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Work role and work adjustment in emerging markets: A study of German expatriates in CEE countries and Russia
Abstract
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to analyze four major aspects of the work role and how they influence the expatriate work adjustment in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Russia.
Design/methodology/approach
– The study uses a quantitative design. Self‐reported data were collected from 113 German expatriates assigned to the CEE region and Russia.
Findings
– The results of the study confirm the hypothesized negative association of work adjustment with role conflict and support a positive association with role clarity. Positive relationships of work adjustment with role flexibility and negative relationships with role novelty are not supported.
Originality/value
– The empirical results partially confirm but also challenge the established connection of work role and work adjustment in a less well understood geographical context and provide relevant material for the business practitioner with implications for future research.
... Russia is a favorable destination for international assignments (Kittler et al., 2011;Wagner, & Vormbusch, 2010) and has attracted thousands of American expatriates employed by over 500 hundred American companies who live and work in Russia (The American Chamber of Commerce in Russia [ACCR], 2015). Varma et al. (2012) and Alshammari (2012) found that familiarity with other cultures derived from prior-international experience might have an effect on the level of preparedness of expatriates to adjust to new work environments in a foreign location, and factors such as the type of job and type of position were reported as important elements in adjustment and performance (Alshammari, 2012;Bashir, 2012;Kolancian, 2012;Peltokorpi, 2008). ...
... Russia is a favorable destination for international assignments (Kittler et al., 2011;Wagner, & Vormbusch, 2010) and has attracted thousands of American expatriates employed by over 500 hundred American companies who live and work in Russia (The American Chamber of Commerce in Russia [ACCR], 2015). Specific challenges have been shown for the poor adjustment for expatriates on overseas assignments in Russia, which had been reported in the past research to vary by type of job and type of position (Kolancian, 2012;Kraimer, Shaffer, & Bolino, 2009;Peltokorpi, 2008;Varma, Pichler, & Budhwar, 2011a;Varma, Budhwar, & Pichler, 2011b). ...
... Specific challenges have been shown for the poor adjustment for expatriates on overseas assignments in Russia, which had been reported in the past research to vary by type of job and type of position (Kolancian, 2012;Kraimer, Shaffer, & Bolino, 2009;Peltokorpi, 2008;Varma, Pichler, & Budhwar, 2011a;Varma, Budhwar, & Pichler, 2011b). Kittler, Rygl, Mackinnon, andWiedemann (2011), andKolancian (2012) noted that U.S. expatriates on international assignments satisfied with their jobs and had reasonable awareness on social and globalization issues were less likely to terminate employment. In addition, Varma et al. (2012) and Alshammari (2012) found familiarity with other cultures derived from prior-international experience might have an effect on the level of preparedness of expatriates to adjust to new work environments in a foreign location, and factors such as the type of job and type of position were reported as important elements in adjustment and performance (Alshammari, 2012;Bashir, 2012;Kolancian, 2012;Peltokorpi, 2008). ...
Expatriates of U.S.-based multinational companies (MNCs) Americans) on overseas assignments face unique adjustment and job-performance issues that have affected employer operations, resulting in economic and financial loss, and low morale. The poor adjustment of Americans in Russia is generally due to the type of job, type of position, and prior-international experience. This chapter addresses how expatriate adjustments and job-performances remain pivotal elements for success or failure in overseas assignments.
... The specific problem was the poor adjustment for expatriates on overseas assignments in Russia, which had been reported in the past research to vary by type of job and type of position (Kolancian, 2012;Kraimer, Shaffer, & Bolino, 2009;Peltokorpi, 2008;Varma, Pichler, & Budhwar, 2011a;Varma, Budhwar, & Pichler, 2011b). Kittler, Rygl, Mackinnon, and Wiedemann (2011), and Kolancian (2012) noted that U.S. ...
... expatriates on international assignments satisfied with their jobs were less likely to terminate employment. Russia is a favorable destination for international assignments (Kittler et al., 2011;Wagner, & Vormbusch, 2010) and has attracted thousands of American expatriates employed by over 500 hundred American companies who live and work in Russia (The American Chamber of Commerce in Russia [ACCR], 2015). Varma et al. (2012) and Alshammari (2012) found that familiarity with other cultures derived from prior-international experience might have an effect on the level of preparedness of expatriates to adjust to new work environments in a foreign location, and factors such as the type of job and type of position were reported as important elements in adjustment and performance (Alshammari, 2012;Bashir, 2012;Kolancian, 2012;Peltokorpi, 2008). ...
... a djustment for American employees who lived and worked in Russia based on their type of job, type of position, and prior-international experience (Kittler et al., 2011;Kolancian, 2012;Kraimer, Shaffer & Bolino, 2009;Peltokorpi, 2008;Varma et al., 2011a;Varma et al., 2011b). The study target population was the estimated 4,000 ...
Expatriates of U.S.-based MNCs (Americans) on overseas assignment face unique adjustment and job-performance issues that have affected employer operations, resulting in financial loss and low morale. The specific problem was the poor adjustment of Americans in Russia, due to type of job, type of position, and prior-international experience. The purpose of this quantitative causal-comparative study was to examine whether differences existed in the process of adjustment of Americans in Russia based on job-specific attributes. The quantitative study featured a causal-comparative design. The sampling frame included the estimated 4,000 Americans working for US-based MNCs, members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia (ACCR). ACCR ¡ membership-list was used to gather a simple random sample of 197 through an anonymous online survey, a pre-validated 5-point Likert scale based on the Peltokorpi-Cultural Adjustment (2008) scale. Results for a one-way ANOVA showed no significant difference for employee adjustment based on type of job or position, and a significant difference was found for prior-international experience (p<.05). Recommendations for practice included (a) encouragement of U.S.-based MNCs that do business in Russia to incorporate the finding of this study, and (b) for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to create programs to assist member firms to develop a knowledge base and recruitment practices for better adjustment of Americans in Russia. Recommendations for future research included (a) a causal-comparative study to evaluate pre-assignment training as a moderating factor to explain differences in adjustment for employees with different types of job and positions, and (b) a quasi-experimental study to further assess interactions among the current study variables as to the influence on Americans adjustment. Acknowledgements
... EWA is a continuous and dynamic process whereby a person seeks to implement his/her own responsibilities successfully in a new environment [1]. Work adjustment is the personal ability to cope with problems and perform successfully [12,13]. Davies et al. [14] stated that work adjustment involves a smooth change to adapt to new surroundings and achieve one's aims and satisfy work commitments. ...
... The study results can be summarised in Table 4 as follows. Employees with high SE have more self-confidence, and this promotes adaptability to face challenges [12][13][14][15]. ...
... Highly perceived SE leads to high JS by increasing self-confidence and readiness to adapt to related contexts or conditions[20][21][22][23][24].Employees with high RES have the ability to overcome different situations in the workplace[25] and can more readily adjust their behaviour to use the available resources effectively[25][26][27][28].H6: SE and RES are mediating chain variables between POF and EWA Employees with high SE show RES to perform difficult and challenging tasks confidently and on time. They also have the patience and ability to cope with different challenges[13][14][15][29][30][31][32][33].SE and RES have significant mediating effects as chain variables between POF and EWA at β = 0.056, p < 0.05 and CI = [0.028, 0.092]. ...
The purposes of this study were to test the direct and indirect effects of person–organisation fit (POF) and examine how self-efficacy (SE), resilience (RES) and job satisfaction (JS) acted as full or partial mediations between POF and employee work adjustment (EWA). A survey was conducted on 317 new graduates from the Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi, with analysis of direct effects, indirect effects and mediators performed using the Hayes Process Macro Model 81. Results showed that POF had a direct effect on EWA with statistical significance and an indirect effect through self-efficacy, RES and JS, while SE, RES and JS acted as partial mediators between EWA with statistical significance. The mediating effects of SE, RES and JS were helpful in explaining the theory of POF on the work adjustment of new graduates. Results contribute to the development and expansion of POF in various industrial contexts. Human resource department managers can apply the study results as guidelines for selecting suitable employees as well as enhancing SE, RES and JS, leading to fast EWA. This study contributes to POF literature by clarifying the mediating effects of SE, RES and JS and clearly explaining the relationship between POF and EWA.
