What locals want: Jordanian employees' views on expatriate managers

Jawad Syed,Nour George Hazboun,Peter A Murray

doi:10.1080/09585192.2013.812975

Jawad Syed, Nour George Hazboun + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2013.812975

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Abstract

This paper sheds light on the expatriate–local relationship based on local employees' perspectives of expatriate managers. Drawing on a survey of local employees working in three Western multinational banks in Jordan, the study explores local employees' views on expatriate managers and their performance. The study reveals that local employees are generally indifferent to their manager's nationality as long as the manager has the capability to drive the subsidiary forward. However, one key concern of locals is the ability of expatriates to adapt to the local culture and business environment. The study also points towards a significant gap between the formal rationale for expatriation by multinational companies and what local employees perceive as real reasons behind expatriation.

Highlights

Multinational companies (MNCs) are considered to be chief transmitters of innovation in management practices around the globe (Lipparinia and Fratocchi 1999; Bonache and Zarraga-Oberty 2008; Mellahi, Demirbag and Riddle 2011)
The findings of this study highlight clear differences between formal justifications by the MNCs and what the local employees perceive as actual reasons for the use of expatriate managers
There is a clear theoretical implication that managerial capability and cross-cultural competence are what matters to enhance trust and improve organisational performance. This view is consistent with previous research that to be effective in a foreign culture, expatriate managers must understand both the origin of their own behaviour and the congruence of their behaviour with that of individuals who are from the foreign culture (Black, Mendenhall and Oddou 1991)

Summary

Introduction

Multinational companies (MNCs) are considered to be chief transmitters of innovation in management practices around the globe (Lipparinia and Fratocchi 1999; Bonache and Zarraga-Oberty 2008; Mellahi, Demirbag and Riddle 2011). With the enhancement of technology and communication, host-country nationals are well equipped with the knowledge and experience needed to manage new subsidiaries of MNCs (Wong and Law 1999; Toh and DeNisi 2003) It is, a fact that human resource (HR) practices in MNCs do not always focus on or realise local employees’ skill, knowledge and abilities. A fact that human resource (HR) practices in MNCs do not always focus on or realise local employees’ skill, knowledge and abilities This underestimation or underutilisation of local staff and the associated unfair treatment may result in lower rates of employee satisfaction, commitment and performance. This dissatisfaction may in turn hinder expatriates’ ability to adjust to their new work, leading to higher rates of expatriate failure (Toh and DeNisi 2005)

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