Expatriate Employees Research Articles

Role of intraorganizational social capital and perceived organizational support on expatriate job performance: empirical evidence

Purpose An expatriate is a person living outside their native country and is physically mobile across international borders for professional or personal reasons, whether for a short or long time, whether organizationally sponsored or not. In the competitive and globalized world, expatriation helps organizations to sustain international competition. Based on the social capital theory, performance theory and organizational support theory, this study aims to explore the impact of intraorganizational social capital (IOSC) and perceived organizational support (POS) on expatriate job performance (EJP) along with the intervening role of Islamic work ethics (IWE). Design/methodology/approach Data are collected from Expatriate employees working in UAE for at least three years among various knowledge-based industries. A total of 268 filled responses were received using the convenience sampling technique. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings The results indicate that POS and IOSC positively influence most EJP dimensions except demonstrating effect dimension and IWE acts as a partial mediator. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design, and the respondents are white color expatriates working in the knowledge-based industries across the United Arab Emirates. Various other business sectors, such as tourism, hospitality, manufacturing, oil and energy can be considered in the study context and longitudinal research designs can be adapted to generalize the findings. Research limitations/implications The study adopted a cross-sectional research design, and the respondents are white color expatriates working in the knowledge-based industries across the United Arab Emirates. Various other business sectors, such as tourism, hospitality, manufacturing, oil and energy, can be considered the study context and longitudinal research designs can be adopted to generalize the findings. Practical implications Human resource managers need to formulate their company policies so that a recruit is given orientation and training the existing workforce on the benefits of IWE, as it can be seen as developing employee morale and ethical behavior. Onboarding an expat from different regions is an expensive initiative for the organization. The organization should consider both tangible and intangible costs that go into the recruitment, selection and onboarding of an expat. Originality/value Very few studies have explored the role of IWE with a second-order EJP construct with the respondents from the knowledge-based industries of the UAE.

Impact of Cultural Diversity on Employee Performance

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of cultural diversity on job satisfaction and its effect on expatriate work performance. Structured interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data from a sample group of expatriates five participants from mixed nationalities in a private sector organization based in the United Arab Emirates. Thematic analysis identified three emergent themes of culture that negatively impacted expatriates' job satisfaction, causing reduced employee performance, and two themes were identified that increased expatriate performance at work (enhanced creativity and innovation). This research contributes to the body of academic knowledge about the effect of cultural diversity on expatriate employee performance. The value for praxis from this study are recommendations for managerial action to improve expatriate work performance.

Cross-cultural training and expatriate adjustment: an assessment of expatriates on assignment in African countries

PurposeThis study aims to contribute to the enrichment of the literature by examining the impact of cross-cultural training on expatriates’ adjustment of Nigerian bankers on expatriate assignments in other African countries.Design/methodology/approachData on cross-cultural adjustment from expatriate employees in five banks that collectively accounted for over 80 per cent of Nigerian banks with subsidiaries in other African were systematically selected for the investigation. This data was collected quantitatively via a survey instrument. Independent sample t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analysis were deployed in analyzing the data.FindingsThe study found that cross-cultural adjustment varied significantly across the different categories of gender, age, marital status, previous expatriate training, previous expatriate experience, and duration of expatriation. The study concludes that in order to attain higher levels of adjustment African banks and other organizations should provide a more comprehensive cross-cultural training program that mirrors the needs of employees following a detailed needs analysis. Also, the training must be sequential and not a one-off approach.Originality/valueThe literature though still nascent is largely focused on expatriate preparation and adjustment for expatriates moving from Western-to-western contexts and very little exists in the literature on how multinationals from Non-Western contexts like Africa prepare their staff for expatriation and its consequent impact on their adjustment. This study aims to enrich the literature by examining the impact of cross-cultural training on expatriates’ adjustment of Nigerian bankers on expatriate assignments in other African countries.

Employee Performance in Multinational Corporations: The Impact of Cross-Cultural Training in the Globalized Era

In today’s era of rapid globalization, cultural conflicts among employees can pose a significant challenge to the development of multinational corporations (MNCs). This paper examines the impact of cross-cultural training on employee performance in MNCs. The literature review emphasizes the growing significance of International Human Resource Management (IHRM) and the crucial role of employee behavior and attitudes in shaping job performance. The study hypothesizes that cross-cultural training enhances the cross-cultural adaptability of expatriate employees, thereby positively impacting their performance. The methodology section outlines the methods used in the study for sample selection, variable measurement, data collection, and statistical analysis. The discussion section discusses the strategic costs of cultural integration within organizations. It emphasizes the importance of cross-cultural training in promoting effective communication, mutual understanding, and productivity in multicultural work environments. The paper highlights the need for MNCs to adapt to different cultural environments and achieve success in global business operations by fostering cross-cultural communication and collaboration.

