An Exploratory Study on Expatriates’ International Boundary Spanning Behaviors in Foreign Subsidiaries of Korean Firms

Abstract

Drawing on the social network perspective, this paper suggests that an expatriate’s international boundary spanning behavior overcomes constraints stemming fromcultural differences and boundaries. Moreover, such international boundary spanning behavior not only serves to establish an integrated network of cooperation and coordination between headquarters and its overseas subsidiaries, but is also tertius iungensoriented towards pursuing the mutual interests of both parties. This paper seeks to add to previous research by investigating the components of international boundary spanning behavior. We used in-depth interviews with 12 expatriates of Korean subsidiaries in China and analyzed themusing the ground theory approach. According to our analysis, tertius iungens-oriented boundary spanning behaviors can be classified into five components: HQ representative behavior, subsidiary representative behavior, task coordination behavior, HQ knowledge transfer behavior, and subsidiary knowledge transfer behavior. By examining the effects of the international boundary spanning behaviors of expatriates, this paper contributes to international business literature and boundary spanning literature by posing additional issues and challenges for future research.