{"id":2645,"date":"2017-03-31T09:02:23","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T08:02:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/?p=2645"},"modified":"2017-03-31T09:02:23","modified_gmt":"2017-03-31T08:02:23","slug":"the-culturally-humble-expat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/2017\/03\/31\/the-culturally-humble-expat\/","title":{"rendered":"The Culturally Humble Expat"},"content":{"rendered":"
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flickr.com\/the expat<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

International assignments<\/strong> are costly, which is why both researchers and practitioners are in constant search for the right formula of successful expatriation<\/strong>. Given that international assignments<\/strong> are meant to be \u2018bridging the gaps\u2019, be it in terms of knowledge sharing or the transfer of other resources, good relationships and cooperation between expat<\/strong>s and locals seem to be one of the main ingredients to this formula. For example, research data indicates that expatriate<\/strong>s, who seek advice from host country national<\/strong>s (HCNs), report better adjustment, and that social support and feedback provided by HCNs can facilitate expats\u2019 performance on the assignment (e.g. Malek, Budhwar, & Reiche, 2015; Toh & DeNisi, 2007). As brought up in one of my earlier posts<\/a> though, the productive relationship between expatriates<\/strong> and host country national<\/strong>s is not always a given. In simple terms, it requires ability and motivation to do so on both sides.<\/p>\n

Resent research<\/strong> by Caligiuri, Baytalskaya and Lazarova (2016) looks further into the processes between expatriate<\/strong>s and the host national environment from the expat\u2019s perspective. More specifically, the researchers were interested whether expats\u2019 individual differences such as cultural humility<\/strong> and ethnocentrism<\/strong> interact with how HCNs\u2019 feedback and support affect expatriate outcomes.<\/p>\n

Drawing on previous research, the scholars defined ethnocentrism<\/strong> as \u2018the general belief or attitude in the superiority of one\u2019 s own country or ethnic identity group\u2019. Ethnocentrism can translate into negative perceptions of the out-group culture, ideas that customs, norms and traditions of my country are \u2018better\u2019 or \u2018more correct\u2019 than yours, and negative stereotyping. As a result, expatriate<\/strong>s with high levels of an ethnocentric orientation will be less likely to interact with HCNs, who might be deemed less competent or less credible. On the contrary, the concept of cultural humility<\/strong> is defined as \u2018an interpersonal characteristic that emerges in social contexts that connotes (a) a manifested willingness to view oneself accurately, (b) a displayed appreciation of others\u2019 strengths and contributions, and (c) teachability\u201d. In other words, expatriates <\/strong>with high levels of cultural humility<\/strong> demonstrate self-awareness, respect towards other cultures, openness and willingness to learn from other cultures.<\/p>\n

Given that benefiting from local support does not happen automatically, Caligiuri and colleagues hypothesized that a) expatriates\u2019 perceptions of support in the host national environment will be positively related to their assignment performance, and b) expatriates\u2019 ethnocentrism and cultural humility will moderate their perceptions of support and feedback in the host national environment.<\/p>\n

To test the hypotheses, the researchers surveyed a matched sample of 62 expatriates and their supervisors. Results indicated that perceived support<\/strong> in the host national work environment was indeed a significant predictor of expat performance<\/strong>. Moreover, the researchers found that the performance of expatriates with higher levels of cultural humility benefited from this support more than the performance of expats with lower levels of humility. Finally, the study results indicate that ethnocentrism has a direct negative influence on expat performance.<\/p>\n

Practical implications<\/em><\/p>\n

In simple terms, the researchers suggest that a supportive work environment can positively benefit expatriates, especially when they are humble, and that expatriates with lower ethnocentric attitudes tend to perform more successfully on their assignments. Hence, the first practical implication seems to relate to the expat selection processes. Specifically, along with other personal characteristics and previous experiences, global mobility managers may also consider \u00a0cultural humility<\/strong> and ethnocentrism <\/strong>metrics of prospective assignees.<\/p>\n

A second implication goes along the lines of viewing cultural humility<\/strong> and ethnocentrism<\/strong> not only as individual dispositions, but as teachable skills (think about cultural intelligence for example). Indeed, linking it back to some issues discussed<\/a> previously in my blog, ethnocentric orientation and a lack of cultural humility \u00a0seem to resemble the automatic mode of categorizing, stereotyping and disliking differences, which we can all too easily fall into. Thus, self-awareness skills, as well as appropriate behaviors can be taught to expatriates.<\/p>\n

Finally, returning to the notion of ability and motivation from both sides, managers should not forget to involve host country nationals, encouraging and teaching them to provide support and feedback.<\/p>\n

Further reading:<\/u><\/p>\n

Caligiuri, P., Baytalskaya, N., & Lazarova, M. B. (2016). Cultural humility and low ethnocentrism as facilitators of expatriate performance.\u00a0Journal of Global Mobility: the Home of Expatriate Management Research,\u00a04(1), pp. 4-17.<\/p>\n

Malek, M.A., Budhwar, P., & Reiche, B.S. (2015). Sources of support and expatriation: A multiple stakeholder perspective of expatriate adjustment and performance in Malaysia. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(2), pp. 258-276.<\/p>\n

Toh, S.M. & DeNisi, A.S. (2007). Host country nationals as socializing agents: A social identity approach. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 28(3), pp. 281-301.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 \u2018bridging the gaps\u2019, be it in terms of knowledge sharing or the transfer of other resources, good relationships and cooperation between expats and locals seem […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":345,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44832],"tags":[102537,102538,18342,18341,102539,17551,82161],"class_list":["post-2645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-research","tag-cultural-humility","tag-ethnocentrism","tag-expat","tag-expatriate","tag-host-country-national","tag-international-assignment","tag-recent-research","megacategoria-mc-leadership-and-people-management"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/345"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2645"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2648,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2645\/revisions\/2648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}