Expatriate Assignments Research Articles

The international business traveller: a neglected but strategic human resource

There has been considerable research over the past two decades into the various aspects of traditional expatriate assignments. However, this research has overlooked an important category of international operator: the international business traveller, also known popularly as globetrotter or frequent flier. In this paper, we report on the results of a study of ten Australian and Danish international business travellers (IBTs). The aim was to explore the roles and activities of IBTs and the factors, such as level of organizational support that may intervene in the performance of their roles. We conclude that IBTs often are a neglected resource, particularly in terms of skills and knowledge transfer.

Combining fuzzy AHP with MDS in identifying the preference similarity of alternatives

Multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis is a dimension-reduction technique that is used to estimate the coordinates of a set of objects. However, not every criterion used in multidimensional scaling is equally and precisely weighted in the real world. To address this issue, we use fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) to determine the weighting of subjective/perceptive judgments for each criterion and to derive fuzzy synthetic utility values of alternatives in a fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making (FMCDM) environment. Furthermore, we combine FAHP with MDS to identify the similarities and preferences of alternatives in terms of the axes of the space, which represent the perceived attributes and characteristics of those alternatives. By doing so, the visual dimensionality and configuration or pattern of alternatives whose weighted distance structure best fits the input data can be obtained and explained easily. A real case of expatriate assignment decision-making was used to demonstrate that the combination of FAHP and MDS results in a meaningful visual map.

Managing travel risk: A duty of care toolkit

This paper discusses the security, safety and health risks inherent in business travel and expatriate assignment in the current global environment. It explores the corporation's responsibility to mitigate these risks, presents strategies to do so, and highlights the consequences of failing in this regard. Two case studies of the impact of such oversight are presented. The reader should take away from this paper an appreciation of the gravity of travel risk, an understanding of corporate responsibility for its mitigation, and a basic strategy for developing and implementing risk mitigation plans.

The Role of Cross-Cultural Awareness in Expatriate Assignment Success

The Role of Cross-Cultural Awareness in Expatriate Assignment Success

What you do depends on where you are: understanding how domestic and expatriate work requirements depend upon the cultural context

To empirically address the importance of the cultural context for successful assignments, we conducted two studies using a large sample of public-sector US professionals working in comparable jobs in 156 different countries. The results provided direct evidence that social and perceptual skill, reasoning ability, and adjustment- and achievement-orientation personality requirements are higher in expatriate assignments, which has implications for pre-departure selection. Also, the results partly supported the hypothesis that expatriates are required to adjust their behavior to be consistent with the local cultural values, which has implications for post-arrival behavioral training.

Expatriate Preparation: A Critical Analysis of 25 Years of Cross-Cultural Training Research

Although much research in the 1960s and 1970s was devoted to cross-cultural issues such as expatriate employment, researchers moved away from doing cross-cultural research in order to direct their efforts toward the hot topics of the time. However, the past few decades have seen an exponential increase in the globalization of our economy, and this ever-increasing globalization has made the need for cross-cultural research salient once again. In the past decade alone, there has been an explosion of research examining the components and effectiveness of cross-cultural training (CCT) for expatriate preparation. Thus, the ultimate purpose of this literature review is to present the past 25 years of CCT research relevant to expatriate preparation by examining the following: the need for CCT research, the deficiencies in past research, typical training components, training delivery, theory pertaining to CCT, potential moderators of the relationship between CCT and expatriate performance, the effectiveness of CCT in enhancing expatriate performance, suggestions for future research, and strategies for improving CCT implementation and research. After reviewing the past 25 years of CCT research, it is evident that CCT is effective in facilitating success on expatriate assignments. However, additional empirical research is needed on moderators, expatriate selection, training program supplements, theoretical frameworks, methodological challenges, and the customization of CCT to assignment objectives.

