The vital liaison role of host country nationals in MNC knowledge management

“The old order Changeth!” Building sustainable knowledge management post COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose

The global pandemic and the resulting rapid and large-scale digitization changed the way firms recognized and understood knowledge curation and management. The changing nature of work and work systems necessitated changes in knowledge management (KM), some of which are likely to have a long-term impact. Using the lens of technology in practice, the purpose of this study is to examine the impact of technology agency on KM structures and practices that evolved across five knowledge-intensive global organizations. This study then argues that sustainable knowledge management (SKM) systems evolve in specific contexts.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts a qualitative case study design to examine five multinational knowledge-intensive global organizations’ KM systems and practices across diverse industry sectors.

Findings

Based on the findings, the authors develop SKM systems and practices model relevant to a post-pandemic organizational context. The authors argue that KM digitization and adoption support socialization in knowledge sharing. Further formalization through organizational enabling systems aids the externalization of knowledge sharing. Deliberate practices promoted with leadership support are likely to sustain in the post-COVID era. Further, organizations that evolved ad-hoc or idiosyncratic approaches to managing hybrid working are more likely to revert to legacy KM systems. The authors eventually theorize about the socialization of human-to-human and technology-mediated human interactions and develop the three emerging SKM structures.

Originality/value

This study contributed to practitioners and researchers by developing the various tenets of SKM.

Host country national support to expatriates: a motivated information processing perspective

Purpose

The support of host country nationals (HCNs) is a key determinant of expatriate adjustment and performance. The purpose of this paper is to explore underlying motivations for their support to expatriates. Previous research has shown that HCNs with pro-social motivation are more likely to help expatriates. Drawing upon motivated information processing in groups (MIP-G) theory, the authors test whether epistemic motivation moderates the observed relationship between pro-social motivation and HCNs’ support toward expatriates.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors ran two correlational studies (N = 267) in the USA (Study 1) and South Korea (Study 2). Across two studies, epistemic motivation and social motivation were measured using their multiple proxies validated in previous research. The authors also measured HCNs’ willingness to offer role information and social support to a hypothetical expatriate worker.

Findings

Results lend support to our hypotheses that pro-social HCNs are more willing than pro-self HCNs to provide role information and social support to the expatriates, but this occurs only when they have high rather than low epistemic motivation.

Originality/value

The current paper contributes the literature on HCNs helping expatriates by qualifying the prior results that a pro-social motivation (e.g. agreeableness and collectivism) increases the willingness of HCNs to help expatriates. As hypothesized, this study found that that case is only true when HCNs have high, rather than low, epistemic motivation. Also, previous research on MIP-G theory has mainly focused on the performance of small groups (e.g. negotiation, creativity and decision-making). To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first attempt to test MIP-G theory in the context of HCNs helping expatriates.

Psychological contract breach and organizational cynicism and commitment among self-initiated expatriates vs. host country nationals in the Chinese and Malaysian transnational education sector

In today’s global economy, self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) and host country nationals (HCNs) both represent critical human resources for organizations operating globally. Yet, because these two groups of employees have been studied separately, little is known about how SIEs’ and HCNs’ perceptions of, and attitudes towards the organization compare and diverge (vs. converge) in terms of implications for human resource management. This study aims to contribute to fill this gap by examining psychological contract breach, organizational cynicism, and organizational commitment components (i.e., affective, normative, and continuance) among a sample of 156 SIEs and HCNs working in the Chinese and Malaysian transnational education sector. Using a one-year time-lagged study, we found that compared to HCNs, SIEs experienced more organizational cynicism and less affective, normative, and continuance commitment. Moreover, the breach-organizational cynicism relationship was stronger (i.e., more positive) among SIEs than HCNs. The indirect relationships between breach and affective and continuance commitment, as mediated by organizational cynicism, were also stronger (i.e., more negative) among SIEs than HCNs. Implications for human resource management are discussed under the lens of Conservation of Resources theory.

