Just Locker Room Talk? Individual and Institutional Work Place Gender Discrimination of Expatriates

Abstract

Gender discrimination has received only limited attention in research on expatriates insofar that country-effects were mostly neglected. Our study, based on status construction theory, argues that institutional discrimination in host countries does affect the individual gender discrimination of expatriates via macro-micro processes. Based on empirical research surveying 160 expatriates in Asian and African countries, we find that work place gender discrimination is indeed higher, when the institutional discrimination (i.e. a lower status of women over men) in the country is higher. Moreover, we show that work place gender discrimination decreases job satisfaction directly and indirectly via an increased level of frustration.