Purpose - This study aims to investigate whether the historical and institutional re-construction of Ghana support the transfer of human resource management (HRM) practices and if so, what local conditions support such transfer?

Design/methodology/approach - The paper draws from an exploratory qualitative study design by assimilating history, culture and institutions (social institutionalist perspective) to explore host-country factors and conditions supporting the transfer of HRM practices in a developing country context.

Findings - The study finds the colonial history, and the political and economic interests of Ghana to mimic best HRM policies and practices from its colonial masters and other advanced economies provided strong institutional support for the transfer of HRM practices.

Research limitations/implications - This paper complements the understanding of HRM practice transfer literature by highlighting the significance of host-country historical and institutional re-construction support in developing economies as key drivers for the diffusion of HRM practices.

Practical implications - By incorporating institutions, history and culture to form the underpinning social context, it offers a new perspective into how historical, cultural and colonial institutional legacies as entrenched social instruments facilitate HRM practice transfer in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Originality/value - The integration of institutions, history and culture (social institutionalist perspective) provide a wider understanding of factors that denote the effect of Ghanaian contextual distinctiveness as against the continued colonial institutional legacies (inheritance) supporting the transfer of HRM practices. This is the first study to consider how local institutions, culture and history of Ghana support the transfer of HRM practices to subsidiaries.