... Although these dimensions have received substantial research attention as a whole, limited studies have focused on work adjustment exclusively (e.g. Kittler et al., 2011;Zhu et al., 2016). Breiden et al. (2006) argued that work adjustment has distinct impacts on expatriates' achievement of their assignments, as they spend most of their time at work. ...
... In the international context, expatriates require technical knowledge and skills to execute specific duties and complete projects parallel to their organisations' core competence (Bhaskar-Shrinivas et al., 2005). The main reason expatriates underperform is the lack of understanding about cultural differences in role expectations and work conditions (Kittler et al., 2011). In fact, work adjustment is largely determined by work conditions that facilitate psychological comfort and stabilise their moods and performance. ...
Purpose
International assignments are an effective tool to develop employees' cultural competencies, yet expatriate failure rates remain high. This paper aims to examine salient stakeholders' (i.e. organisations, host country nationals (HCNs) and spouses) support as antecedents of expatriates' work adjustment and task performance. It also explores work adjustment as a mediator between support and task performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Adopting the quantitative approach, survey data were collected from 112 expatriates who were married and based in organisations in Malaysia. Partial least squares-structural equation modelling was employed to analyse the data.
Findings
The findings validate the direct influences of perceived organisational support (POS) on work adjustment, HCN support on work adjustment, and spousal support on task performance. The indirect effect of HCN support on task performance through work adjustment was also established. When expatriates' work adjustment improves as a result of receiving HCN support, their task performance is enhanced.
Practical implications
This study evidences that expatriate-hiring firms should provide suitable support for expatriates when they work overseas. Local employees and spouses should likewise be tasked to help expatriates maximise their full potential in achieving successful performance in their assignments.
Originality/value
The contribution of this study is the exploration of the relationships between support, work adjustment and task performance among expatriates. It also adds to the limited knowledge on the role of specific stakeholders in the expatriate context.
... It is essential to control the host location since previous research has established that female expatriates typically encounter different host national attitudes in different locations (Stone 1991). In line with the previous literature reviewed in their metaanalysis, four work role aspects can be differentiated: role clarity, role discretion or flexibility, role novelty, and lastly role conflict (Kittler et al. 2011;Black and Gregersen 1991a, b). Role flexibility and role clarity are found to be positively associated with work adjustment (Kittler et al. 2011;Bhaskar-Shrinivas et al. 2005). ...
... In line with the previous literature reviewed in their metaanalysis, four work role aspects can be differentiated: role clarity, role discretion or flexibility, role novelty, and lastly role conflict (Kittler et al. 2011;Black and Gregersen 1991a, b). Role flexibility and role clarity are found to be positively associated with work adjustment (Kittler et al. 2011;Bhaskar-Shrinivas et al. 2005). However, according to Koveshnikov et al. (2013), cultural similarity only facilitates general living adjustment and is not considered as interactional or work adjustments. ...
Motivated by “inability thesis,” this chapter examines the role of culture and human behavior in the context of Fraudulent financial reporting. Our study shows how the culture was used and abused in an environment where ethical decisions were replaced with the need to portray “business as usual” when in fact, the corporation was collapsing. In Toshiba’s case, the top management institutionalized various inappropriate accounting treatments directly and indirectly through their subordinates’ understanding (and/or misunderstanding) of what was expected of them, the crime of obedience. The findings suggest that the unspoken language of group mode behavior expedites the instinct for survival. Though cultural limitation and cultural upbringing do not exempt individuals from their responsibilities, the understanding of how the “local” managers place cultural importance in decision-making could offer the “international” managers culturally attuned strategies in managing global corporations, especially in the time of crisis.
... Work adjustment is the potential for an individual to deal with challenges and operate effectively (Kittler et al., 2011). It entails a seamless transition to acclimate to novel settings, attain one's goals, and accomplish work obligations (Davies et al., 2019). ...
Due to the COVID-19 crisis, many professionals embraced remote and hybrid work as the norm. While going back to working in the physical office spaces may seem like returning to normal, it is crucial to understand that this adjustment can be a major cause of stress for some employees. This research aims to explore numerous aspects of return-to-office stress and how organisations may help employees navigate the challenges of a post-pandemic workplace. The authors conducted 29 semi-structured interviews using a purposive sampling technique to understand the analytical viewpoints of the functional managers in the Information Technology (I.T.) sector regarding return-to-office stress. Additionally, content and thematic analysis were performed, which led to the emergence of 4 themes regarding the stress experienced by employees in the I.T. sector on account of return-to-work mandates. Increased work-family conflicts, emotional exhaustion and the rising tendency of presenteeism have emerged as prominent factors in the light of return-to-office stress. The results also highlight that psychological detachment from work can be a significant organisational intervention that can assist employees in coping with return-to-office stress. This study provides an in-depth understanding of the Person-Environment (P-E) fit dynamics within the framework of the Theory of Work Adjustment (TWA) by advancing the comprehension of the manner in which individuals cope with adjustments at work, especially in the context of return-to-work mandates. The study also broadens the awareness of the emotional implications of return-to-office stress by exploring the crucial implications for businesses that want to help employees acclimatise to going back to working in an office once again.
... 1) original cultural dimensions to frame his findings about the various types of cultural pressures expatriate managers encountered in their host country, the differences in leadership behaviors between expatriate managers and host nationals, and the degree to which expatriate managers' leadership styles shifted. The only fairly recent study is by Kittler, Rygl, Mackinnon, and Wiedemann. (2011), who investigate how four key aspects of work role (role clarity, role conflict, role flexibility, and role novelty) influence German expatriate managers' level of adjustment in five eastern European countries, including Russia. These authors found a negative relationship between expatriate adjustment and role conflict and a positive re ...
This study examines the intercultural experiences of eight Danish expatriates in Russia. In-depth interviews revealed three characteristics of Hofstede’s dimension: Indulgence verses Restraint (IVR). This study allows us to understand communication between restrained cultures (e.g., Russia) and indulgent cultures (e.g., Denmark). This carries implications for specific and in-depth workplace training to help managers improve intercultural communication within the Russian workplace.
... In the culturalist current, the central element of studies is found in the cultural adaptation as a determinant component for the success of expatriation (Nunes, Vasconcelos and Jaussaud 2008). In this direction, studies have focused on several themes, for example, the cultural adaptation of expatriates (Cole and McNulty 2011), the cultural adaptation of the family (Lazarova, Westman and Shaffer 2010;Freitas 2010), the definition of profiles of personality and influence on the cultural adaptation process (Kittler et al. 2011), the high-quality intercultural relationship between expatriates and their local hosts (Van Bakel, Van Oudenhoven and Gerritsen 2015), among other subjects. ...
The purpose of this chapter was to discuss the projection and symbolization of the dignity of Latin American expatriates in Brazil. It is argued that the cultural adjustment of expatriates tends to suspend their cultural base producing vulnerability and promoting the violation of dignity. From a critical postmodern approach, it conducted ten face-to-face semi-structured interviews with expatriate executives from four South American countries, with symbolic cartography being the method of analysis adopted. It was found that the omission and neglect in organizational management tend to reproduce the projection of the dignity of the Latin American expatriate to the periphery of organizations. For practical applications to organizational management, it is recommended of a critical reflection on the expatriation process in organizations, from the top of organizations and based on an intercultural perspective, besides strategies aimed at building an organizational environment that values diversity, protecting dignity, and promoting well-being.
... Although EP has been well researched and can be found in a growing number of research studies, however, there remain gaps in the literature, and models that have been investigated need to be studied (Jyoti & Kour, 2017). Among a number of under-researched aspects, Selmer et al. (2011) concluded that the influence of environmental factors was crucial. One such factor is the location to which the new worker or expatriate is assigned. ...
This study investigated the influence of perceived organizational support (POS) and work adjustment (WA) on the employee performance (EP) of expatriate English teachers in Thailand. A quantitative method was used; self-evaluation data were collected from 210 expatriate English teachers working in Thailand. The results of the study confirm the hypothesized positive correlational effect of POS and WA on EP. The empirical results confirm the model of investigation consisting of POS, WA and EP developed for testing in the context of Thailand. It also challenges the established connection of POS and WA of EP in a well-understood context of antecedence and is relevant for policymakers, workers, and managers, with implications for future research.
