Eric Davoine

A “dramaturgical” analysis of spouse role enactment in expatriation: An exploratory gender comparative study in the diplomatic and consular field

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the social role played by expatriate spouses during international assignments, using a dramaturgical approach.Design/methodology/approach – Role expectations were investigated on the basis of an exemplary case: the spouses of diplomatic and consular employees of the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Qualitative data were collected in interviews with 40 male and female spouses and analyzed with a “goffmanian” dramaturgical role analysis approach.Findings – The dramaturgical analysis of the accompanying persons’ discourse highlights the different dimensions of the expatriate spouse role and how expatriate spouses construct and personalize their role. Furthermore, this analysis brings new insights into the way male spouses may support female expatriates and reveals gender differences in the enactment of the expatriate spouse role.Research limitations/implications – This study has been carried out in the diplomatic sector, which might be more structured for t...

Variables Influencing the Return on Investment in Management Training Programs: A Utility Analysis of 10 Swiss Cases

In this article, we present the utility analysis approach as an alternative and promising approach to measure the return on investment in managerial training programs. This approach, linking economic value with competencies developed by trainees, enables researchers and decision‐makers to compare the return on investment from different programs in different organizations. Despite the potential contribution of utility analysis, few studies have adopted this approach to evaluate return on investment. This article demonstrates the value of utility analysis through a brief review of former studies and a report of our own evaluation results based on data collected in 10 cases from 158 managers. The article focuses on three main variables influencing return on investment as identified in former studies: the duration and thematic focus of training programs, the job class of the trainees and the research design.

International adjustment of female vs male business expatriates. A replication study in Switzerland

Purpose - – Reasons for women’s underrepresentation in international assignments include stereotypical assumptions within organizations about their ability to adjust abroad and more broadly a lack of trust from the corporate headquarters. Female expatriates’ adjustment may strongly vary depending on the host country and on host-country nationals’ attitudes toward them. Yet up until today, very few studies have examined female expatriate adjustment in a single and non-Asian host country. The purpose of this paper is to address this gap by comparing the cross-cultural adjustment of male and female expatriates in Switzerland. Design/methodology/approach - – This study replicates Selmer and Leung’s (2003a) study design in order to compare adjustment of male and female expatriates working in multinational companies in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Based on 152 valid questionnaires collected, the authors performed a multivariate analysis of covariance and further analyses of covariance to compare male and female expatriate adjustment. Findings - – The authors find that female expatriates have significantly higher interaction and work adjustment levels than their male counterparts, while no significant differences between men and women were observed in terms of general adjustment. These findings in a European context are consistent with those of Selmer and Leung in an Asian context. Originality/value - – Very few studies to date have examined the adjustment of female expatriates in a western host-country context, despite the fact that host-country cultural norms might strongly influence women’s experiences. The research brings new empirical evidence about cross-cultural adjustment of female and male expatriates in a western location. Contrary to persistent stereotypical assumptions, results emphasize again that women are able to adjust better or at least as well as their male counterparts.

Cross-cultural adjustment of skilled migrants in a multicultural and multilingual environment: an explorative study of foreign employees and their spouses in the Swiss context

Skilled migrants are essential to the global economy, and both employers and states depend on them to maintain their competitive advantage. This is particularly true for the Swiss economy, which attracts an impressive number of migrants to counteract the national shortage of skilled workers. The Swiss context is particularly interesting to study because of the strong presence of multinational companies and a situation where the difference between qualified migrants and assigned expatriates is increasingly ethereal. Our study focuses on the adjustment of a population of 152 foreign employees from Swiss-based multinational companies and the adjustment of 126 spouses. We studied different adjustment dimensions focusing on local language proficiency and relocation support practices. Despite the highly multicultural and multilingual Swiss context, our data analysis highlighted relatively low cross-cultural adjustment scores (especially interaction adjustment). We uncovered the degree to which relocation support practices are offered, used and perceived as necessary by foreign employees and showed which support practices could be used to improve the adjustment of migrants.

International Corporate Cultures: From Helpless Global Convergence to Constructive European Divergence

In the process of internationalisation, companies are faced with the challenge of harmonising corporate culture. The widely held idea is that a strong global corporate culture will strengthen the company’s identity and image, and reduce costs. This frequently means that the corporate culture of the parent company is transferred to the subsidiary. An overly ethnocentric approach by the company’s headquarters often complicates the reception of the new corporate culture in the subsidiaries, and creates misunderstandings and conflicts.

