Sumeyra Alpaslan Danisman and Rana Ozen KutanisLocal factors on global people: The effects of cultural differences and similarities on South Korean expatriate managers’ relationships with their home and host countries

Abstract

The increasing globalization of firms has given rise to an increase in the number of international assignments of human resources. The effect of cultural factors on the relationships of expatriate managers with the cultures of their home and host countries will be explored in this paper. The subjects of this study are the relationships of South Korean expatriate managers with their home and host countries who are assigned to work in Turkey and the USA. The analysis uses the matrix, which was proposed by Black and Gregersen in 1992 and modified by Richardson and McKenna in 2006. The research participants were reached by the trace method and data analyses were done by QSR Nvivo software with thematic analyses. The results indicate that the relationship of participants with their home country depends strongly on the cultural similarities and differences between their home and host countries. The profiles of the participating expatriate managers were located in “hearts at home” and “dual citizens” and no participants were found in the “go native” and “free agents” typologies. As a result, the South Korean managers who live in Turkey and the USA have a very strong relationship with their home country and their relationship with host countries change on the basis of cultural similarities and differences. Key words: Expatriate managers, Black and Gregersen’ matrix, cultural differences and similarities.