... Oliveira, Cavazotte, and Dunzer (2013) suggested that leadership career management support (LCMS), positively affects job satisfaction, beyond the effects promoted by career success, and job satisfaction has an effect on both affective commitment and turnover intention. Work adjustment also has positive association with role clarity and negatively associated with role conflict (Kittler, Rygl, Mackinnon, and Wiedemann, 2011), and this leads to job satisfaction. ...
This study sets to examine the relationship between career program and employee outcomes. A survey method was employed to obtain data from employees of a military based university in Malaysia. The outcomes of SmartPLS path model analysis showed four important findings: first, career planning was positively and insignificantly correlated with job satisfaction. Second, career management was positively and significantly correlated with job satisfaction. Thirdly, career planning was positively and insignificantly correlated with career commitment. Finally, career management was positively and significantly correlated with career commitment. This result confirms that career planning does not act as an essential predictor of job satisfaction and career commitment, but career management does act as an essential predictor of job satisfaction and career commitment in the studied organization. In addition, this study provides discussion, implications and conclusion.
... Research on cross-cultural adjustment have investigated the issues of adjustment from various aspects with the most constant being the factors facilitating and inhibiting the adjustment of expatriates and other sojourners (Kittler, Rygl, Mackinnon, & Wiedemann, 2011; Palthe, 2008; Selmer, 2001). Although studies on expatriate adjustment have been implicit, several important questions remain unanswered in the cross-cultural adjustment literature. ...
... To address the scarcity of research on expatriate management in AEC sector, the current study will specifically ascertain issues relating to British expatriates. A homogenous sample was primarily chosen to evade 'distortion caused by expatriate samples where there is high cultural heterogeneity' (Kittler et al., 2011). The current sample is worthy of investigation particularly because, Great Britain has expatriated AEC professionals since the colonial times and it ranks as one of the strongest in the world. ...
Today’s internationalized business demands global mindset, intercultural sensitivity and the ability to skilfully negotiate through cross-cultural interactions. Therefore, the overall aim was to investigate the influence of emotional intelligence (EI) on cross-cultural adjustment (CCA) of British expatriates working on International Architectural, Engineering and Construction assignments in Sub-Saharan Africa, China, Middle East and Indian Sub-Continent. Specifically, the causal relationship between EI and three facets of CCA i.e. work, general and interaction adjustment was explored. A sequential exploratory mixed methods design was adopted. These include extensive review of existing literature, eighteen unstructured interviews, and questionnaire survey of 191 British expatriates operating in 29 different countries from the four regions under investigation. Structural equation modelling was used to assess the causal relationship between EI and CCA. Results show that EI accounted for 91, 64 and 24% of the variance in work, interaction and general adjustment respectively. Overall, the model was able to explain 60% variance in CCA, suggesting that EI competencies play a huge role in facilitating an expatriate understand and adapt to host country culture. The findings would help decision-makers (HR managers) during expatriate selection process, in understanding that along with technical skills, it is the emotional competencies that are crucial in assisting expatriates adjust to foreign way of life.
... Authors decided to make this exploration for the mentioned region, since the Republic of Serbia belongs to the group of the former socialistic republics in the CEE region. Much research in the past few years (see Parry et al. 2013;Poor and Capo 2013;Poor et al. 2011Poor et al. , 2012Kittler et al. 2011;Festing and Sahakiants 2010;Kazlauskaite and Buciuniene 2010;Brewster et al. 2010;Karoliny et al. 2009) has been conducted with the aim to explore and present the specific HRM practices in this region, and if we bear in mind stated sentence about the influence of the HRM on organizational effectiveness, authors of this chapter found research objectives as very important, especially in the condition of the contemporary economic, political and social challenges. ...
Human resource management (HRM) in contemporary economics is linked to a company’s success measured through numerous organizational measures (profitability, productivity, rate of innovation, market share, environmental performances, etc.). The role of HRM in large enterprises is relatively known, especially when the competitiveness and sustainable development are in question. On the other hand, small entrepreneurial and medium sized (SME) companies have not been greatly studied in relation to the HRM in the past. Although there is a lack of literature and empirical research in this area, several studies in the past decade and recent years emphasized the importance of the HRM for the survival and success of the SMEs. The reason why more and more authors today are arguing about the success of the SMEs is the perceived advantages of SMEs in a turbulent and unpredictable business environment. SMEs are seen as the driving force for vulnerable economies, a source of innovation, employment, and flexibility. Bearing in mind SMEs and their advantages, the authors have focused their attention on the economies in the Central and Eastern Europe countries (Slovenia, Serbia, Hungary and Bulgaria) where the SMEs are recognized as potential possibilities for economic recovery and development. Since human capital is recognized as one of the most important factors of enterprise success, the aim of this work was to explore the role of HRM in SMEs in the economies of Serbia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovenia, to determine the type of linkage between HRM and the success of small and medium-sized companies that operate in the CEE region, in light of the Cranet 2008/2010 survey data. The objective in this chapter was the exploration of the existence of organizations’ business strategy and HR strategy in SMEs, as well as HR departments, and the role of HRM in the business of the SMEs. The special task in this research was the exploration of the HRM activities and trends (recruitment, selection, compensation, performance management, training and development, human resource information system, etc.) that are present in the SMEs in the CEE region. The ranking of the SMEs’ performances is also presented and the relations between the existence of HRM and the several performance measures in these companies. Descriptive statistical methods, t-test of independent samples and ANOVAs tests have been used during quantitative analysis to explore the presented relations.
... We follow the argument of authors from other systematic reviews (e.g. Kittler et al., 2011b) and assume saturation or at least a degree of decreasing marginal utility. ...
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to provide a synthesis and evaluation of literature surrounding the job demands-resources (JD-R) model (Demerouti et al., 2001) in the first decade since its inception, with particular emphasis on establishing an evidence-based universal application towards different national and international work contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
– The study uses a systematic review approach following the stages suggested by Tranfield et al. (2003). Based on empirical data from 62 studies, the authors systematically analyse the application of the JD-R model and queries whether it is applicable outside merely domestic work contexts.
Findings
– The authors find convincing support for the JD-R model in different national contexts. However, the authors also found an absence of studies employing the JD-R model in cross-national settings. None of the empirical studies in the sample had explicitly considered the international context of today’s work environment or had clearly associated JD-R research with the IHRM literature.
Research limitations/implications
– Based on the wide acceptance of the JD-R model in domestic work contexts and the increased interest in work-related outcomes such as burnout and engagement in the IHRM literature, the study identifies a gap and suggests future research applying the JD-R model to international work and global mobility contexts.
Originality/value
– This study is the first to systematically assess the application of the JD-R model in domestic and international work contexts based on a systematic review of empirical literature in the first decade since the inception of the model. The study identifies a lack of internationally focussed JD-R studies and invites further empirical research and theoretical extensions.
... This may be done by showing that dispositions are far from homogeneous within nationalities (Bhaskaran and Sukumaran, 2007;Quer et al., 2007), by highlighting demographical differences (e.g. gender/marital status) within a national population (Cole and McNulty, 2011;Kittler et al., 2011;McMurray and Karim, 2008), salaries/socioeconomic differentials (Warneke and Schneider, 2011), generational gaps (Vieregge and Quick, 2011), professional identities (Barron, 2010;Calabretta and Iglesias, 2008;Fiksenbaum et al., 2010;Mearns and Flin, 2010), and education levels (McMurray and Karim, 2008). Along this direction, some works undertake a broader examination of structural factors to dispositional differences through the study of variations in economic models and developmental gaps (Beraho, 2007;Mohamed, 2007;Thrassou et al., 2011). ...
To cite this article: Lee, D.H.L. (2013a). Beliefs On "Avoidant Cultures" In Two French Multinational Corporations". Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, 20(1), 20-38.