The Impact of Human Resource Management Quality on Work Life Quality through The Moderating Role of Organizational Justice: The Case Study of the Expatriate Employees

The Impact of Human Resource Management Quality on Work Life Quality through The Moderating Role of Organizational Justice: The Case Study of the Expatriate Employees

Factors Influencing Expatriate Employees’ Commitment to the Private Sector in Qatar

Factors Influencing Expatriate Employees’ Commitment to the Private Sector in Qatar

Bibliometric analysis of expatriates in the scope of human resource management

In the current era of globalization in the workplace, employees no longer labor solely within a single nation. Current employees are also able to work abroad, apply for positions abroad, and work for domestic companies with overseas locations. This era of globalization affords us the chance to observe cross-cultural diversity and the development and expansion of intercultural interaction, so that expatriate adjustments are very significant and management of cross-cultural employees presents significant challenges. Expatriates are employees brought in by companies from abroad to be employed in the company. Expatriate employees are required to adapt to local culture and be able to manage their stress. This study uses Bibliometric Analysis as a research method using the keyword Expatriate. This study aims to find out the literature review related to expatriates in the scope of Human Resource Management. There were 7,193 articles found obtained from Scopus, then the articles were selected so that 123 articles were used in this study. This study also uses the Vos Viewer application to categorize and visualize co-authorship, co-accuracy, and citation.

Selection of expatriate employees for international assignments: Importance of communication

Selection of expatriate employees for international assignments: Importance of communication

Cross-cultural adjustment and training on international expatriates' performance

Under the important trend of globalization, enterprises are relying heavily on their expatriate employees to operate in the international market and to remain competitive. As international expatriate management is widely recognized as a vital function for human resource management, this research thus examines the influence of personality traits and training on expatriates' cross-cultural adjustment and subsequent work performance. To increase the reliability and validity of survey data collected, we employ multi-source observations from a multinational sample of 150 expatriates stationed in Taiwan and matched pairs of their work colleagues to examine the prediction of expatriates' performance. Efforts are made to avoid possible self-reported bias and to eliminate the social expectation effect via triangulation of the questionnaires. Results of structural equations models show that personality traits influence cross-cultural adjustment, and that cross-cultural adjustment positively impacts expatriates' subsequent work performance. This research further confirms the mediating effect of cross-cultural adjustment on the relationship between personality traits and expatriates' work performance. Nevertheless, training does not influence cross-cultural adjustment and work performance. One recommendation is that training given to expatriates should be improved through international human resource management.

Male trailing spouses in the United Arab Emirates: adding novel insight to the prevailing expatriate spouse adjustment frameworks

The number of female expatriates with male trailing partners has been increasing in recent years and it is likely that this trend will continue in the future. The present study attempts to comprehend the challenges in the adjustment process of Western male spouses during their time in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Instead of merely problematising this as an impediment to be managed, this study also contends that spouses are in fact partners who stand to gain as much as from the expatriation process as the expatriate employees themselves. Extending beyond the conventionally studied trailing female spouses, this paper considers Western male spouses of female expatriates working in the UAE where the domestic conditions are very different from those in China and the USA, countries have been the focus of most past research attention. This issue will pose a significant challenge for multinational corporations in the coming decade and failure to address this challenge could jeopardise their expansion endeavours in the countries like the UAE.

Voicing perceptions of local job seekers and employees toward workforce nationalization and employment

PurposeThis study explores local Qatari job seekers' and employees' perceptions of the workforce nationalization strategy to address an inadequacy in the workforce nationalization literature in Gulf Cooperation Council countries. It also unpacks the factors that attract or discourage local job seekers and employees when considering a new job.Design/methodology/approachData were collected through in-depth interviews with 28 local job seekers who were either currently unemployed or employed and seeking another job at the time of the interviews.FindingsThe data revealed that nationals perceive Qatarization as a means to replace expatriate employees with nationals, particularly in the public sector and leadership positions. This misinterpretation of the strategy leads to complications, such as the waithood phenomenon and a sense of entitlement for guaranteed employment. The findings also provide insights into nationals' attitudes toward employment, including job attraction and discouraging factors.Research limitations/implicationsThe results provide policymakers with insights into the misinterpretation surrounding nationals' perceptions of workforce nationalization and remedies for better implementation of the strategy.Originality/valueThe study addresses two clear gaps in the workforce nationalization literature: (1) examining how nationals perceive the workforce nationalization strategy and (2) unpacking the factors that make employment attractive or unfavorable for nationals.

