their skills.Also, masculinity considered important predictor of HRM practice.Since employees are relatively feminine so they work to live and value equality and managers seeking to consensus.

Results of the Sub-Hypotheses
H1.1:There is no statistically significant relationship (at α ≤ 0.05) between national culture and analysis and design of work.The results in Table 2 shows that F=7.364 and p-value = 0.000.Since the p-value is less than 0.05 the significance level, the null hypothesis is rejected at p ≤ 0.05.Hence, there is a statistically significant relationship between national culture (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation) and analysis and design of work.
In the model summary table, the adjusted R square"s value of (0.194) indicates that 19% of the variation that occur in analysis and design of work has been significantly explained by national culture.According to t and p values, the results show that only masculinity dimension has a significant impact on analysis and design of work.While, power distances, uncertainty avoidance, long -term orientation and individualism have insignificant values.The strongest predictor for analysis and design of work is only masculinity (β= 0.302).
The findings revealed that masculinity is the strongest predictor for analysis and design of work in pharmaceutical industries in Jordan.The reason for this result may be when employees are relatively feminine; they value equality, and quality in their working environment.
H1.2:There is no statistically significant relationship (at α ≤ 0.05) between national culture and HR planning.The ANOVA table (Table 3) shows that F=8.531and p-value = 0.000.Since the p-value is less than 0.05 the significance level, the null hypothesis is rejected at p ≤ 0.05.Hence, there is a statistically significant relationship between national culture (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation) and HR planning.
In the model summary table, the adjusted R square"s value of (0.222) indicates that 22% of the variation that occur in HR planning has been significantly explained by national culture.According to t and p values, the results show that all national dimensions have a significant impact on HR planning.A large value of β indicates that the independent variable has a large effect on the dependent variable in the model.The strongest predictor for HR planning is individualism (β= -0.339) with negative correlation, followed by masculinity (β=0.282),uncertainty avoidance (β=0.214), and long-term orientation (β=0.199).The least factor influencing HR planning is power distance (β=0.195).
The findings revealed that individualism is the strongest predictor for HR planning in pharmaceutical industries in Jordan.Also, masculinity considered a strong predictor for HR planning.
H1.3:There is no statistically significant relationship (at α ≤ 0.05) between national culture and Recruiting / Selection.The results in Table 4 shows that F=6.858 and p-value = 0.000.Since the p-value is less than 0.05 the significance level, the null hypothesis is rejected at p ≤ 0.05.Hence, there is a statistically significant relationship between national culture (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation) and Recruiting / Selection.
The adjusted R square"s value of (0.182) indicating that 18% of the variation in Recruiting / Selection has been significantly explained by national culture.However, this percentage which may be considered as relatively low is also an indication of the presence of additional factors contributing to the explained variance in Recruiting / Selection.According to t and p values, the results show that only individualism and uncertainty avoidance dimension have a significant impact on Recruiting / Selection.While, power distances, masculinity, long term orientation and have insignificant values.
A large value of β indicates that the independent variable has a large effect on the dependent variable in the model.The strongest predictor for Recruiting / Selection is individualism (β= -0.338) with negative correlation, followed by uncertainty avoidance (β=0.266).On the other hand, power distances, masculinity, and long term orientation have insignificant values and do not contribute in explanation of the impact of national culture on Recruiting / Selection.
The findings revealed that individualism is the strongest predictor for Recruiting / Selection in pharmaceutical industries in Jordan.Also, uncertainty avoidance considered a strong predictor for Recruiting / Selection.The reason for this result may be security, precision, and punctuality is important elements to the employees with high uncertainty avoidance.Also, hiring decisions take account according to their skills and ability since employees are strongly individualist.
H1.4:There is no statistically significant relationship (at α ≤ 0.05) between national culture and Training and development.The ANOVA table shows that F=3.385 and p-value = 0.007.Since the p-value is less than 0.05 the significance level, the null hypothesis is rejected at p ≤ 0.05.This means that there is a statistically significant relationship between national culture (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation) and Training and Development.
In the model summary table, the adjusted R square"s value of (0.083) indicates that 8% of the variation that occur in Training and development has been significantly explained by national culture.However, this percentage which may be considered low is also an indication of the presence of additional factors contributing to the explained variance in training and development.
According to t and p values, the results show that only long-term orientation dimension has a significant impact on training and development.While, power distances, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and individualism have insignificant values.A large value of β indicates that the independent variable has a large effect on the dependent variable in the model.The strongest predictor for training and development is long-term orientation (β= 0.247).On the other hand, power distances, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance and individualism are insignificant values and do not contribute in explanation of the impact of national culture on training and development.
The findings revealed that long-term orientation is the strongest predictor for training and development in pharmaceutical industries in Jordan.This may be due to the fact employees focus on specific training to make them more responsive to the requirement of their positions.
H1.5:There is no statistically significant relationship (at α ≤ 0.05) between national culture and compensation.The results in Table 6 shows that F=4.812 and p-value = 0.000.Since the p-value is less than 0.05 the significance level, the null hypothesis is rejected at p ≤ 0.05.Hence, there is a statistically significant relationship between national culture (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation) and compensation.
In the model summary table, the adjusted R square"s value of (0.126) indicates that 12.6% of the variation that occur in compensation has been significantly explained by national culture.However, this percentage which may be considered as relatively low, it is also an indication of the presence of additional factors contributing to the explained variance in compensation.
According to t and p values, the results show that only individualism and long-term orientation dimension have a significant impact on compensation.While, power distances, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance have insignificant values.A large value of β indicates that the independent variable has a large effect on the dependent variable in the model.The strongest predictor for compensation is individualism (β= -0.300) with negative correlation, followed by long -term orientation (β=0.227).On the other hand, power distances, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance are insignificant values and do not contribute in explanation of the impact of national culture on compensation.
The findings revealed that individualism is the strongest predictor for compensation in pharmaceutical industries in Jordan.Followed by, long-term orientation considered a strong predictor for compensation.This may be due to that salary increases and incentives are based on achievement of the employees in their works.
H1.6:There is no statistically significant relationship (at α ≤ 0.05) between national culture and Performance management.The ANOVA table shows that F=3.687 and p-value = 0.004.Since the p-value is less than 0.05 the significance level, the null hypothesis is rejected at p ≤ 0.05.Hence, there is a statistically significant relationship between national culture (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation) and performance management.
In the model summary table, the adjusted R square"s value of (0.099) indicates that 9.9% of the variation that occur in performance management has been significantly explained by national culture.However, this percentage which may be considered low is also an indication of the presence of additional factors contributing to the variance in performance management.According to t and p values, the results show that individualism and masculinity dimension have a significant impact on performance management.While, power distances, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation have insignificant values.
A large value of β indicates that the independent variable has a large effect on the dependent variable in the model.The strongest predictor for performance management is masculinity (β= 0.373) with positive correlation, followed by individualism (β=-0.257)with negative correlation.On the other hand, power distances, long-term orientation, and uncertainty avoidance have insignificant values and do not contribute in explanation of the impact of national culture on performance management.
The findings revealed that masculinity is the strongest predictor for performance management in the pharmaceutical industry in Jordan.
H1.7:There is no statistically significant relationship (at α ≤ 0.05) between national culture and employee relation.The ANOVA table shows that F=5.535 and p-value = 0.000.Since the p-value is less than 0.05 the significance level, the null hypothesis is rejected at p ≤ 0.05.Hence, there is a statistically significant relationship between national culture (power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation) and employee relation.
In the model summary table, the adjusted R square"s value of (0.149) indicates that 14% of the variation that occur in employee relation has been significantly explained by national culture.However, this percentage which may be considered as relatively low is also an indication of the presence of additional factors contributing to the explained variance in employee relation.According to t and p values, the results show that individualism and masculinity dimension have a significant impact on performance management.While, power distances, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation have insignificant values.
A large value of β indicates that the independent variable has a large effect on the dependent variable in the model.The strongest predictor for employee relation is individualism (β= -0.519) with negative correlation, followed by masculinity (β=0.340) with positive correlation.On the other hand, power distances, long-term orientation, and uncertainty avoidance have insignificant values and do not contribute in explanation of the impact of national culture on employee relation.
The findings revealed that individualism is the strongest predictor for employee relation in pharmaceutical industries in Jordan.Since employees are strongly individualist.Thus they take care of themselves, also value individual rights.Therefore, they have a real interest in the welfare and overall satisfaction, also have interest in welfare services and support for the employees" families.Furthermore, they care about their jobs.