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the trajectory of cultural stereotypes on Uncertainty Avoidance emergent from two French multinational corporations. The exploration of respondents' comparisons of their own culture with other cultures illustrates that cultural stereotypes are derived from structural conditions that had developed over time, but came to be (mis)attributed to innate and prevalent cultural habits. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources, characterized by qualitative methodologies. Primary data respondents were predominantly ethnic Chinese Singaporeans, and secondary data respondents were predominantly French. In-depth interviews were introduced in three phases. Findings - The stereotype of the "uncertainty avoidant" Chinese Singaporean employees was employed by the top manager in one of the case studies (ECI) to lend legitimacy to the employees' exclusion from top management positions. The converse argument was made that "uncertainty avoidance" is absent among the French, who are hence more qualified as ECI top managers. Both claims were unfounded in this inquiry. Further evidence points to structural factors mediating employee behavior. Research limitations/implications - Structural factors were found to lend greater credibility in accounting for employee behaviors outlined in this study, more so than cultural ones. Future research surfacing complementary statistical insights will provide more concrete and representative evidence to this exploratory inquiry. Originality/value - An alternative view of Uncertainty Avoidance through a structural account is proposed, based on evidence from qualitative inquiries.
... 3. There are several other studies that measured length of prior international work experience either in the host country or outside the host country (e.g., Kim & Slocum, 2008; Kittler et al., 2011), or both (e.g., Takeuchi, Tesluk, et al., 2005). These are related to the context specificity (in vs. outside host country) of prior international experience, and they will be separately discussed in later parts. ...
While the importance of international experience for advancement to the executive suites and firm performance has been well recognized, meta-analytic findings illustrating the impact of prior international experiences on the cross-cultural adjustment of expatriates have been discouraging. In the current study, we provide a theoretical review and critique of the cross-cultural adjustment literature by highlighting issues associated with conceptualization and operationalization of international experiences. By providing a narrative review of the existing studies on international experiences, we underscore the nature of the existing international experience measures and provide a synthesis for future research. Discussion of the implications of the different measures of international experience is also provided.
Purpose
The purpose of the present study is to examine the role of the feedback environment in expatriate adjustment and subsequent performance. Based on newcomer adaptation and sensemaking theories, the authors proposed that the supervisor and coworker feedback environments would serve as informational resources, reducing the ambiguity associated with the expatriate's new setting.
Design/methodology/approach
This study was conducted with a broad sample of assigned expatriates ( N = 95) originating from 33 different countries and currently working in 35 different host countries. Mediation analysis using a bootstrapping methodology was conducted to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The authors found that the supervisor feedback environment and coworker feedback environment were both related to expatriate adjustment through role clarity. The authors also found that the supervisor feedback environment was indirectly related to expatriate job performance and intent to leave the international assignment through both role clarity and adjustment.
Originality/value
This study examines the extent to which the supervisor and coworker feedback environments enable expatriates on an international assignment. Expatriates face challenges that may be ameliorated by constructive feedback practices. The authors discuss how organizations can improve expatriate sensemaking and adjustment through improved feedback practices.
This study employs a dynamic rather than a static and contextual rather than cultural conceptual framework for expatriate managers’ cross-cultural adjustment. It applies theories of learning-unlearning and of role behavior to explain what expatriates’ values, attitudes and behavior are being adjusted, how they are being adjusted and why they are being adjusted. A dynamic and contextual conceptualization of the process of cross-cultural adjustment refines theory by presenting adjustment as a continuous rather than as sporadic process; by providing a framework for identifying and prioritizing sources of the “push” and “pull” to adjust; and by generalizing theory of cross-cultural adjustment to include sojourners other than expatriates. Data were collected using an intensive literature search of publications in the English language. The study’s conceptual framework has the potential to enhance the development of a general theory of cross-cultural adjustment and to provide organizations with knowledge of how to define, measure and manage expatriate-managers’ adjustment, and, therefore, the ability to develop and employ tools to assist in the selection, training, performance management and evaluation and compensation of expatriates.
In this chapter, we present the phenomenon of self-initiated expatriates among the Malaysian female registered nurses in Saudi Arabia. The primary objective of this chapter is to explore the need for building cultural sensitivity as a cultural skill for female nurses who work in Saudi Arabia by understanding the challenges of Malaysian expatriate female nurses in Saudi Arabia, who are faced with numerous culturally rooted problems. Additionally, the paper seeks to understand the process of cultural adjustment and acculturation process among Malaysian expatriate female nurses during the period of expatriation and to develop cross-cultural sensitivity based on cross-cultural adjustment theory. The chapter will also provide a brief literature review, theoretical framework, and proposed methodology, and finally the chapter concludes with the theoretical and practical implications of this research.
The stress experienced by expatriates is usually caused by the inability to adjust to the host culture, which largely results from their lack of social skills needed in dealing with the new cultural environment. Thus, the main purpose of this study is to identify the predictors of cross-cultural adjustment among expatriates in Malaysia, by focusing on expatriates in hotel industry. The findings from the study could help clarify the overgeneralization made of data which are usually based on certain locations and groups of expatriates. Two hundred and three expatriates participated in the study. Personality, language ability, previous international experience, training, human resource support, social support, culture distance and family adjustment were analyzed using the multiple regression analysis to determine the predictors of adjustment. The data, which was drawn from a drop and collect method, self-administered questionnaire, revealed that social support and family adjustment were the most influential predictors of hotel expatriate adjustment. The findings also suggest that overgeneralizations of findings across disciplines are rather inappropriate. Detail discussions on the methods, findings, limitations, and suggestions for future research are presented in the paper.
The forces of globalization and subsequent trade across the borders have necessitated the firms to have their presence across the globe to meet the needs of their customers. The employees or expatriates will be sent on assignment to different countries for a period of time ranging from few weeks, months to years. This sudden exposure to the different environment not only makes these expatriates vulnerable to cultural shocks, but also may significantly affect their job performance. Their failure to acclimatize to the foreign conditions will not only hurt the confidence, career and life of the expatriate, but it will also cost a lot to the company. The present paper aims to understand of the process of expatriate adjustment in the Indian Information Technology (IT) industry by examining demographic variables and few organizational variables of expatriate’s adjustment process. A structured questionnaire was distributed to the expatriate employees working in 50 IT companies in the Silicon city, Bengaluru. The study uses Chi-square test and linear regression for testing the hypotheses and found that there is a significant influence of demographic variables like gender, work experience and length of assignment on acclimatization of expatriates to their host country culture. The findings of the study proved that there is a significant relationship between demographic variables and the cultural acceptance of the expatriates. Hence, it is suggested that multinational companies should create an enabling environment within the organizations to make international assignees compatible and comfortable with different cultural values and inculcate cultural acceptance to make them successful in their international assignments.
Rapid globalization of business processes stimulates many companies to dispatch their employees – business expatriates – on overseas assignments. Russia differs markedly from many other cultures in terms of specific communication norms and rules. Understanding such differences in organizational life is crucial for the success of business expatriates working there. This study employs in-depth interviews with eight Danish business expatriates who worked in Russia and examines the differences between the Danes and the Russians in terms of communication characteristics related to Hofstede’s cultural dimension power distance. This work enhances scholars’ empirical knowledge of power distance, which has rarely been investigated qualitatively.
The study of dignity is present in many fields of Life Sciences, the Humanities and Social Sciences. In the Management field, in particular, researches have been carried out mainly through the perspective of dignity in organizations and, more recently, from a stakeholders based view. The purpose of this study was to understand how the dignity from the cultural experience of Latin American expatriates in Brazil, was projected and symbolized by them. The decision to take the expatriation as one of the central elements of the study, due to the profound changes from the process of productive restructuring, since the late twentieth century, implying mobility of capital and people in different parts of the globe. Despite the signs of a growing trend of intra-regional migration process in the context of Latin America and the Caribbean, most of the researches involving the expatriation phenomenon still show little emphasis on the reality of Latin American countries. It is assumed here that the cultural adjustment of expatriate suppose to leave suspended their own cultural base, producing vulnerability in relationships, and therefore promoting violation of dignity. In this qualitative research, interviews in-depth were conducted, face to face, with ten expatriate executives from four different South American countries, who lived in Brazil when the interviews. From a de-colonial approach, was adopted as data analysis method the symbolic cartography as proposed by Boaventura de Sousa Santos. From the point of view of projection and symbolization, the omission and neglect in management, fed the projection of the Latin American expatriate dignity to the periphery in the researched companies, in this case, prevailed the figure of Ares about Athena in the sphere of organization. In this sense, is desirable the development of a critical reflection about expatriation process and interculturalism in native organizations, from top management. The prevalence of absences on emergencies / "presence" hindered the process of intercultural adaptation, as the continuing violations of dignity resulted in disqualification of several other Latin American.