A Cross-Cultural Examination of the Endorsement of Ethical Leadership

The western-based leadership and ethics literatures were reviewed to identify the key characteristics that conceptually define what it means to be an ethical leader. Data from the Global Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness (GLOBE) project were then used to analyze the degree to which four aspects of ethical leadership – Character/Integrity, Altruism, Collective Motivation, and Encouragement – were endorsed as important for effective leadership across cultures. First, using multi-group confirmatory factor analyses measurement equivalence of the ethical leadership scales was found, which provides indication that the four dimensions have similar meaning across cultures. Then, using analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests each of the four dimensions were found to be universally endorsed as important for effective leadership. However, cultures also varied significantly in the degree of endorsement for each dimension. In the increasingly global business environment, these findings have implications for organizations implementing ethics programs across cultures and preparing leaders for expatriate assignments.

Tracking bias against the selection of female expatriates: Implications and opportunities for business education

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate early formation and presence of an unfounded bias against female expatriate selection. Overall results found that freshmen exhibited less bias against female expatriate assignment viability than MBA students, and females were less biased than males. However, freshman males exhibited greater bias against females in expatriate assignments than did freshman females, and they did not differ significantly in their perceptions from their male MBA counterparts. Our results suggest that the unfounded bias against female expatriate selection can exist very early, particularly among male students, presenting an important educational challenge and opportunity for business educators. Recommendations are made for improving business education to counter bias formation and dispel negative stereotypes. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Implications of Short-term International Assignments

Increasingly, multinational companies, faced with cost issues and rising staff immobility, are substituting or complementing traditional expatriate assignments with other types of international assignments. These so-called non-standard international assignments include: short-term, commuter, rotational, contractual and virtual assignments. The most popular form of non-standard assignments continues to be the short-term assignment. However, this important organizational activity has received limited attention compared to the burgeoning literature on traditional expatriate assignments. In this paper, we use data from an exploratory study of 11 large Finnish multinationals to explore aspects relating to short-term international assignments. While there are similarities to traditional long-term assignments, the differences pose special HR challenges.

Global mentoring as a means of career development and knowledge creation

PurposeThis article aims to examine the process of mentoring and career development within the global arena. Although much has been written on the adjustment of expatriates, relatively little research has examined the exchange of information and knowledge among workers in different countries via the mentoring process.Design/methodology/approachA model is offered of how an expatriate progresses through learning cycles aided by multiple mentors. Multiple mentoring contributes to the individual's career development and facilitates the development of organizational tacit and embedded knowledge.FindingsUsing Hall and Chandler's conceptualization of multiple learning cycles over the life span, it is proposed that the expatriate cycles through a learning cycle over the course of an extended assignment. These learning cycles are shorter than the traditional career stages, often lasting two to four years – similar to the length of an expatriate assignment. It is suggested that the stages of an expatriate assignment – predeparture, on‐site and repatriation – represent a learning cycle. A successful expatriate experience is more likely to occur if multiple mentors in various locations are available – as needed – to offer information and career support to the expatriate.Originality/valueWith increasing globalization and rapid technological advances, mentoring relationships that cross national and other types of boundaries have increased, yet theory has not kept pace. A framework is provided for the further examination of expatriate careers and how mentoring can increase career outcomes and knowledge transfer.

Value orientations: a case study of north Indian manufacturing managers

PurposeIt is argued that ethical ideology espoused by an individual provides the framework within which individuals contemplate the issues and determine the right way to behave. This paper aims to report the findings of a study designed to examine the ethical orientations of managers.Design/methodology/approachThis study was conducted on a sample of 175 managers and was drawn from 12 large manufacturing organizations in the state of Punjab, India, using Forsyth's ethics position questionnaire.FindingsIt was found that the large majority of managers were situationists and only a small percentage were absolutists.Research limitations/implicationsThe sample in this study is restricted to large manufacturing enterprises only and reports espoused values only.Practical implicationsAn understanding of the value orientations of managers is valuable for business representatives from other cultural contexts when working with their Indian counterparts. It is also a useful input in establishing organisational strategies for management development and training for expatriate assignments and leadership roles.Originality/valueThe author is of the belief that, at the present time, this is the largest study of personal ethical orientations of practising managers in the manufacturing sector in Punjab, India. It adds to the work done by various researchers into ethical beliefs and values of managers in various cultural contexts.