Conclusion
This study aimed to examine the impact of national culture on strategic human resource management practices among employees of pharmaceutical industries in Jordan.The results showed that most of the hypothesised relationships were accepted.More specifically: The results of multiple regression analyses for the main hypothesis showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between national culture and HRM practices.While, power distance has no impact on HRM practices.Thus, different studies found that national culture dimensions have a significant effect on HRM practices such as Abdul Hamid (1996); Namazie (2003); Aycan (2005);Milikic (2009); Reiche et al. (2009); Zhiwei Bi (2012); Myloni et al. (2004).
The results also showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between national culture and analysis and design of work.Furthermore, only masculinity dimension has a significant impact on analysis and design of work.Aycan (2005) found out that job analysis may be affected by uncertainty avoidance, individualism versus Collectivism, and power distance.Furthermore, these dimensions influence the specificity of job description and job specification, the unit of analysis and the method of job analysis (Milikic, 2009).
Accordingly, there is a statistically significant relationship between national culture and HR planning.Also, the findings revealed that individualism is the strongest predictor for HR planning in pharmaceutical industries in Jordan.According to Milikic (2009), indicates that high Power Distance and Collectivism are likely to have the strongest influence on HR planning.However, these results are not consistent with our findings.Furthermore, HR planning, recruitment and performance appraisal are to a great extent congruent with the culture values of Greek society (Myloni et al., 2004).
The results also showed that there is statistically significant relationship between national culture and recruiting / selection, training and development, compensation, performance management, employee relation.The findings revealed that individualism and uncertainty avoidance dimensions are the strongest predictor for recruiting / selection in pharmaceutical industries in Jordan.While, Diponegoro (2009) found out that national culture does not influence staffing practices in Indonesia.Accordingly, with regard to Serbian large power distance, high Collectivism and high uncertainty avoidance dimensions are the strongest predictor for recruitment, while the most criteria for selection are Femininity, large power distance and collectivism (Milikic, 2009).
The finding of our study revealed that only long-term orientation dimension has a significant impact on training and development.While, power distances, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and individualism have an insignificant value.Our findings is inconsistent with the results of Aycan (2005) who found that high power distance, high uncertainty avoidance, collectivism dimensions have an influence on training and development.
The results show that only individualism and long-term orientation dimension have a significant impact on compensation.While, power distances, masculinity and uncertainty avoidance have insignificant values.Whereas, Aycan (2005) found out that power distance and uncertainty avoidance dimensions are the important criteria for compensation.Also, the results show that individualism and masculinity dimension have a significant impact on performance management.While, power distances, masculinity, and uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation have insignificant values.These results are somewhat different since Aycan (2005) argued that power distance and individualism dimensions have an influence on performance management.
The findings also revealed that individualism and masculinity dimension have a significant impact on employee relation.While, power distances, uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation have insignificant values.
In conclusion, this study provides a support evidence of the implication of national culture on SHRM practices, and provides a finding that some of national dimensions are stronger than others in predicting SHRM practices.This implies that, SHRM practices are linked with national culture and each practice has a national culture dimension or more to predict.Thus, SHRM practices are a culture bound and it is affected by Hofstede dimensions.Moreover, the results showed that masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long term orientation, and individualism dimension have an impact on SHRM practices.