Keywords: dignity; intercultural adaptation; Latin American expatriates; symbolic cartography
This paper examines the migration behavior model of Indonesian female migrant domestic workers in Egypt. I develop a model based on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) combined with the Theory of Migration. Samples of 209 respondents are collected using convenience sampling technique. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is employed to analyze the empirical model. The findings indicate that respondents who do not have a previous employment status tend to have a better perception or attitude towards the profession of migrant domestic worker. Encouragement from the surrounding environment, including family and friends, who agree, hope, recommend, or persuade them to work as a migrant worker is a significant factor in improving the intention to become a migrant worker, especially in Egypt.
Purpose
– The purpose of this study is to assess differences between the adjustment of expatriates in Germany and France. Most research has focused on the individual in relation to expatriate adjustment. The general conditions of the host country, however, could represent an important contextual factor that needs to be explored further.
Design/methodology/approach
– Based on an empirical study of 130 expatriate managers on foreign assignments in France (61) and Germany (69), the authors take a comparative perspective and examine differences for sociocultural and psychological adjustment as well as time to proficiency in both countries.
Findings
– The authors found that expatriates assigned to France show higher degrees of work adjustment and general adjustment than those in Germany. This was unexpected as Germany is generally described as a more transparent, open and welcoming country. Results may thus challenge stereotypical conceptions of national differences and indicate that globalization processes are gradually changing country-specific conditions.
Originality/value
– Only scant research has dealt with expatriates adjusting to Western European countries and no other studies have compared the adjustment of expatriates in Germany and France.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to address the following questions: what factors affect work role transition outcomes of Filipino employees in Singapore? What is the influence of type of expatriation on work role transition outcomes? Two outcomes of interest are work adjustment and job satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
– An e-mail containing the link to a web-based structured questionnaire was sent to Filipinos working in local and multinational organizations in Singapore, who were also encouraged to forward the link to other Filipinos working in Singapore. The number of respondents totals 106. We used regression analysis to address the research question.
Findings
– Work adjustment and job satisfaction do not share common factors, indicating differences in their dynamics. Work adjustment is singly explained by the individual factor: the self-efficacy beliefs of the global employees. It is not influenced by the content and context of work but by the disposition of the individual alone. On the other hand, job satisfaction is explained by job factors (role discretion and role conflict) and organizational or job context factors (supervisory support and perceived organizational support). It is not explained by self-efficacy belief. Both work role adjustment and job satisfaction are not influenced by whether or not the global employee is company assigned or self-initiated.
Research limitations/implications
– Given the nonprobabilistic sampling employed, results of the study, in a strict sense, apply only to the individuals who participated in the survey. In addition, cross-sectional nature of the study also limits inference on causality.
Practical implications
– The null results of gender, marital status, and age imply that these are not good indicators of success and are not a good basis for selection. However, one important dimension to consider in recruitment is self-efficacy belief. Managers also need to nurture self-efficacy of existing employees by enabling them to experience success and for the managers to consciously develop and maintain high self-efficacy belief themselves to serve as role model of employees. Moreover, organizations can enhance and manage job satisfaction by providing support from both the supervisor and the organization, and designing jobs that provide role discretion and less role conflict. In addition, the null result of type of expatriation suggests that pre-departure support erodes through time such that companies that send employees to foreign subsidiaries must continue to provide support beyond the pre-departure phase and highlight the role of host country operations in providing job content and context conducive to job satisfaction.
Originality/value
– This study furthers the understanding of work role transition outcomes of people from Asia and the developing world who work in countries other than their own. It also broadens our perspective of work role transition by looking at two outcomes: work adjustment and job satisfaction. Moreover, this study provides an important contribution to the literature by examining the differences in outcomes of company assigned and self-initiated global employees.
This article progresses the debate on the under-researched topic of return on investment (ROI) in international assignments by complementing and extending recent research streams on the conceptual understanding and challenging nature of measuring ROI. The study reported in this article applies an action research methodology. Working in close collaboration with nine multinational companies, a set of metrics were developed to explore and gauge the ROI of international assignments. An in-depth exploration of the assignment purpose and individual and organizational outcomes over time highlights the importance of context and the dynamic nature of the task of assessing ROI. These themes have significant implications for international assignment strategy policy and practice. Insights from an action research perspective are discussed.
Ineffective expatriate performance and premature returns have been found to relate primarily to an inability to adjust to the foreign environment rather than a lack of technical competence. Research has identified three dimensions of expatriate adjustment: adjustment to work, adjustment to interactions with people in the foreign country and general adjustment to the culture and living conditions. Five major factors that have been found to influence these dimensions of adjustment and research using these factors provides a framework to help international firms understand and take a more active role in facilitating expatriate adjustment.
While the literature on private sector expatriates is burgeoning, research on public sector expatriates is scant, despite their increasing numbers. This is unfortunate, as these two groups of expatriates may face different work conditions at their foreign assignment. The target group for this study was the US Department of Defense administrators located at US embassies around the world. Results showed that the time expatriates had spent in their current location had a positive association with both work adjustment and work effectiveness. So did role clarity, which also had a positive association with job satisfaction, making it a more important job factor than role conflict, role overload or role discretion. Although role clarity may have a similar impact on work outcomes of expatriates, both in the private and public sector, the findings regarding role conflict and role overload may constitute a discrepant outcome for the two groups. There may also be a difference between the two categories of expatriates with regard to role discretion. Implications of these findings are discussed in detail.
Due to the increasing West European investments in Central and Eastern Europe, more and more West European companies and expatriates had to learn to operate in so-called 'economies in transition'. The present paper introduces findings on the experiences of Finnish expatriate managers in Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. Furthermore, the findings are compared to the experiences of Finnish expatriates in Russia and Estonia. The study covers both expatriate adjustment problems and company-level management problems which Western expatriates and companies face in Central and Eastern Europe. In the end, recommendations for companies and expatriates starting to operate in this area are offered.
This paper offers a model to describe the way in which female expatriates develop relationships and utilize those relationships to become cross-culturally adjusted. This model includes three predictive components affecting cross-cultural adjustment. The first includes the factors affecting whether a woman is able to form relationships on the expatriate assignment. These antecedents can include the female expatriate's personality, the cultural norms towards women, her language skills and the availability of possible opportunities for interaction. The second component includes the various sources of social interaction and social support (e.g. family members, and host national colleagues). The third component describes the nature of a female expatriate's social interaction and social support (e.g. emotional, informational and instrumental). Practical considerations for multinational organizations sending female expatriates are offered.
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Expatriate adjustment has been a prominent theme in international management research; nevertheless, the mechanisms of adjustment have rarely been investigated. This article addresses the issue by introducing a conceptual framework that integrates the theoretical notion of adjustment `modes' used in expatriation research with empirical descriptions of adjustment behaviours from the literature on intercultural management. The article further reports on a qualitative, in-depth study of German expatriates in the People's Republic of China. Participants detailed the differences they perceived in the new environment, as well as ways of adjusting to them. These included changes of expatriates' norms of interaction, the implemention of new working methods in the Chinese workplace, and the acquisition of new living habits. Perceived environmental conditions and adjustment behaviours were contingent a number of factors, such as education and job level of Chinese colleagues. Conclusions are drawn and implications for organizational practice and future research are made.
This article is Restricted Access. It was published in the journal, International studies of management & organization [© M.E. Sharpe] and the definitive version can be found at: http://www.mesharpe.com/mall/results1.asp?ACR=IMO Researchers have commonly regarded expatriate adjustment as a unidirectional process of one individual adjusting to a foreign environment. In contrast, we argue that it may be necessary to conceptualise the expatriate’s adjustment to social interactions as part of a process of mutual adjustment within an international team. Research on expatriate adjustment can be informed by our study of mutual adjustment in international teams. Eleven teams of four combinations of nationalities - German-English, German-Indian, German-Japanese, and German-Austrian - were examined in two German companies, in a one-year longitudinal study. In-depth interviews and team observations were conducted with 116 participants. From the findings, a model was developed that captures the mechanisms of mutual adjustment at the level of cognitive processes, attitudes, and behaviours of team members. The study also explains how these internal adjustment components are influenced by a number of external context factors. These factors are seen to create a power relationship between the members of the different nationalities in the team. This has a major influence on the direction of adjustment. The findings are discussed with regard to their implications for models of adjustment and forms of capital accrued by global leaders.
