Host country culture and language identification, and their workplace manifestations: A study on corporate expatriates in China and Japan

Abstract

Although multiculturalism has drawn increasing attention in international business research, relatively little is known about multiculturalism beyond individuals who have immigrated to a new host country. This study uses interviews with 79 assigned expatriates in two host countries – China and Japan – to develop a cultural and language identification-based typology of monocultural, cosmopolitan, integrated bicultural, and conflicting bicultural expatriates. We also use the interview findings to demonstrate the workplace manifestations of each expatriate type. This study contributes by deepening research on multicultural employees in situ, moving beyond the assumption of monocultural identification in expatriate research, and discussing workplace manifestations of both culture and language identification.