We study how foreign firms strategically adapt to their local environment and make hiring decisions in a host country with differing deep-seated cultural norms. Using unique employer-employee matched data of the private sector in Saudi Arabia, we find that foreign firms hire a larger share of...

Previous studies have argued that, relative to local firms, multinational firms may have an “outsider’s advantage” in hiring women. Using a large data set of executives in the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council, in a region with some of the lowest rates of female labour force...