A review of empirical studies that directly investigated the overseas adjustment of expatriate managers revealed four dimensions that were related to successful expatriate acculturation: (1) the "self-oriented" dimension; (2) the "others-oriented" dimension; (3) the "perceptual" dimension; and (4) the "cultural-toughness" dimension. The study's implications for expatriate selection and training procedures in multinational corporations are discussed.
We examine the importance of country-of-origin effects and of universal contingencies such as industrial recipes in organizational practices at the international level of multinational enterprises. This is based on a study comparing European (Finnish, French, German, Dutch, Swiss, Swedish, British), American and Japanese multinational enterprises. Although multinationals are highly internationalized by definition, our study shows their organizational control practices at the international level to be more than anything else explained by their country of origin. Universal contingencies such as size and industry, on the other hand, are more related to internationalization strategy. Internationalization strategy and organizational control are associated with different sets of variables; to this extent they appear more decoupled with regard to each other than the literature suggests. Multinationals appear to follow tracks of coordination and control in which they have become embedded in their country of origin. Nationally specific institutions and culture have to be interpreted as particularistic but universally practicable facilitators of internationally competing organizational practices.
Primarily because of the significant rate and costs of failed international assignments, the attention paid by scholars to the topic of international adjustment has increased recently. Unfortunately, most of the work has been without substantial theoretical grounding. In an effort to move toward a theoretical framework for guiding future research, this article integrates theoretical and empirical work of both the international and the domestic adjustment literatures. This integration provides a more comprehensive framework than might be obtained from either of the literatures alone.
Integrating work on international assignments and domestic stress, we conducted meta-analyses of over 50 determinants and consequences of expatriate adjustment using data from 8,474 expatriates in 66 studies. We also examined the trajectory of adjustment over time, and time as a moderator of adjustment effects. Results emphasize the centrality, criticality, and complexity of adjustment, strongly supporting Black, Mendenhall, and Oddou's (1991) model. Structural modeling of proposed model extensions showed that adjustment uniquely affects job satisfaction, withdrawal cognitions, and performance.
Expatriates are often presented in the cross-cultural adjustment literature as a homogeneous, broad population. However, recent research that makes a distinction between organizational expatriates (OEs), those who are dispatched by their home companies to international posts, and self-initiated expatriates (SIEs), those who themselves make the decision to live and work abroad, has identified differences between the two groups. The present study compares the cross-cultural adjustment of these two groups of expatriates. Survey results of 179 expatriates in Japan show that SIEs are better adjusted to general aspects of their host country and interactions with host-country nationals than OEs. Suggestions for practice are provided.
Research on the antecedents and consequences of expatriate adjustment was reviewed using meta-analytic methods. The antecedents and outcomes of three facets of adjustment were examined. Self-efficacy, frequency of interaction with host nationals, and family support consistently predicted all three types of adjustment. In addition, better interpersonal skills were associated with greater adjustment to general environment. Greater cultural novelty was associated with less interactional adjustment. Role conflict. ambiguity, and discretion were also strong predictors of work adjustment. A structural equations model that illustrated causal relationship involving expatriate adjustment and outcomes of job strain. job satisfaction, organisational citizenship, intent to turnover. and job performance generated it good fit with the data.
Abstract and Key Results
▪
Subsidiary managers are faced with complex managerial roles involving both the interests of the multinational corporation
(MNC) and the subsidiary. We suggest complex roles are best fulfilled when managers develop dual organizational identification
towards both entities.
▪
Based on a conceptualization of dual organizational identification in terms of relative magnitude, we test the effect of dual
identification on subsidiary manager roles and role conflict.
▪
Results indicate that high identification with both entities is associated with high role fulfillment and that similarity
in organizational identities directly affects role conflict.
The problem of cultural incompatibility between international firms’ expatriates and the foreign host country and its consequences for the working performance has been discussed intensively in the literature. Although a number of studies have been conducted on Western expatriates in Asia, studies on Asian expatriates located in European countries are rather rare. In this contribution determinants of expatriates’ adjustment to host country culture are analyzed by a survey of Asian expatriates in Germany. According to the concept of Black/Stephens and its modifications introduced by Selmer several dimensions of adjustment have been differentiated. For three of these four dimensions no U-curve development — as implied in theory — can be discovered. The performance of Asian expatriates in Germany seems to be influenced mainly by their work adjustment which tends to improve with time spent working in the host country.
Individuals working outside their home country are a persistent phenomenon beyond the current discussion on regionalism versus globalization. For instance, in the notion of the global factory where increasingly important headquarters ‘need to manage spatially dispersed and organisationally diffuse units’ (Buckley, 2010, p. 81) expatriates might remain a desirable staffing option at various levels within the subsidiaries. A subsequent phenomenon is the challenge of expatriate adjustment in the host country. In order to support adjustment abroad, expatriates could be prepared for assignments pre-departure, and provided with supportive measures in the host country. However, as training programmes generally come with a cost, their effectiveness needs to be assessed and appropriate configurations have to be identified.
Politische Reformen in der ehemaligen UdSSR ermöglichten vor 10 Jahren die Ablösung kommunistischer Regierungen und die Einleitung von Transformations- und Liberalisierungsprozessen in den osteuropäischen Staaten1. Die Länder Osteuropas waren vor Beginn dieses Wandels durch das politische System des Kommunismus und dem damit einhergehenden Wirtschaftssystem der zentralen Planwirtschaft gekennzeichnet. Die Verwobenheit von Politik und Wirtschaft in Verbindung mit der Dominanz der politischen Interessen über die Ökonomik prägten und steuerten die Ausgestaltung der Wirtschaftsorganisation und des Gesellschaftssystems. Ein hohes Maß an Homogenität in Bezug auf die wirtschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Strukturen war somit allen Staaten gemeinsam2. Die Abschottung der Märkte Osteuropas gegenüber Westeuropa war Ausdruck der Inkompatibilität beider Wirtschaftssysteme und des „Kalten Krieges”, der zwischen den politischen Räumen herrschte.
An expatriate's family has a strong impact on his/her cultural adjustment. According to the family systems theory of Minuchin (1974), there exist strong ties between expatriates, their partners, and their children which in turn influence their cultural adjustment. The objective of this article is to empirically assess the adjustment of German expatriates abroad in association with their families' adjustment. We analyze the influence of the family situation of 169 German expatriates on their cultural adjustment as well as the correlation between the cultural adjustment of the expatriate managers and their accompanying family members. Significant influences of the family situation, particularly considering the presence of children, and crossover effects between the degrees of adjustment of the family members are identified.
Martin K. Welge legte vor 25 Jahren an der Universität zu Köln eine Habilitationsschrift vor, die sich mit einem Thema beschäftigte, welches damals so aktuell war wie heute: die Beziehungen zwischen Muttergesellschaften und ihren ausländischen Tochtergesellschaften. Welge wandte sich diesem Thema zu, weil er sich bewusst war, dass Tochtergesellschaften für ihre Muttergesellschaften von großer Bedeutung sind. In einem umfangreichen und bis heute immer wieder zitierten Werk, welches 1980 auf der Basis der Habilitationsschrift veröffentlicht wurde, konstatierte Welge (1980S. V), dass „der in ausländischen Tochtergesellschaften erwirtschaftete Beitrag zum Gesamtergebnis […] ständig steigt“.
As multinational corporations (MNCs) globalize their operations, they are confronted not only with a world-wide and culturally diverse array of stakeholders but also with a growing degree of internal multiculturalism. For years, they have been experiencing “a rapid transition due to increasing cultural diversity” (Ady 1994, p. 30). As a consequence, the number of intercultural interactions between and within MNCs increases and the role of intercultural communication becomes more and more important (Scudder 2004).
