Alexei Koveshnikov, Mats Ehrnrooth and Heidi Wechtler
Drawing on follower-centric leadership theory, the study examines the role of perceived homophily between the leader and the follower, follower's individual-level power distance…
Abstract
Purpose
Drawing on follower-centric leadership theory, the study examines the role of perceived homophily between the leader and the follower, follower's individual-level power distance orientation (PDO) and follower's perceived employability in moderating the effects of authoritarian and benevolent paternalistic leadership (BPL) on followers' turnover intentions.
Design/methodology/approach
The study analyzes a sample of 403 white-collar Russian employees.
Findings
Whereas both leadership styles generally decrease followers' turnover intentions, they operate differently. Authoritarian leadership (AL) is more effective among followers with higher follower-leader homophily and PDO, whereas BPL is effective only among followers with low perceived homophily and PDO, and more effective among followers with higher perceived employability.
Originality/value
The study extends research on non-participative styles of leadership, their effects and boundary conditions.
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Abstract
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Pengcheng Wang, Chuanyan Qin and Shanshi Liu
How to manage outsourced employees in interorganizational teams with triangular relationships has not yet attracted enough attention. Based on relative deprivation theory, this…
Abstract
Purpose
How to manage outsourced employees in interorganizational teams with triangular relationships has not yet attracted enough attention. Based on relative deprivation theory, this study explores how relative deprivation affects outsourced employees’ innovative behavior and investigates the complex moderating effects of dual organizational support.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors tested their hypothesis by conducting a two-wave survey; responses to a questionnaire were collected from 283 outsourced employees and their managers among 52 client organizations.
Findings
Results found that relative deprivation negatively influences the outsourced employees’ innovative behavior by eliciting their perceptions of status conflict. Support from client (supplier) organization attenuates (aggravates) the positive impact of relative deprivation on innovative behavior throughout status conflict. The moderating effect of client organizational support was moderated by support from supplier organization.
Research limitations/implications
The authors selected the outsourced employees in a Chinese context to conduct this study, and the results need to be generalized in future research.
Practical implications
Client organizational support can alleviate the negative effect of relative deprivation on outsourced employees, whereas supplier organization support aggravates the negative effect; managers should pay attention to the different effects of the two organizations’ support and provide reasonable support for outsourced employees.
Originality/value
This study identified the mechanism of relative deprivation’s effect on outsourced employees’ innovative behavior from the perspective of interpersonal interaction and compared the effect of support from dual organizations. This study expands the research on triangular relationships, relative deprivation, status conflict and other field.
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Jessica Marie Arokiasamy and Soyeon Kim
As globalization expands opportunities for foreign investments, the role of expatriates is becoming important for business success in host countries. Cross-cultural adjustment…
Abstract
Purpose
As globalization expands opportunities for foreign investments, the role of expatriates is becoming important for business success in host countries. Cross-cultural adjustment (CCA) of expatriates is considered significant in determining business success in host countries. This study investigated the issue among Japanese expatriates in Malaysia. The purposes of this study were to unravel the influence of emotional intelligence (EI) on CCA and clarify the facilitating role of cultural intelligence (CI) on the relationship between EI and CCA.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was administered to 107 Japanese parent country nationals (PCNs) working at Japanese subsidiaries in Malaysia.
Findings
The findings show that EI positively influences the subdimensions of CCA, namely, CCA–general, CCA–social and CCA–work. A notable finding is that CI facilitates the positive effect of EI on CCA–social.
Research implications
The findings advance the existing studies on expatriate management by delving into the CCA issue with two culturally distinctive countries that have rarely been studied in this research domain, Japan and Malaysia. This study further contributes to prior studies by clarifying a boundary condition in which EI functions better in enhancing expatriates' CCA.
Practical implications
The findings provide Japanese multinational corporations (MNCs) valuable directions and strategic ideas in the realm of expatriate management. Such insights can contribute to business success in host countries.