Cultural Differences in Communication and Leadership – A Comparison of Finland, Indonesia and USA

For expatriate employees to adapt to different cultures, it is important to understand cultural differences and how these differences affect leadership processes in different countries. Communication plays a significant role in the implementation of leadership in different cultures. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the effects of culture and interactions with various leadership and communication attributes. Our study was based on three countries: Finland, Indonesia and United States. The sample consisted of 162 respondents from the three countries. Transformational leadership and coaching were measured using a survey instrument with six dimensions. Communication was measured with six dimensions that included emotional intelligence, clear dialog, insecure, impatient, dominating and avoiding. SPSS Statistics 28.0 and Hayes PROCESS macro were used to test the moderating effect of communication style on the relationship between culture and transformational leadership. Results indicated several statistically significant results between countries in both communication and leadership styles. Our findings indicate that cultural factors impact leadership and communication.

Analysis the Impact of Various Factors Affecting Mental Agony of Indian Expatriate Employees at Muscat in Sultanate of Oman

Several factors build mental agony for the Indian expatriate workers at Muscat in Oman. The researcher collected data from 120 respondents. All the respondents are working in various companies with their diverse designations. The researcher framed informal questionaries’ and asked them to the 120 respondents on various dates from 17/07/2021 to 27/01/2022. All the respondents are male employees aged about 22 to 55 years having Graduations in Engineering, Diploma in Engineering and Technical Training Certificates, Degree in graduations. The researcher collected the data meeting the respondents informally / incidentally at various premises in Muscat, Oman. The seven hypotheses are framed. The researcher finds that all the 07 factors do not give the mental agony equally to the respondents. The quality of the food, Family member response and Colleagues attitude give more mental agony to Indian expatriate rather than other factors. Hence, the employer must deputize a committee/ employee welfare officer to solve the mental agony.

Design Parameters of Cross-Cultural Training (CCT) Programs in Information Technology (IT) Organizations

Objective: To identify key dimensions that are to be considered while designing Cross Cultural Training (CCT). Methods : The data is collected from 421 expatriate employees in the selected IT organizations (Engineers /Managers/ Team Leaders) using an instrument consisting 45 items of nine drivers. The current study adopted Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), followed by 2nd order CFA to reveal various input components of training programme that leads to the success of the expatriate training programme. Findings: The factors influencing expatriate training were identified as: Adjustment (AD) factor, Culture factor (CU) and Method (ME) factors which are predominately to be considered for the design of CCT. Novelty: The factors to be considered while designing the CCT has been identified a prior rather finding the effect of such factors during post training evaluation. The results are more authenticated and help IHRM professionals to design CCT which lead to success of expat’s overseas assignment. Keywords: IHRM, Cross Cultural Training (CCT), Adjustment (AD) factor, Culture factor (CU), Method (ME) factors 1

Mediating-moderating effect of employee creativity and team potency on expatriate innovative work behaviour

PurposeThis study aims to investigate how learning goal orientation (LGO), participative decision-making (PDM) and leadership member exchange (LMX) influence innovative work behaviour (IWB) through expatriate employee creativity (EC). This research study further contributes to the extant literature by investigating team potency’s (TP) potential interaction effect on the expatriate EC–IWB relationship.Design/methodology/approachData were gathered via survey from 175 expatriate employees in non-managerial positions in the United Arab Emirates. Partial least square structural equation modelling was used for analysing the collected data.FindingsThe statistical results show that PDM, LGO and LMX have a direct positive impact on IWB. The statistical findings also reveal that EC mediates the LGO and IWB relationship. Furthermore, TP has a significant positive moderating effect on the EC and IWB relationship.Originality/valueThis work adds to the literature in the field on innovation work behaviour and its antecedents by analysing data within the expatriate employee context, where empirical examinations are limited.

The Effect of the Changing Diversity Climate After Covid-19 on Employees’ Behaviour in Omani Companies

Diversity Climate refers to employees' perceptions of the organization's diversity policies, and practices. The economic downturn in Oman has impacted the diversity climate in the workplace, and it is constantly changing as a result of the pandemic across industries, causing havoc on the workforce, especially the 1.75 million expatriate workforces across industries. This study has been conducted with the three key objectives: 1. To investigate the employees' perception on Diversity Climate of the organizations. 2. To compare the perception of citizens and expatriate employees on Diversity Climate and 3. To find the changes in diversity practices of organizations in Oman after Covid- 19. The research was carried out in Muscat, and data obtained from 117 workers (both citizens and expatriates) who work in different companies at various levels/ positions. with the aim of getting a deeper understanding of how the diversity climate has changed since Covid-19 from the employees' perspective. Finally, the researchers suggested some solutions and discussed the study's novelty as well as the potential scope for future research.