Primarily because of the significant rate and costs of failed international assignments, the attention paid by scholars to the topic of international adjustment has increased recently. Unfortunately, most of the work has been without substantial theoretical grounding. In an effort to move toward a theoretical framework for guiding future research, this article integrates theoretical and empirical work of both the international and the domestic adjustment literatures. This integration provides a more comprehensive framework than might be obtained from either of the literatures alone.
An expatriates family has a strong impact on his/her cultural adjustment. According to the family systems theory of Minuchin (1974), there exist strong ties between expatriates, their partners, and their children which in turn influence their cultural adjustment. The objective of this article is to empirically assess the adjustment of German expatriates abroad in association with their families' adjustment. We analyze the influence of the family situation of 169 German expatriates on their cultural adjustment as well as the correlation between the cultural adjustment of the expatriate managers and their accompanying family members. Significant influences of the family situation, particularly considering the presence of children, and crossover effects between the degrees of adjustment of the family members are identified.
Interest in the problem of method biases has a long history in the behavioral sciences. Despite this, a comprehensive summary of the potential sources of method biases and how to control for them does not exist. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which method biases influence behavioral research results, identify potential sources of method biases, discuss the cognitive processes through which method biases influence responses to measures, evaluate the many different procedural and statistical techniques that can be used to control method biases, and provide recommendations for how to select appropriate procedural and statistical remedies for different types of research settings.
A framework is proposed to characterize the different roles that subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs) can play within the firm's overall strategy. The framework is then applied to a sample of 50 Spanish subsidiaries of MNCs. These are found to be pursuing strategies consistent with the framework. At the same time, a strategic evolution is detected towards a closer integration of the subsidiaries with their parent group. It is hypothesized that changes in the Spanish sociopolitical context, especially the country's entry into the European Economic Community, are fueling that process of strategic change.
Expatriate assignments are becoming increasingly unattractive to potential candidates making the unwieldy myriad of proposed selection criteria of decreasing practical value to internationally assigning firms. When the issue is more to find anyone willing to do the job rather than selecting the best candidate from a large pool of applicants, maybe basic personal characteristics can better guide corporations in their search for suitable expatriate candidates. To examine this proposition, a large sample of Western business expatriates in Hong Kong responded to a mail survey about their sociocultural and psychological adjustment. The results of the hierarchical regression analysis indicated that age had a positive association with general, interaction and work adjustment of the expatriates as well as with psychological adjustment. Gender was not associated with any kind of adjustment whereas being married had a positive relation with work adjustment. The implications for international firms of these results are discussed in detail.
We develop a model of cultural positions in relationships that should be considered in addition to the more conventional cultural distance. We empirically analyse relationships between headquarters and foreign subsidiaries in multinational corporations and how high or low acceptance of power differences at both sides of the relationship is associated with headquarters influence on subsidiary competence development. ANCOVA analyses of 1529 subsidiaries in six European countries, headquartered in 28 countries, provide new insights. We find that relationships with low cultural distance, differ significantly in terms of headquarters influence depending on whether headquarters and subsidiaries agree on accepting or rejecting power differences. Similarly, relationships with high cultural distance differ depending on whether it is headquarters or the subsidiary that is from a high-power-distance culture: we find that headquarters influence is particularly dependent on great acceptance of power differences by the subsidiary.
Processes in multinational corporations (MNCs) have to be configured with regard to the challenges of a permanently evolving environment. Process-innovation teams are considered to be powerful tools inside organizations to cope with this necessity. Their performance is of major importance for most MNCs. As a response to the increasing internationalization and globalization of markets, these teams show a growing culturally diverse composition. This article focuses on two major processes that are discussed to decide about a positive or a negative performance of a team: intra-team communication style and knowledge transfer. Explicitly, this article (1) tests for the influence of cultural diversity on intra-team communication and knowledge transfer, and (2) empirically examines the impact of the openness of intra-team communication and knowledge transfer on the performance of multicultural teams. A quantitative empirical survey among 84 team-members of 20 culturally diverse teams within a German sportswear company is used to test the relationships. Findings reveal that national cultural diversity has no significant impact on intra-team communication and knowledge transfer but both of them have significant influences on different measures of performance.
Although past studies of expatriate adjustment have asked human resource executives their opinions about important antecedents of cross-cultural adjustment (e.g., Tung, 1981, 1988), very few studies have attempted to empirically determine which factors significantly affect cross-cultural adjustment based on data collected from actual expatriate managers. This paper examines the impact of job, personal, and general factors on three facets of cross-cultural adjustment based on data collected from American expatriate managers in Pacific Rim assignments (Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, and Taiwan). The results of the study indicate that different antecedents were related to different facets of cross cultural adjustment. Both research and practical implications of these findings are explored.
This paper identifies some of the dynamics of expatriate adjustment using an autoethnographic account of situations experienced by the first author during her first year of work at a financial services company in Hong Kong. Success in this cross-cultural assignment is dependent on the expatriate's ability to adjust to and master the new culture. Our theoretical analysis of the autoethnographic account suggests that culture shock may be a discontinuous process. Further, the analysis suggests that cultural acceptance can play a critical role in expatriate adjustment.
Cultural distance is a widely used construct in international business, where it has been applied to foreign investment expansion, entry mode choice, and the performance of foreign invested affiliates, among others. The present paper presents a critical review of the cultural distance construct, outlining its hidden assumptions and challenging its theoretical and methodological properties. A comprehensive framework for the treatment of the construct is developed and concrete steps aimed at enhancing rigor are delineated.
Purpose
– The current literature implicitly assumes a symmetric impact of cultural distance (CD) on expatriate adjustment. By using distance as a predictor of adjustment, the literature has rendered the direction of the flow irrelevant: a US expatriate in Germany is presumed to face the same hurdle as a German expatriate in the USA. Not only is there no evidence to justify that suggestion, but logic and related findings suggest just the opposite. The aim of the present paper is to test the proposition that such impact is asymmetric, that is, the impact of CD is contingent on the direction of the assignment.
Design/methodology/approach
– Using a two‐flow sample of US expatriates in Germany and German expatriates in the USA, we examine and compare the psychological and socio‐cultural adjustment of each group of executives.
Findings
– Controlling for the length of assignment, we find that German expatriates in the USA were better adjusted, both socio‐culturally and psychologically, than American expatriates in Germany. These results support the asymmetry hypothesis and call into question previous findings attesting to the relationship between CD and expatriate adjustment.
Originality/value
– The paper offers new insights into the concept of CD and the findings may amount to a potentially fundamental contribution to the literature with important implications for the theory and practice of international human resource management.
Ineffective expatriate performance and premature returns have been found to relate primarily to an inability to adjust to the foreign environment rather than a lack of technical competence. Research has identified three dimensions of expatriate adjustment: adjustment to work, adjustment to interactions with people in the foreign country and general adjustment to the culture and living conditions. Five major factors that have been found to influence these dimensions of adjustment and research using these factors provides a framework to help international firms understand and take a more active role in facilitating expatriate adjustment.
Past international human resource management literature has suggested that most American multinationalfirms that employ expatriate managers have difficulty successfully retaining these managers in overseas assignments. Although some scholars have suggested that the inability of the spouse to adjust is one of the major reasons expatriate managers return early from their overseas assignments, few researchers have attempted to verify empirically a relationship between the spouse's adjustment and the adjustment and intentions to stay or leave of the expatriate manager. This study found that a favorable opinion about the overseas assignment by the spouse is positively related to the spouse's adjustment and the novelty of the foreign culture has a negative relationship with the spouse's adjustment. Additionally, the adjustment of the spouse is highly correlated to the adjustment of the expatriate manager and the adjustment of the spouse and the expatriate are positively related to the expatriate's intention to stay in the overseas assignment.
This article empirically investigates the adjustment of managers to working in multi-national project teams in the pipeline and plant construction industry. The members of such teams come from diverse national backgrounds and there is no single culture dominating the team. While there has been a lot of research on multi-cultural teams, organizational socialization and expatriate issues, so far these areas have been investigated separately. This article contributes to research in these fields by developing and empirically testing a model containing a number of antecedents and consequences of the adjustment of individuals when working in multi-cultural project teams. The findings highlight the importance of cross-cultural sensitivity for individuals' adjustment in such teams, as well as the positive role of adjustment for individuals' satisfaction, commitment and intention to stay with the team.