Contribution of the Study
Despite the fact that this study was conducted based on existing literature, the previous researches was done with different context.Such as, most of the studies within multinational companies in one country, and some of them study differences of SHRM practices across different countries, also study HRM practices in one country.Moreover, most of the previous studies investigate some of the SHRM practices according to national culture.While this study examined the eight practices and presented the national culture dimensions and it is implication on each of SHRM practices.In addition, this study examined the impact of national culture on SHRM practices.Thus, using multiple regression analysis, the effect of each of the five of the independent variable on each of the seven dimensions of the dependent variable was determined.
This study also differentiates itself by investigating the national culture in Jordan, and determines the Hofstede dimension since there are no previous studies investigating this field in Jordan except Alkailani et al. (2012) they study Hofstede dimensions across different universities of students who hold a master degree.

Managerial Implication
The useful findings produced by this study can be utilized by HR managers towards the development and implementation of SHRM practices and tries to link them with national culture of Jordan.This will lead to improve the performance of employees and the whole company, since the employees will be satisfied with the practices that their company adopts.According to Myloni et al. (2004) the results of how HRM practices reflect Greek national culture, could be helpful to multinational company"s decision makers in deciding which practices are more easily transferred into the Greek context and which practices have to be adapted this culture.Therefore, this study will help HR managers in their decisions of how such practices will be developed and what are they.
According to the results of this study, it may suggest that HR managers must be aware of Jordan culture and linked it with SHRM practices.Besides, the national culture is critical factor for the design of SHRM practices; therefore, there is a need to propose strategies to ensure that the SHRM practices better match the cultures of these countries (Mendonca et al., 1999).

Limitations of the Study and Recommendations for Future Research
As with any other study, this research has some limitations.Firstly, it was not possible to collect data from all pharmaceutical companies due to constraints on time and resources in Jordan; it is advised that the generalizability of the results should be treated with cautious.Since the results of this study are based on national culture and it is effect on SHRM practices, future researches should investigate the effect of moderating variable which is also affect SHRM practices.Also, future researches should study the employees" preference toward SHRM practices to help their companies to adapt these practices with their needs.Moreover, it must recognize the relationship between SHRM practices and performance of the organization, which is also recommended for future researches.Furthermore, it is recommended to study the effect of religions on SHRM practices beside the effect of national culture, also there are another factors affecting SHRM practices, thus future researches must shed light on theses and investigate it is impact.

Table 1 .
Multiple Regression for the Main Hypothesis "National Culture and SHRM Practices"

Table 2 .
National Culture and Analysis and Design of Work

Table 3 .
National Culture and HR Planning

Table 4 .
National Culture and Recruiting / Selection

Table 5 .
National Culture and Training and Development

Table 6 .
National Culture and Compensation

Table 7 .
National Culture and Performance Management

Table 8 .
National Culture and Employee Relation