Understanding intercultural experiences of Nuad Thai (traditional Thai massage) through an ethical lens on employee well-being in human resource management

Purpose Nuad Thai (Traditional Thai Massage, TTM) is a cultural heritage product recognized by the United Nations as a potential contributor to well-being and the current empirical research paper aims to develop an understanding of how Nuad Thai is experienced by employees working in intercultural contexts. Design/methodology/approach Our empirical inquiry adopts a humanistic HRM perspective as its ethical lens and engages principally with conservation of resources (CoR) theory as its explanatory framework. The study adopts a qualitative approach based on social constructionist and interpretivist ontology and epistemology. Data have been collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with Japanese executives working in Thailand and triangulated against participant observational data. The data have been studied using thematic analysis. Findings Respondents typically experienced Nuad Thai in both personal and interpersonal ways. The findings of the study reveal five well-being facets that have the potential for explicating employees' experiences of Nuad Thai. Research limitations/implications The research study was limited by design to Japanese executives working in Thailand and ways of extending the research are suggested. From a theoretical perspective, the findings contribute to employee well-being and HRM scholarship by contextualizing and refining CoR theory, while simultaneously supporting a humanistic HRM perspective that treats employee well-being as a legitimate concern in its own right. The findings demonstrate how resource replenishment may be experienced through a culturally embedded practice and interpreted across interconnected physical, mental, social, spiritual and financial well-being facets. The study also highlights the relevance of cultural heritage practices for addressing urgent contemporary ethical issues at the intersect of business and society. Practical implications The novel conceptualization of employee experience of Nuad Thai provides HRM managers with deeper understanding of a potential tool with which to manage stress in intercultural work situations. Social implications Drawing on extant scientific research and novel empirical data, the study supports HRM managers in offering Nuad Thai as an element of well-being approaches within organizations thereby underpinning ethical business contribution to wider society in relation to well-being aspects of United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3. Originality/value Though extant HRM literature often mentions massage as a potential contributor to well-being, employees' experiences of it have been little researched to date. Drawing on qualitative evidence from foreign employees in Thailand, this study develops one of the first empirically grounded HRM understandings of Nuad Thai as a multi-faceted well-being resource. The study's value adds due to its theoretical contribution by contextualizing and refining CoR theory through demonstrating how culturally embedded practices may function as multi-faceted resource-replenishment mechanisms in intercultural employment settings.