Borrowing from earlier contributions in the cross-cultural management and international human resource management literatures, firstly we conceptualise expatriate adjustment as a multifaceted construct encompassing work, general, interaction and overall adjustment and then we examine the impact of work-role characteristics in the form of role novelty, role ambiguity, role conflict and role overload on these different domains of adjustment. With respect to adjustment, while our data, drawn from a postal survey of US and Canadian expatriates on assignment in Ireland, show some variations in work, general, interaction and overall adjustment, the composite measure of overall adjustment reveals that, on the whole, respondents are well adjusted to working and living in Ireland. Turning to the impact of work-role characteristics on adjustment domains, role novelty is positively correlated with work adjustment. Both role ambiguity and role conflict are negatively correlated with work adjustment. Multiple regression results reveal that, combined, role novelty, role ambiguity, role conflict and role overload account for 31.1 per cent of the variance in work adjustment, 13.4 per cent of the variance in general adjustment, 17.2 per cent in the case of interaction adjustment and 17.5 per cent of the variance in overall adjustment.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to address the research question of “How does a global career involving multiple international relocations influence the career capital of an individual manager?”, and to examine the typical career‐capital‐related characteristics, drivers and outcomes associated with global careers. The importance of understanding the careers of global leaders, whose work paths typically include various international positions and assignments, has increased due to the globalization of business. A particularly relevant approach for studying such careers is through a framework of career capital, which adopts an individualistic perspective to explain how actors consciously acquire portable capabilities, construct networks and identify their own motivations, applying them in their specific work contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
– The study adopts a qualitative design based on interviews with 20 managers on a global career path involving multiple international assignments.
Findings
– The results indicate that international work experience has an extensive developmental effect on the career capital of managers. First, the interviewees reported that their global careers had strongly increased their knowing‐why career capital, referring to meaning and self‐awareness. With regard to knowing‐how career capital, their multiple international experiences had considerably enhanced several work‐related competencies. The key drivers behind this development included the broad range of responsibilities, the nature of the international environment, a high level of autonomy, and cross‐cultural differences. Finally, in terms of knowing‐whom capital, the results of the study indicate that the contact network managers acquire during their international assignments was of very high importance for their future careers. As a further outcome of their global careers, the managers were found to have a very strong career identity.
Originality/value
– This paper provides a novel perspective on a topic that is of increasingly critical importance in today's global business.
This study used a sample of 190 expatriates who worked for five multi-national corporations to test part of a model of adjustment developed by Black, Mendenhall, and Oddou. The model is based on the theory that high levels of uncertainty lead to lower levels of adjustment. The study found that several variables—premove attitudes toward an international move, job satisfaction, role novelty, management's views on the effect of an international assignment on one's career, assurance of a job upon return, the cultural toughness of the host country, and the spouses' adjustment—were significant predictors of the expatriates' general adjustment, showing support for Black, Mendenhall, and Oddou's model. Findings from the study suggest that organizations could have a positive impact on assignment completion and expatriates' adjustment by assessing their organizations' positions and policies related to these variables.
Purpose
– This paper introduces this special issue.
Design/methodology/approach
– The paper examines some of the key themes in global human resource management.
Findings
– By reviewing, briefly, the existing literature in these areas, the paper outlines a limited but crucial research agenda and sets the papers in this special issue in context.
Originality/value
– This paper presents some new empirically‐based work on human resource development.
This study investigates the impact of corporate entrepreneurship, work role characteristics, emotional intelligence and locus of control on the adjustment and commitment of expatriates. Using data from 152 expatriates working in the Taiwanese subsidiary companies in China Mainland, structural equation modelling results indicate that work role characteristics is the most significant predictor for the adjustment and commitment of the expatriates. Emotional intelligence only has impact on commitment. External locus of control has a positive impact on the adjustment, but a negative impact on the stay commitment. The conceptual and empirical contributions of this study as well as the managerial implications are discussed.
This article tests the hypotheses that perceived host ethnocentrism will impact negatively on expatriates' work adjustment, host commitment and parent commitment as well as increase the desire to return early from overseas assignments. Hierarchical regression analyses were performed on survey data from 250 international assignees controlling for a wide range of personal, organizational and locational characteristics. As predicted, perceptions of local ethnocentrism had a negative effect on work adjustment and commitment to the host unit, particularly when cultural distance was low. We also found that European expatriates were more likely to react negatively to perceptions of host ethnocentrism than were their American counterparts. In general, there was no support of the hypothesized links between perceived host ethnocentrism and parent-firm commitment or the desire to return early.
Although public sector expatriates are becoming increasingly common, research on them is very limited. There is reason to believe that the situation for expatriates from the public sector may be different than for those from the private sector. This study investigated US Department of Defense administrators assigned to US embassies worldwide. Results showed that self-efficacy, role clarity and role discretion had a positive association with the psychological adjustment of the respondents while role conflict and role overload only had a marginal negative relationship with the criterion variable. On the other hand, neither international experience nor the effectiveness of preparatory training had any association with the psychological adjustment of respondents. Surprisingly, these findings suggest a similar picture for the expatriates from the public and private sector. Implications of these findings are discussed in detail.
The Second Edition of this classic work, first published in 1981 and an international bestseller, explores the differences in thinking and social action that exist among members of more than 50 modern nations. Geert Hofstede argues that people carry "mental programs" which are developed in the family in early childhood and reinforced in schools and organizations, and that these programs contain components of national culture. They are expressed most clearly in the different values that predominate among people from different countries. Geert Hofstede has completely rewritten, revised and updated Cultures Consequences for the twenty-first century, he has broadened the book's cross-disciplinary appeal, expanded the coverage of countries examined from 40 to more than 50, reformulated his arguments and a large amount of new literature has been included. The book is structured around five major dimensions: power distance; uncertainty avoidance; individualism versus collectivism; masculinity versus femininity; and long term versus short-term orientation. --Publisher.
Notwithstanding their concern with intra-MNC control mechanisms, scholars have overlooked the complementary phenomenon of self-regulatory behavior by subsidiaries. In this paper, we take the first steps towards addressing this gap by advancing and testing hypotheses dealing with the determinants of a major element of self-regulatory behavior at the subsidiary level, i.e., the performance-oriented feedback-seeking behavior of subsidiary presidents. Utilizing data from 374 subsidiaries of 75 MNCs, we test hypotheses regarding the impact of subsidiary task and organizational context on the feedback-seeking behavior of subsidiary presidents. The results of this study can be summarized as follows: (i) subsidiary presidents do engage in proactive performance-oriented feedback-seeking behavior; (ii) they vary in the extent to which they engage in such behavior; and (iii) these variations in feedback-seeking behavior are at least partially systematic. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The study examined relationships among work and family role stressors, work—family conflict, social support, and well-being using data gathered from 119 men and 119 women who were partners in a two-career relationship. Results showed that within-domain relationships of stressors with well-being are stronger than between-domain relationships. Thus, work and family role stressors were primarily related to job satisfaction and family satisfaction respectively, whereas work and family role stressors as well as work—family conflict were associated with overall life stress. Similar results were found for the relationships of social support with well-being. Work support was associated with increased job satisfaction, while spouse support was associated with greater family satisfaction. Some gender differences were found in the relationships of stressors and social support with well-being. Implications of the findings for future research on work—family dynamics were discussed.
Although the standard of English proficiency is rising in China, using English in conversations with Chinese host nationals may be difficult. Therefore, proficiency in the Chinese language may promote the adjustment of foreign business expatriates in China. To test this proposition, a mail survey was directed to Western business expatriates assigned to China. Controlling for the time expatriates had spent in China, results showed that their language ability had a positive association with their sociocultural adjustment. Not surprisingly, this positive relationship was strongest for interaction adjustment and weakest for work adjustment. The straightforward implications of these clear findings are discussed in detail. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
At the centre of the interface between the developmental needs of national industry and evolutionary processes in the MNEs’ subsidiaries are knowledge-seeking and knowledge-generation processes.
Based on new survey evidence, we examine the strategies of MNE in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). In particular, we investigate the knowledge characteristics of MNE subsidiaries in CEE by analysing the roles of subsidiaries, market orientation and sources of technology over time.