Cross Cultural and Strategic Management: a retrospective overview using bibliometric analysis

PurposeCross Cultural and Strategic Management (CCSM) began publication in 1994 and completed its 27th year in 2020. The purpose of this study is to provide a bibliometric analysis of CCSM during the period between 1994 and 2020.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses a variety of bibliometric tools including performance analysis, authorship analysis, bibliographic coupling, keyword co-occurrence and regression analysis to present the retrospect of CCSM.FindingsCCSM's publication and citations continue to enjoy consistent growth throughout the years. While most contributions originate in the United States, the diversity of both research and the researchers themselves continues to grow. Over the period, the emphasis has been on quantitative research design. Archival data have been the most preferred data source, and content analysis the most used data analysis method, although its use has somewhat declined over the years. Major recurring themes in the journal include cultural barriers, concept of culture, national culture, culture and organizational practices, and expatriate employees. Important drivers of citations are also identified.Research limitations/implicationsThe study’s contributions are twofold. First, the authors’ comprehensive bibliometric analysis of published research in CCSM helps uncover its underlying intellectual structure and the evolution of its research themes over time. Awareness of these patterns and major themes should help future CCSM scholars to better situate their studies within the extant body of knowledge. Second, the authors’ analysis should also aid in shaping future editorial strategies for CCSM as it continues to compete with other similar journals in the fields of international business, international management and strategy.Originality/valueCCSM earned its reputation for quality, and as a result is currently one of the leading journals in its field. Therefore, by closely examining its underlying knowledge structure, the authors provide a more complete understanding of the intellectual progress made to date in CCSM, while also shedding light on its future.

The double-edged sword of ethnic similarity for expatriates

Identifying employees to represent headquarters (HQ) effectively in overseas units is a management challenge faced by all multinational corporations (MNCs). To date, management of this type of expatriate employees has accorded a central role to culture, such as understanding cultural differences, facilitating cultural adaptation and adjustment, and cultivating cultural intelligence. Although culture is a critical factor in ex-plaining expatriates’ experiences, identity offers an alternative angle to reveal the challenges that occur when expatriates interact with host country employees. In this article, we introduce ethnically similar expatriates – a sub-category of expatriates who share an ethnicity with host country employees – to showcase the role of identity, especially the interpersonal dynamics associated with ethnic similarity.

The influence of organizational justice and decision latitude on expatriate organizational commitment and job performance

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study the influence of organizational justice and decision latitude on expatriate organization commitment and job performance.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 175 nonmanagerial-level expatriate employees in Dubai, UAE using a purposive sampling approach. A structural equation model with partial least squared analysis was utilized to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that decision latitude partially mediates the relationship between organization justice and organizational commitment and fully mediates the relationship between organization justice and job performance.Research limitations/implicationsData were collected from a cross sectional sample in UAE, and hence, the generalizability of the results to other contexts may be limited.Practical implicationsThe research study suggests ways in which human resource managers and practitioners can develop a stronger awareness of the importance of decision latitude in employee decision-making and the role it plays in promoting employees' commitment and job performance given perceived organizational justice.Originality/valueThe present research is among the first of its kind to examine the study variables within the nonmanagerial expatriate context.

Internal Personnel Marketing: A Means of Attracting and Stabilizing Expatriates in an International Company

It is not only the coronavirus crisis that has caused shortages on the labour market. The lack of workers has affected the Czech market across industries. Companies in the Czech Republic were already struggling with labour shortages before Covid-19. Companies are looking abroad for the employees they need, and are forced to use innovative approaches to attract them. The paper presents the results of quantitative research among expatriates conducted at one of the SKODA AUTO's plants that is a pillar of the Czech automotive industry. The aim of the research was to identify the degree of application of internal personnel marketing through a questionnaire survey. It further investigated why expatriate employees chose SKODA AUTO as their employer, what the source of information about a particular job there is, whether they perceive cultural differences in the workplace that may influence them, and other. Based on the research findings, the paper formulates recommendations, in theform of the 4Ps in personnel marketing, leading to the attraction and stabilization of foreign employees.