FUZZY MCDM APPROACH FOR EVALUATION OF EXPATRIATE ASSIGNMENTS

As international corporate activities increase, the staffing of their operations involves more strategic concerns. However, foreign assignments have many differences, and dissatisfaction with host country is a known cause of expatriate failure. This study distinguishes from previous studies, which focused on the expatriate selection process from the viewpoint of the human resource managers. From the view of expatriate candidate's points, this paper describes a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (fuzzy AHP) to determine the weighting of subjective judgments. When the expatriate assignments are evaluated from various aspects, such as employee personal factors, employee competencies, job characteristics, family factors, environmental factors and organization relocation support activities, it can be regarded as an fuzzy multiple criteria decision making (FMCDM) problem. Since expatriate candidates cannot clearly estimate the relative importance of each considered criterion in terms of numerical values, fuzziness is applicable. Consequently, this paper uses triangular fuzzy numbers by fuzzy AHP to establish weights for expatriate candidates, thus determining the relative importance for criteria of expatriate assignments. From the insights of this study, this article addresses this expatriate problem and offers guidelines for managers concerned with a successful expatriate assignment program.

REALISTIC EXPATRIATE ASSIGNMENT PREVIEW: A POTENTIAL SOLUTION TO EXPATRIATE PREMATURE RETURN

Multinational enterprises (MNEs) have been troubled with the problem of expatriate premature return. This paper suggests addressing this problem by conducting realistic expatriate assignment previews (REAPs) for expatriate candidates. A model is proposed to explain the mechanism between REAPs and expatriates' intention to prematurely return from an assignment. Specifically, providing REAPs to expatriate candidates may reduce expatriates' early return intention and ultimately reduce the chance of expatriate premature return through the self‐selection effect, the role clarity effect, the adjustment of expectations effect, the worry effect, the freedom of choice effect, and the organizational honesty effect. This model also proposes that expatriate candidates' prior expatriate experience moderates the effect of self‐selection, role clarity, adjustment of expectations, and worry.

Knowledge transfer and expatriation in multinational corporations

Research on multinational corporation (MNC) knowledge transfer has argued continuously for the behavior of knowledge senders to be a determinant of knowledge transfer. Although the importance of disseminative capacity regarding knowledge transfer has been illustrated in numerous conceptual studies, substantial empirical support is largely absent. Based on previous studies, re‐operationalizes disseminative capacity as being dependent upon the ability and the willingness of organizational actors to transfer knowledge where and when it is needed in the organization. Using the context of expatriation, suggests that MNCs may apply different mechanisms depending on whether they want to develop expatriates' ability or willingness to transfer knowledge. Suggests that MNCs may enhance expatriates' willingness to transfer knowledge through the employment of long‐term expatriate assignments, whereas expatriates' ability to transfer knowledge may be increased through their involvement in temporary assignments such as short‐term assignments, frequent flyer arrangements, and international commuting. Tests the hypotheses empirically based on data from 92 subsidiaries of Danish MNCs located in 11 countries.

Combining grey relation and TOPSIS concepts for selecting an expatriate host country

As international corporate activities increase, their staffing involves more strategic concerns. However, foreign assignments have many differences, and dissatisfaction with the host country is a known cause of expatriate failure. From the point of view of an expatriate candidate, the decision of whether to take an expatriate assignment can be regarded as a FMCDM (fuzzy multiple criteria decision making) problem. This paper describes a fuzzy AHP (fuzzy analytic hierarchy process) to determine the weighting of subjective judgments. Using the Sugeno integral for λ-fuzzy measure, and using the nonadditive fuzzy integral technique to evaluate the synthetic utility values of the alternatives and the fuzzy weights, then the best host country alternative can be derived with the grey relation model. The authors further combine the grey relation model based on the concepts of TOPSIS (technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution) to evaluate and select the best alternative. A real case of expatriate assignment decision-making was used to demonstrate that the grey relation model combined with the ideas of TOPSIS results in a satisfactory and effective evaluation.