Influence of Informal Relationships on Expatriate Career Performance in China: The Moderating Role of Cultural Intelligence

Pursuing an international career in China can be risky particularly when there is a lack of informal relationships and knowledge of the socio-cultural environment of the country. Drawing from social capital theory of career success and intelligence theory, this study investigates the influence of expatriate manager-local subordinate guanxi on expatriate managers’ career performance and the contingency role of cultural intelligence. Using multi-source data from a sample (N = 154) of expatriate managers in China, our results show that expatriate manager-local subordinate guanxi positively influences expatriate career performance, and that this relationship is positively moderated by expatriates’ cultural intelligence. The broader theoretical and practical implications of the findings for international careers are fully discussed.

Expatriates as catalysts: what and how Vietnamese locals learn from self-initiated expatriates

Purpose

In an era when expatriates are increasingly used as strategic conduits for developing capabilities in local business units, we identify what and how host-country nationals in a developing economy learn from self-initiated expatriates whose assignments focus on organizational capacity development objectives.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured interviews with 23 Vietnamese host-country nationals rendered a sample of 138 learning episodes for qualitative content analysis. Respondents were employed in Vietnamese government and non-government organizations and worked closely with multiple self-initiated expatriates in a variety of professional contexts.

Findings

Host-country nationals develop a broad array of primarily “soft” capabilities. This learning is typically informal and vicarious in nature. While learning tends to arise incidentally through day-to-day activities, host-country nationals facilitate this by structuring their formal and informal interactions with expatriates to maximize their learning potential.

Research limitations/implications

While the study's exploratory design and specific context limit the transferability of our results, analysis of a sample of specific learning episodes allowed us to map “hotspots” of particular activities and contexts in which certain learning outcomes transpired.

Practical implications

Our results put into sharp focus the overlooked roles of expatriates as models (to be observed), mentors (to be consulted) and collaborators (to be partnered with) who can catalyse valued learning opportunities for local colleagues.

Originality/value

We provide a comprehensive account of the nature and extent of informal learning that host-country nationals accumulate during interactions with expatriates, and so contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the experiences of host-country nationals in international business.

How host-country nationals manage the demands of hosting expatriates

Purpose

Using job demands-resources (JD-R) theory as a conceptual apparatus, the purpose of this paper is to report an empirical exploration of the experiences of host-country national (HCN) employees when their organization hosts an expatriate assignment.

Design/methodology/approach

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 Vietnamese HCNs who had vast experience hosting multiple self-initiated expatriates with organizational development objectives.

Findings

The study reveals previously hidden costs associated with locals’ support for expatriates, including a range of extra-role demands and more complex and stressful interpersonal interactions. These demands exceeded the current intercultural capabilities of many respondents, and while offset to some extent by their positive pre-arrival attitudes and culture-specific knowledge, led to sometimes counterproductive coping responses such as withdrawal behaviors.

Research limitations/implications

The study extends the JD-R framework by explicating which demands and resources are pertinent to HCNs, and how these activate particular coping strategies. The cultural context of Vietnam, as both a setting for the workplace interactions and imbued in the values and assumptions of respondents, limits the study’s transferability.

Practical implications

The findings provide guideposts for organizations in ways to offset HCNs’ hindrance demands (e.g. matching demands to current capabilities) and to encourage the use of productive coping strategies via, for instance, anticipating and mitigating potential challenges.

Originality/value

The study’s insights go some way toward articulating more fully the richness and complexity of HCNs’ experiences, and a more rounded perspective of the costs and benefits inherent in international work assignments.

The paradox of roots and wings: labor mobility between local firms and MNEs in North Africa

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore employees’ knowledge- and learning-related experiences in moving between local firms and multinational enterprises (MNEs) and to examine the nature of paradoxes of labor mobility that local talents face in their career in the North African country of Algeria. In doing so, this paper explored the multifaceted experiences of employees who left local firms and joined MNEs.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors use a qualitative study, in-depth interviews with 12 employees from various industries, and apply an interpretive phenomenological approach to explain labor mobility between local firms and MNEs in the North African country of Algeria. The authors specifically focus on personal experiences of employees who worked in both local firms and MNEs.

