The Impact of Private Equity on Management Practices in European Buy-outs: Short-termism, Anglo-Saxon, or Host Country Effects?

This article explores the impact of private equity (PE) firms on human resource management practices in buy‐outs using data drawn from the first representative pan‐European survey into this issue. The findings suggest the overall impact of PE on high‐performance work practices (HPWP) is affected more by length of the investment relationship than the countries where PE is going to or is coming from. PE investment results in the increased use of HPWP in buy‐outs the longer the anticipated time to exit. With respect to the PE firms’ country of origin, buy‐outs backed by Anglo‐Saxon PE firms are as likely to introduce new HPWP (and are specifically more likely to extend performance‐related pay schemes) as those backed by non‐Anglo‐Saxon PE firms, suggesting some adaptation to the local host country contexts of buy‐outs.