Kulturschock in Deutschland? — Zeitlicher Verlauf und Leistungseffekte der kulturellen Anpassung asiatischer Führungskräfte in Deutschland

Abstract

The problem of cultural incompatibility between international firms’ expatriates and the foreign host country and its consequences for the working performance has been discussed intensively in the literature. Although a number of studies have been conducted on Western expatriates in Asia, studies on Asian expatriates located in European countries are rather rare. In this contribution determinants of expatriates’ adjustment to host country culture are analyzed by a survey of Asian expatriates in Germany. According to the concept of Black/Stephens and its modifications introduced by Selmer several dimensions of adjustment have been differentiated. For three of these four dimensions no U-curve development — as implied in theory — can be discovered. The performance of Asian expatriates in Germany seems to be influenced mainly by their work adjustment which tends to improve with time spent working in the host country.