Originality/value
Diverting from the conventional West–East approach in expatriate management studies, this study took an East–East orientation and explored the relationships among EI, CI and CCA. By proving that CI stimulates the positive effect of EI on CCA, this study underlines the significantly interactive effects of two distinctive individual capabilities on enhancing expatriates' CCA. It further highlights that CI should take on importance in attempts to understand CCA, even in seemingly culturally similar East–East nations.
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Mariana I. Paludi, Salvador Barragan and Albert Mills
The purpose of this study is to add to the existing research on critical perspectives on diversity management (DM). Specifically, this study examines the narratives of women chief…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to add to the existing research on critical perspectives on diversity management (DM). Specifically, this study examines the narratives of women chief executive officers (CEOs) from different countries of origin to understand how they enact the DM discourse by drawing on their past and present experiences at US multinational corporations (MNCs) located in Mexico.
Design/methodology/approach
This study, based on six open-ended interviews with local and expatriate women CEOs who work in MNCs situated in Mexico, used a sensemaking approach to analyze their narratives. The theoretical foundation of the study is based on decolonial feminist theory, which is used to analyze the hierarchical binary between Anglo-Saxon/European woman and the Mexican/Latin American woman with respect to the discourse of DM.
Findings
This study found that the dominant discourse used by women CEOs, expats and nationals was a business case for diversity. Female CEOs represent MNCs in favorable terms, compared to those of local companies, despite the nuances in the antagonistic representations in their narratives. This study also found that the women CEOs’ narratives perpetuated a discourse of “otherness” that created a hierarchy between Anglo-Saxons (US/MNCs’ culture) and Latin Americans (Mexican/local companies’ culture).
Originality/value
This study contributes to critical studies on DM by analyzing diverse forms of power involving gender, race/ethnicity and organizational hierarchy. The use of decolonial feminist theory to examine MNCs is a novel approach to understanding women’s identities and the power differences between local/foreign contexts and global/local businesses. This study also discusses the implications of its findings for women in business careers and concludes with a call for more research within the global South (Latin America).
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Rodrigo Mello, Vesa Suutari and Michael Dickmann
This paper investigates whether career capital (CC) development abroad, expatriate type, career type and career stage affect expatriates' career success in terms of perceived…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates whether career capital (CC) development abroad, expatriate type, career type and career stage affect expatriates' career success in terms of perceived marketability and the number of promotions.
Design/methodology/approach
The study presents findings from a 2020 follow-up study among 327 expatriates, including assigned expatriates (AEs) (n = 117) and self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) (n = 220), who worked abroad in 2015 and 2016. Among that group, 186 had continued their international career, while 141 had repatriated. Structural equation modeling with robust maximum likelihood estimation was used to test this study's hypotheses. MPlus 8.6 software supported the analysis.
Findings
The study outlines that CC developed abroad positively impacts perceived marketability and the number of promotions. Second, repatriates reported a greater degree of perceived marketability than those continuing an international career. Career type did not predict the number of promotions. The expatriate type did not influence any of the career success measures. Finally, expatriates in their late-career stage did not achieve a similar level of career success as those in other career stages.
Research limitations/implications
All the expatriates were university-educated Finnish engineers and business professionals, and the career benefits of expatriation could differ for different sample groups. The study calls for more context-sensitive global careers research. The findings have positive implications for self-guided career actors considering working abroad. Organizations could focus more of their global talent attraction, management and career efforts on SIEs.
Originality/value
To analyze the impacts of these four antecedents on the career success of expatriates, the authors cooperated with two Finnish labor unions in 2020 to explore the careers of 327 expatriates, having surveyed the same group in 2015/2016. Such follow-up studies are not very common in expatriation research since it is difficult to keep track of expatriates who change locations and employers.
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Alexei Koveshnikov and Miikka J. Lehtonen
We draw upon stress theory and utilize the context of the COVID-19 pandemic to investigate how various coping strategies employed by expatriates affect their psychological stress…
Abstract
Purpose
We draw upon stress theory and utilize the context of the COVID-19 pandemic to investigate how various coping strategies employed by expatriates affect their psychological stress, subsequently influencing their expatriation satisfaction and intention to withdraw from the host country.