Flexpatriate assignments: a neglected issue in global staffing

The demands of managing international assignments are major considerations within strategic IHRM theory and most frequently considered within long-term employment choices between parent-country expatriates or host-country nationals. Yet recent studies from the Centre for Research into the Management of Expatriation (CReME) (Harris, 1999; Petrovic, 2000) have highlighted the frequency of alternative types of international assignment, which they classify as ‘short-term’, ‘commuter’ and ‘frequent flyer’ assignments, which are now a regular part of global business life. This paper reports on a case study of one Austrian multinational organization and highlights management issues in terms of incidence, purpose, management and personal impact for assignments involving frequent travel without relocation (flexible expatriation) compared with traditional expatriate assignments. It begins by reviewing the emphasis on expatriate assignment before presenting evidence regarding the extent of alternative forms of international assignment. The research method and background to the study are then discussed before the findings are presented and discussed.

Self-rated health in a population of expatriate workers and partners in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Anthropological theory suggests that expatriate workers progress through a sequence of adaptive stages during their adjustment to a new environment. The psychological and physiological effects of this adaptation process may be reflected in changes in self-rated general health. To explore the relationship between self-rated general health, duration of expatriate assignment and two health-related behaviours: physical exercise and cigarette smoking. A self-administered questionnaire recorded the demographics, self-rated general health, exercise and smoking behaviours of the adult non-Saudi residents of an expatriate compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The mean self-rated general health of the study group was better than comparable UK and New Zealand population norms. Self-rated general health was not associated with duration of assignment, but was associated with physical exercise, including a dose-response effect. Middle Eastern expatriates had lower self-rated health scores and a higher prevalence of cigarette smoking than other expatriates. While the sampling frame limits generalization, physical exercise may promote expatriates' general health. Middle Eastern expatriates may be a target group for smoking health education.

The negative effects of being a ‘late’ newcomer during an expatriation assignment

In some situations, expatriate managers and their families are encapsulated in expatriate enclaves for safety and social reasons. This type of living arrangement is frequently seen in the Middle East and other locations where safety for family members are of a high level of concern. Even in situations without strict compound-like arrangements, enclaves of expatriates are formed with their own group characteristics. It is anticipated that as MNCs focus on transition economies and emerging market countries, these enclaves and the adjustment of an expatriate to not only the cultural disparities but to these established groups will have an impact on expatriate success. This paper addresses the issues associated with being a ‘late newcomer’ to one of these self-contained compounds and the difficulties of becoming integrated into the social systems established in these enclaves. The appropriate type/level of social and organizational support is also examined.

The development of political skill and political capital by global leaders through global assignments

The purpose of this paper is to explain how developing global leaders through global assignments (i.e. in the form of expatriation and inpatriation) may lead to their acquisition of valuable political skill and political capital. First, using the theoretical frame of political influence theory, the benefit of political skill is explained relative to the development and augmentation of global leaders' capital portfolio during global assignments. Second, a distinction between social capital and political capital, as the integral components of global leader's capital portfolio, is made. In conclusion, the value of acquiring political skill and building human, cultural, social and political capital by global leaders is discussed separately for expatriate and inpatriate assignments.

Staffing architecture for expatriate assignments to support subsidiary cooperation

AbstractThe purpose of this article is to develop a theory‐based explanation of expatriate staffing system (architecture) supporting subsidiary cooperation in multinational organizations. First, an overview of the factors driving the need for this system to provide a rationale for the use of role theory in the development of four specific expatriate role categories in different assignments is presented. Second, we examine how the associated issues of expatriate dependability and competence are related to this categorization. Third, we outline how the design of appropriate expatriate staffing architecture can help resolve specific conflicting issues in subsidiary cooperation. In conclusion, we discuss specific implications of the proposed framework. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.