Findings

The findings report a paradoxical situation and suggest that despite talented individuals grow their capabilities in MNEs through reward and personal growth incentives, the grass is not always greener, and they face the paradox of nurturing their capabilities (wings) or empowering their roots by returning local firms to seek stability, security and flexibility.

Originality/value

This study contributes to the research at the intersection of human resource management, knowledge management and the paradox of management in emerging markets. Its value stems from empirically explicating the paradox of roots and wings as a complementary, learning type of paradox that individuals at local firms and MNEs in Algeria experience.

Interpersonal affect and host country national support of expatriates

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role played by host country nationals’ (HCNs) collectivism and the interpersonal affect they develop toward expatriate colleagues, in determining the degree to which Chinese HCNs would be willing to offer role information and social support to expatriates from India and the USA.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conducted a between-subjects simulation (n=402) with front-line, junior-level professionals in four global organizations operating in China, measuring their interpersonal affect toward a hypothetical expatriate colleague, and their willingness to offer role information and social support to the expatriate.

Findings

Results indicated the interpersonal affect felt by Chinese HCNs mediates the relationship between the collectivism levels of Chinese HCNs, and their willingness to offer role information and social support to expatriates.

Research limitations/implications

It should be acknowledged that the authors used hypothetical “paper-people” to test the hypotheses. Future studies should investigate the impact of collectivism and interpersonal affect on HCN willingness to offer role information and social support by examining HCNs’ attitudes toward real-life expatriate colleagues.

Originality/value

While empirical studies examining HCN willingness to offer role information and social support have begun to emerge in the expatriate literature, only a couple of studies have included interpersonal affect as a key determinant. Given that interpersonal affect is a key determinant of individuals’ reactions to others, but also a complex construct, the findings confirm the need for organizations to examine how this impacts performance and co-worker interactions in the workplace.

The correspondence model of cross-cultural adjustment: exploring exchange relationships

Purpose

There has been tremendous interest in the field of cultural adjustment in the past decades. The work of Black and his colleagues has inspired many researchers. However, critics have pointed out that their original conceptualization has limitations; most of the insights building on their model have probably been harvested. Therefore, it is appropriate to investigate alternative ways at understanding the challenges in international assignments. The purpose of this paper is to outline a model rooted in person-environment fit theory. The authors follow Dawis and Lofquist’s Theory of Work Adjustment, which has had only a small influence on expatriate research to date.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper develops a correspondence model of cross-cultural adjustment and explores the diverse factors and their interactions in-depth. The satisfaction of individual needs and corresponding environmental supplies (macro, micro, and organizational factors) as well as the satisfactoriness of individual abilities and corresponding environmental requirements (macro, micro, and organizational) is outlined.

Findings

Based on the literature and the model a large number of hypotheses in relation to cross-cultural adjustment are proposed which allow new avenues in adjustment research.

Originality/value

The contribution of this paper is to propose a model that addresses the main criticisms to the adjustment conceptualization of Black and his colleagues.

The influence of the human resources business culture on organizational innovation: Comparative study from Canadian and Russian enterprises based in China

Abstract The paper illustrates adoption of innovation, Competitive Intelligence and Business Intelligence in unit of organizational structure. In practice, occurs a problem of administration, such as position allocation, assignment to positions, as well as arises a question: which of researched organizational structure unit is responsible for adaptation of decision making in cross-cultural environment. In the period of 2012–2014 the authors had been researching problems and experience of organization structure in Russian industrial enterprises based in China. The paper helps to understand, which of the positions (in this article we are talking about positions, related to innovation decision making, BI and CI) in international corporations are optimal for Canadian applicants, and which position are more suitable for Chinese employees. For more detailed review, it was decided to compare Canadian and Russian industrial enterprises, carrying on economical and business activity in China.