Embracing human diversityis not the strongest side of human nature. Plenty of social psychology concepts and research indicate how we tend to prefer people who are like us, form relationships with people who are alike rather than different, and categorize people similar to us into an ‘in-group’ and dissimilar people into an ‘out-group’. Evolutionary psychologists […]
Latest Research: Effective Personality Traits of Expats
One of the traditional and still common purposes of expatriation is managing a foreign subsidiary, hence, traditional expatriate roles are to be found in senior executive levels and senior management teams. Given the responsibilities attached to these positions, and the costs of expatriation for the organization, the importance of success for such international assignments can […]
Corporate Philanthropy in the Aftermath of Natural Disaster: The Latest Research
The past few months have been like an endless series of natural disasters. First, there were the devastating floods in South Asia during the summer. Then, starting at the end of August, the U.S. got hit by hurricanes: Hurricane Harvey in Houston and Hurricane Irma in Florida. Simultaneously, Hurricane Katia battered Mexico, which in early […]
Latest Research: ‘Navigating between Home, Host, and Global Identities’
Business activities today regularly reach across cultural boundaries, and collaborative work with people of different cultural backgrounds becomes an everyday normality. Alongside the increasing exposure to culturally pluralistic settings, the question of cultural identities and the process of acculturation also receives more and more attention. In fact, we increasingly see cases of people holding multiple […]
The Culturally Humble Expat
International assignments are costly, which is why both researchers and practitioners are in constant search for the right formula of successful expatriation. Given that international assignments are meant to be ‘bridging the gaps’, be it in terms of knowledge sharing or the transfer of other resources, good relationships and cooperation between expats and locals seem […]
Latest Research: Expats and Ethnic Identity Congruence
Let’s say you are a multinational corporation with headquarters in Canada and plan to send an expatriate to your subsidiary in China. Who would you most likely send, a French Canadian manager, or an ethnic Chinese manager? I suspect you would pick the latter as we quite naturally assume that expatriates, who share similarities with […]
Latest Research: The Role of Global Leadership
The most recent DHL Global Connectedness Index, analyzing the state of globalization around the world, suggests that we don’t quite live in a ‘flat’ world. Indeed, in spite of visible global interconnectedness, the actual numbers related to international flows of products and services, capital, information, and people, show that globalization is much more limited than […]
Benefits of Telecommuting: Recent Research
When speaking of progressive workplace policies, telecommuting is definitely one to mention. The term ‘telecommuting’ refers to employees using modern technologies to work outside their office, let it be their home or any other location, either regularly or from time to time. As described in one of my earlier blog posts, telecommuting is a trend […]
The Many Benefits of a Shared Language in Multinationals
Knowledge sharing is a critical activity when it comes to multinational enterprises (MNEs) and doing business across borders. In my previous blog posts I have already touched upon the importance of global employees as ‘linking pins’ between headquarters (HQ) and subsidiaries, discussed the required input of both, knowledge transmitters and receivers, and brought up the […]
Expat Work and Life Domains: Conflicting, Balancing, or Enriching?
Work is one of the central tenets in human life. We ask our kids what do they want to do when they grow up; we start conversations by inquiring about each other’s jobs; we study extensively in order to secure future employment; we belong, as adults, to a well-defined working age population; we differentiate between […]
Latest Research: How Does Terrorism Influence Expats?
Going abroad, leaving your own country and comfort zone, has always been viewed as taking some sort of risk. The same is also valid when speaking about companies pursuing international business opportunities, because foreign markets always involve potential country risks, whether of economic, political or cultural sort. In recent years, the list of relevant country […]
Latest Research: Expatriates as Newcomers Abroad
I believe that at the heart of every entry process, be it a new employee’s entry into an organization, a student’s entry into a new class, or an immigrant’s entry abroad, is a need for adjustment of the newcomer. In other words, whenever there is a change in environment, a need for fitting in arises. […]
Family Performance in Expatriation: About the Concept and Measurement
The role of the family in expatriation has been a long-standing topic in the field of global mobility. Many different sources highlight that the family has been and continues to be an important factor in expatriation. Indeed, according to the latest Cartus 2014 Global Mobility Policy and Practices survey, family challenges remain the top (61%) […]
Latest Research: What Makes One Cross-Culturally Competent?
One of the most important topics in the area of global mobility concerns the cross-cultural competencies (CC) that are required when abroad. Be it for the population of global leaders, international expatriates and inpatriates, their spouses and kids, or global nomads, we look for characteristics, abilities and skills that help people to adjust and function […]
Why Do Managers Behave in a Trustworthy Manner? Latest Research Findings
What is the meaning of interpersonal trust for organizations? A recent Forbes article argues that trust between managers and employees is foundational for their relationship and the management process overall. Echoing the importance attributed to trust in the popular media, trust is being increasingly studied also in academic settings. Making further contributions to existing academic […]
‘Us versus Them’ in Multinationals: The Case of a Lingua Franca
A couple of my previous blog posts related to the topic of adopting a dominant language, mostly English, in multinational corporations. Even though using a lingua franca is generally considered to improve communication, simplify information flows and increase collaboration across culturally different units of the company, some possible roadblocks need to be mentioned too. Specifically, […]