Design/methodology/approach
We utilize structural equation modeling to analyze a sample of 453 expatriates residing and working in the United Arab Emirates during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Findings
Our analysis shows that the effects of different coping strategies on expatriates vary. Depending on the nature of the strategy, they can have either positive or negative effects. While coping via problem-focused and denial strategies decreases expatriates' stress, coping by distancing increases it. Social support-seeking is not found to be an effective stress-coping strategy. In terms of implications, the problem-focused strategy leads to the most positive outcomes, whereas distancing leads to the most negative outcomes.
Originality/value
Our study provides significant theoretical and practical insights into expatriates' coping mechanisms within the context of natural crises.
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Alexei Koveshnikov, Heidi Wechtler, Miriam Moeller and Cecile Dejoux
Using social influence theory, this study examines the relationship between self-initiated expatriates' (SIE) political skill, as a measure of their social effectiveness, and…
Abstract
Purpose
Using social influence theory, this study examines the relationship between self-initiated expatriates' (SIE) political skill, as a measure of their social effectiveness, and cross-cultural adjustment (CCA). It also tests whether the host employer's psychological contract (PC) fulfillment mediates this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Partial least square structural equation modeling (covariance-based SEM) technique is employed to analyze a sample of 209 SIEs.
Findings
The study finds SIEs' political skill positively and significantly associated with SIEs' work-related adjustment. The relationship with interactional adjustment is only marginally significant. It also finds that SIEs' PC fulfillment mediates the relationship between SIEs' political skill and work-related adjustment. The mediation is marginally significant for the relationship between SIEs' political skill and general living adjustment.
Originality/value
The study adds to the literature on expatriates' skills and CCA by theorizing and testing the hitherto unexplored role of SIEs' political skill in their work and non-work CCA. It also theorizes and examines the host employer's PC fulfillment as a mediating mechanism, through which SIEs' political skill facilitates their CCA. Finally, it advances the literature on political skill by testing the construct's application in the cross-cultural and non-work domain.
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Dana L. Ott, Miriam Moeller and Alexei Koveshnikov
The purpose of this viewpoint is to provide critical insights into the role of neurodiversity within the domain of International Business (IB) research. Neurodiversity is…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this viewpoint is to provide critical insights into the role of neurodiversity within the domain of International Business (IB) research. Neurodiversity is positioned as an opportunity for IB researchers to explore how differences in individual brain functioning and behavioral traits may impact on the practice of and research within IB through multiple lenses.
Design/methodology/approach
By critically reflecting on how to foster a more inclusive global business environment, the viewpoint increases researchers’ awareness about the role of neurodiversity within IB research and practice. It highlights distinct opportunities to incorporate neurodiversity and neurodivergent individuals at the center of IB research examinations.
Findings
Neurodiversity represents a paradigm shift in how neurological and cognitive differences have been perceived, valued and researched by challenging scholars to move beyond a model that views these differences as deficits or disorders to one that views them as strengths and opportunities. The authors identify a series of research questions to advance the study of neurodiversity in relation to global talent management; innovation and competitiveness; inclusive and equitable business practices and systems (human resource management, leadership and technology); stigmatization, biases and identity; and global organizations as change agents.
Originality/value
Considering that one in six people globally is neurodivergent, the viewpoint suggests directions to examine neurodiversity within the context of IB research and practice.
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Alexei Koveshnikov, Mats Ehrnrooth and Eero Vaara
The article develops a model which conceptualizes headquarter-subsidiary relations in the multinational corporation as a multilevel discursive struggle between key managers. At…
Abstract
The article develops a model which conceptualizes headquarter-subsidiary relations in the multinational corporation as a multilevel discursive struggle between key managers. At the first level, the relations are conceptualized as a discursive struggle over decisions and actions using rationalistic discourses. At the second level, they are viewed as a discursive struggle over power relations using control and autonomy discourses. Finally, underlying the first two, at the third level, headquarter-subsidiary relations are conceptualized as a discursive struggle over managers’ worldviews using cultural (pre)conceptions about “the self” and “the other.”