The Third Global Conference on International Human Resource Management was held on May 18–20, 2015 hosted by St. John’s University in Manhattan, New York. This followed the success of the 1st and 2nd Global Conference held in May 2013 and 2015 respectively at Penn State (University Park, Pennsylvania). Our 2017 conference attracted over eighty-five scholars from twenty-five countries carrying out research in the field of international human resource management (IHRM). Some sixty-five papers were presented covering a broad range of IHRM topics, including: cross-cultural values; global careers; HRM in multinational corporations; knowledge management; global diversity challenges; HRM in emerging economies; millennials across cultures; global talent management; global leadership; expatriate management; cross-national perspectives on IHRM; and high performance work systems in different country contexts.

Delegates were delighted to be able to hear keynote speeches from two leading scholars in the field. Professor Mary Yoko Brannen (Jarislowsky East Asia (Japan) chair at The Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives and professor of international business at the University of Victoria, Canada) gave a highly engaging presentation on “Learning from the Other: IHRM and the New Demographic”, drawing from her research on biculturals. David Collings (professor of human resource management and co-director of the Leadership and Talent Institute at Dublin City University, Ireland) was equally inspiring, helping us to move our thinking forward in the field of global talent management, with his presentation entitled “Global Talent Management: Progress and Prospects”. In addition, delegates were able to engage with practitioners in the field in a seminar focused on “Addressing Multinational Challenges of Talent Management in Emerging Economies”, as well as enjoying a lively publishing workshop for IHRM academics.

The conference was supported by the School of Labor and Employment Relations at Penn State, as well as receiving sponsorship from a leading HRM academic journal, the International Journal of Human Resource Management, a prominent publisher Taylor & Francis, as well as Rutgers University. The Organizing Committee included Elaine Farndale and Maria Beamond in the School of Labor and Employment Relations, as well as Sven Horak, assistant professor at St. John’s University.