Expatriate assignments vs localization of management in China

Career adaptability and the success of self-initiated expatriates in China

Purpose

Using a career lens, the purpose of this paper is to examine the psychological factors related to the career success (e.g. performance and adjustment) of self-initiated expatriates (SIEs).

Design/methodology/approach

This research examines the previously unstudied relationship between career adaptability and career success. Data were collected by surveying 273 SIEs employed in professional jobs in China.

Findings

As hypothesized, career adaptability was positively related to performance as well as to adjustment. Psychological availability mediated the relationships of career adaptability with performance and with adjustment. Contrary to expectations, supportive supervision did not moderate the relationship between career adaptability and either performance or adjustment.

Research limitations/implications

Because the data were collected in a single, self-report survey, future studies should collect longitudinal data so that the effects of changes in career adaptability on adjustment and performance can be determined. In addition, as all of the participants were professionals, future research should examine SIEs employed in blue-collar jobs.

Originality/value

As this is the first study to consider how career adaptability may influence SIEs’ performance and adjustment, it offers unique insights into the work experiences of SIEs. Additionally, this study examines the theoretical underpinnings of career construction theory, namely, the previously hypothesized but untested relationship between career adaptability and adjustment.

A Review of Job Role Localization in the Oil and Gas Industry

Job role localization is a strategic local content solution used by countries bearing natural resource stocks to maximize the long-term benefits of exploring and producing them. Currently, there is significant variation in how countries and organizations plan and implement local content and job role localization strategies; hence, this paper aims to gather, classify, and discuss relevant literature with a view to identify best practices for future application. After a multi-dimensional discussion of key terms relevant to the topic, the drivers and theoretical underpinnings of local content are examined, followed by an assessment of job role localization literature qualifying enablers and barriers to localization. A critical discussion on the means of evaluating local content policies summarizes the findings of this critical review.

Unlocking Expatriates’ Job Creativity: The Role of Cultural Learning, and Metacognitive and Motivational Cultural Intelligence

In this article, we extend Amabile's componential theory of creativity to account for cross-cultural creativity by conceptualizing cultural learning as a crucial component in the creativity relevant process. We hypothesize a significant positive relationship between cultural learning and expatriates’ cross-cultural job creativity, and that this relationship will be enhanced by domain learning and the cultural distance between the host and home countries. Moreover, we propose that expatriates with higher metacognitive and motivational cultural intelligence will engage in greater cultural learning, which in turn will be related to job creativity. Data from 219 expatriate-supervisor dyads of 36 Chinese multinational companies reveal that metacognitive CQ and motivational CQ are indeed positive antecedents to cultural learning, which in turn positively relates to cross-cultural job creativity, especially for high domain learning expatriates who work in a foreign culture not vastly different from home. Our findings make significant contributions to the existing literature on creativity and provide nuanced understanding of the relationship between cultural intelligence, cultural learning and cross-cultural job creativity. Our findings also have important implications for expatriate management.

Intercultural interactions in multinational subsidiaries

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show how individuals perceive the quality of intercultural interactions at work in multinational subsidiaries and to address the question of what actually prevails in their accounts, i.e., “the dark side” or “the bright side.”

Design/methodology/approach

The authors report the findings from five subsidiaries located in Poland and interviews with 68 employees of these companies.

Findings

The “bright side” dominated the interviewees’ accounts. The phenomenon of high social identity complexity or common in-group identity can help explain the findings. The results also shed some new light on the associations between the context of subsidiaries and the perception of the quality of intercultural interactions.

Research limitations/implications

The paper contributes to the literature on cultural diversity and intercultural interactions in multinational subsidiaries. As the “bright side” of interactions was emphasized in the interviews, it particularly supports positive cross-cultural scholarship studies. Yet the explorative research does not allow for a broader generalization of the results.

Practical implications

Managers of multinational corporations (MNCs) should do the following: shape the context of MNCs to influence the dynamics of intercultural interactions and the way they are seen by their employees; emphasize common in-group identity to help their employees to adopt more favorable attitudes toward intercultural interactions; look for individuals with multicultural identity who display more positive approaches to intercultural contacts; place emphasis on recruiting individuals fluent in the MNC’s functional language; offer language training for the staff; and recruit employees with significant needs for development who will perceive more opportunities in intercultural contacts.

Social implications

The research demonstrates that the multicultural workplace of MNCs may be recognized by employees as activating the positive potential of the individuals and organizations that make up a society.

Originality/value

The accounts of intercultural interactions are analyzed to illuminate some significant foundations of how individuals perceive such interactions. The study provides a qualitative lens and highlights the positive approach to intercultural interactions. It may redress the imbalance in prior research and satisfy the need for positive cross-cultural scholarship.

Perceived employability development of Western self-initiated expatriates in local organisations in China

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to reveal the subjective perspectives on the development process of perceived employability (PE) among Western self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) working for a local organisation in China.

Design/methodology/approach

– This empirical qualitative study is based on 23 in-depth interviews of Western SIEs, both repatriated and those who seek to continue their careers in local Chinese organisations in China.

Findings

– This study adds to the current understanding of PE development by highlighting how the long-term PE development of Western SIEs is not only impacted by the perceptions of lost and acquired resources, but also by the host-country cultural context, which contribute to the levels and development of PE as a personal resource.

Practical implications

– The findings of the study are highly relevant because today’s labour markets and the employability of skilled professionals are increasingly shaped by international career contexts. These are also emerging number of individuals who independently seek career opportunities in cross-cultural career and labour market settings. The findings also help explain why SIEs in cross-cultural career settings often express negative feelings when asked to review their assignments.

Originality/value

– This study is one of the first to explore the career trajectories of Western SIEs, and to address the dynamic aspect of PE from the perspectives of the conservation of resources theory and non-local employees in cross-cultural career settings.

Employer perceptions of self-initiated expatriate employability in China

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to offer an employer perceptive on the employability of self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) by contrasting SIEs with other identified staffing groups available for the staffing of MNC subsidiaries in China.

Design/methodology/approach

– This qualitative study is based on in-depth interviews with 24 Westerners with direct staffing responsibilities in subsidiaries of western MNCs located in China. The employability of each identified staffing group was assessed using the person-to-environment fit approach from four-fit perspectives (person-to-job and to-group, organisation and cultural context).

Findings

– The study revealed how from the employer perspective SIEs do not form a heterogeneous group, but instead there are two groups with different fit profiles. The study illustrates how western SIEs are an uncommon and under-used staffing group in cross-cultural staffing settings in China due to their low employability in comparison to alternative staffing groups. The study also revealed the prevalent bipolarity (the Westerners vs the Chinese) and heterogeneity within the identified staffing groups.

Research limitations/implications

– The study recognises the lack of employer perspective in SIE literature and also that SIEs are an under-represented group in the staffing literature.

Practical implications

– The findings help explain how MNC staffing is culturally bound and how the staffing process should incorporate more than just an assessment of job-related qualifications. The findings also help explain the challenges SIEs can experience in cross-cultural career settings.

Originality/value

– The study is one of the first to provide an employer perspective on SIE careers and contrast SIEs to the other alternative staffing groups available to MNC subsidiaries in China.