Expatriates
Instructions:
It will run into 2-3 page with single space. The flow of the article review will be as:
You will start with complete article title, author(s)’s name, journal name, volume no., issue no., and year of publication. (1st paragraph)
Write about what this article is all about in terms of the concepts/issues being studied in this article. (2nd-3rd paragraph)
Write about the main focus of the business paper (4th -5th Paragraph)
Write about recommendations and implications of the study as discussed by the author(s) in the article (6th-7th Paragraph)
Write about what you think of the utility as well as drawbacks/demerits of this study vis-à-vis its usage in the organizations (8th Paragraph).
There will be no reference section as this is an article review.
Solution.
Host Country National Willingness to Help Expatriates
The chosen article for this assignment is titled ‘Host Country National Willingness to Help Expatriates: The Role of Social Categorization and Exchange’ authored by Arum Varma of Loyola University Chicago, Shaun Pichler of California State University, Fullerton and Pawan Budhwar of Aston University. It was first published on ResearchGate, July 17, 2016. It can be accessed on https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Shaun_Pichler/publication/228513567_Host_Country_National_Willingness_to_Help_Expatriates_The_Role_of_Social_Categorization_and_Exchange/links/0046352832dc9067fe000000.pdf.
The authors revisit the role of host nations in determining the success of expatriate workers and notes that host country nations play a significant role in influencing the expatriate’s experience. Authors identify key areas such as social adjustments, information support which is important in assisting expatriates to excel in their work as some of the areas that the host nation country has significant influence on. According to the authors, existing literature notes that the attitude with which the host country approaches an expatriate worker is determined by factors such as the host nations understanding of the country of origin, whether the expatriate is viewed as a colleague, worker, supervisor or subordinate. In a nutshell, the article notes that host nation countries are likely to offer differing levels of assistance to expatriate workers depending on their categorization of whether these expatriates are ‘in-groups’- the accepted ones who will likely receive a lot of assistance or ‘out-groups’- those that will receive less assistance.
This paper analyzes data from 493 expat nationals in the United Kingdom and investigates the relationship between national origin, gender, job level and the willingness of host nations to help the expatriates. The authors found that host country nations from the UK categorized expatriate workers based on perceived levels of similarity, collectivism and ethnocentrism with such categorization being significantly related to the nation’s willingness to provide role information and social assistance to expatriates. The researchers also noted that information and assistance were more likely to be provided to co- workers than supervisors.
Literature review on the subject of categorization observes that individuals often categorize themselves and others as it helps them in deciding how to behave in different contexts. In international relations, categorizations help the host country in assigning either in-group or out-group status to others and also guides their behavior towards others. The authors of this article note that since there is limited empirical research on the reactions of the host country nations to expatriates, it’s an area that requires deep attention. To this end, the article mainly focuses on testing the hypothesis to establish how ethnocentrism, collectivism, values similarity, role information, country of origin and gender relate to a host nations country’s willingness to support an expatriate.
The results of the study indicate that host country nations in the UK often categorize expatriate workers based on perceptions of similarity, collectivism, and ethnocentrism. This categorization is noted to have a significant impact on the host nation county’s willingness to provide social support and role information to expatriate workers. The researchers also found that participants were likely to provide information to supervisor’s than co-workers, indicating the willingness to align the host nation countries to the supervisors since such supervisors would evaluate their work. Additionally, the results of their study indicate that participants were more likely to provide social support to male co-workers as opposed to their female counterparts, but would provide role information only to make American supervisors. This means that categorization on Indian origin has a negative impact on host nation support, especially at a supervisory level.
Implications and recommendations
In this article, the authors note that expatriate assignments are gaining significant traction in this era of globalization, yet there is little existing research on the factors that might help in determining the level of success in their jobs. There is the need for further research in this area, and especially on the categorization of expatriates by host nations, as this should form a key concern in determining where multinational organizations should post their employees for overseas assignments. The findings of this study would be useful to organizations in their re-departure training programs to ensure that their expatriate staffs are well briefed on the culture, history, social characteristics and language of the host nations. Consideration may also be made in training of host country nations for them to be more open and willing to embrace expatriates from different backgrounds. Knowledge of the different levels of support given to both genders and national origins should inform organizations to offer different levels of pre-departure or on-the-job support for both male and female expatriates of different origins.
The authors further recommend that since existing literature was based on the belief that home nations controlled most of the factors that affect the expatriates experience and success on the assignment, the findings of this study should provide additional information on the increasing need to interrogate more, the role of the host nation countries in influencing the success and experience of the expatriate.
Conclusion
The findings of this article provide interesting perspectives into how international relations affect multinationals and especially concerning their expatriate workers and especially on the increasing role of host country nations in determining the success of the expatriate, an area that has not been keenly studied. To this end, the authors unearth groundbreaking evidence that different aspects of categorization determine the level of support to expatriates whether regarding role information or social support. It, therefore, informs multinational businesses on the pre-assignment preparations as well as the on-the-job support mechanisms that may be necessary to ensure that expatriate staffs of all nationalities and gender are well prepared to conduct their tasks. The knowledge that host nations play a significant role in determining the success or failure of the expatriate staff by influencing their support system should instruct the multinational evaluation of the expatriate employee performance. Despite the notable contribution of the article to modern business operations, some drawbacks exist. Key among them is that the study is mostly centered in the UK, where the cultural considerations may vary significantly with those of other nations such as Africa. Secondly, some of the findings of the study such as the fact that the HCN’s in the UK would be willing to support an American supervisor and not an Indian supervisor may point at a deep rooted level of racism, which may have a negative impact on the users of this article.
