The Socialization of Expatriate Managers in Multinational Firms

Abstract

The use of home country nationals is restricted in international operations partly because of differing attitudes in the host country. This study employed the concept of socialization to predict that expatriates partially adopt host country attitudes. Results support the socialization predictions and suggest the needforfurther examination of actual expatriate performance. A continuing problem in firms operating across international borders is determination of the preferred nationality mix of executives in foreign subsidiaries. The problem has at least four dimensions. The cost of staffing with parent country or third country nationals usually is different and frequently higher than staffing with nationals of the host country; political and motivational considerations also may dictate use of the maximum number of host country nationals; host country nationals best understand the ways of their country and may be able to function more effectively in that environment. Contrariwise, the firm's interests in rotational training of managers and in centralized control work against the use of host country nationals (Newman, Bhatt, & Gutteridge, 1976; Ziera & Harari, 1977). Consistent with the analysis above, Tung's (1979) review of the personnel policies of 80 American firms operating overseas found that cultural familiarity, public relations, and cost constituted the key reasons for staffing with nationals of the host country, and expertise was cited as the major force behind the use of parent country nationals. Only four of the firms in her study examined the actual "relational" skills of a manager-the ability of the manager to understand and operate in another culture-prior to overseas assignment, despite the potential usefulness of these skills in helping an American expatriate cope with the business and social environment of a foreign operation (Hays, 1974; Miller, 1972). Not surprisingly, lack of those abilities was a key reason for later failure of expatriate managers in the firms that Tung sampled.