Impacts of Globalization Processes on the Swiss National Business Elite Community: A Diachronic Analysis of Swiss Large Corporations (1980–2010)

Abstract This paper investigates the impacts of globalization processes on the Swiss business elite community during the 1980–2010 period. Switzerland has been characterized in the 20th century by its extraordinary stability and by the strong cohesion of its elite community. To study recent changes, we focus on Switzerland’s 110 largest firms’ by adopting a diachronic perspective based on three elite cohorts (1980, 2000, and 2010). An analysis of interlocking directorates allows us to describe the decline of the Swiss corporate network. The second analysis focuses on top managers’ profiles in terms of education, nationality as well as participation in national community networks that used to reinforce the cultural cohesion of the Swiss elite community, especially the militia army. Our results highlight a slow but profound transformation of top management profiles, characterized by a decline of traditional national elements of legitimacy and the emergence of new “global” elements. The diachronic and combined analysis brings into light the strong cultural changes experienced by the national business elite community.

Die Implementierung wertefundierter nordamerikanischer Verhaltenskodices in deutschen und französischen Tochtergesellschaften. Eine vergleichende Fallstudie

Viele nordamerikanische multinationale Unternehmen versuchen, standardisierte Verhaltenskodices in ihren europäischen Tochtergesellschaften zu implementieren, um Verhaltenweisen zu kontrollieren und um eine homogene Unternehmenskultur zu entwickeln. Durch die starke nordamerikanische Wertefundierung dieses Instruments kann die Implementierung auf Widerstände stoßen, die sich institutionell, kulturell oder mikropolitisch erklären lassen. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es, die Akteurswahrnehmungen und -reaktionen in den Tochtergesellschaften zu analysieren, und die damit verbundenen Kontextfaktoren aufzuzeigen. Auf der Basis eines institutionalistischen Bezugsrahmens und anhand einer exemplarischen Fallstudie werden diese Einflussfaktoren in einem deutschen und in einem französischen Kontext vergleichend untersucht.

European top management careers: a field-analytical approach

ABSTRACT Research on European business elites has been dominated by a ‘national career model’ approach, arguing that each country has a specific top management career pattern. In recent years, this line of argument has been challenged due to the increasing international circulation of top managers. To examine the impact of internationalisation on career models, we will draw on a database of 916 top managers in Germany, Switzerland, France and Britain. Our field-analytical analysis reveals that the most important career distinction – between internal and external careers – is valid beyond national models. In addition, international managers do not constitute a separate homogenous group: in some countries, they imitate national career patterns; in others, they pursue complementary strategies.

Implementing SA8000 certification standards

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to identify difficulties and tension fields encountered in a Social Accountability (SA) 8000 certification process. The paper is based on a case study within a multinational small–medium enterprise (SME) during the implementation of a SA8000 standard. Design/methodology/approach – In the framework of the case study, we adopt a cognitivist approach and use cognitive maps to describe and analyze the corporate social responsibility (CSR) representations of the main actors of the certification process: the owner-manager of the SME and the certification manager. We collected additional information on the case company through document analysis, additional interviews, validation interviews, confrontation interviews and follow-up interviews after one year. Findings – The analysis of cognitive maps revealed tension fields and difficulties linked to the different representations of social responsibility between the social accountability standard SA8000 and the owner-manager strate...

La fonction RH face à la numérisation des organisations : le cas des outils de communication numérique

La numerisation est un facteur de mutation important pour l’organisation et son environnement avec des impacts multiples sur ceux-ci. Notre etude prospective vise a identifier les dossiers de la fonction RH associes a la diffusion des outils de communication numerique au sein de l’organisation. Une premiere contribution de l’etude est de montrer que les cinq dossiers identifies (image d’employeur, gestion des talents, des competences 2.0, reglementation et diagnostic des impacts de la numerisation) ont des enjeux tres differents pour la fonction RH. Deuxieme contribution, ils permettent egalement de structurer efficacement le champ des recherches en management liees a la numerisation de l’organisation.