Perica Vojinić

Differences between domestic and expatriate managers in the Croatian hospitality industry

Abstract In order to set up organisational business activity, hotel chains prefer employing managers from the country of origin when entering the foreign market. The Croatian tourism market is characterised by the presence of a significant number of foreign hotels that employ a certain number of expatriate managers. The purpose of this article is to determine the differences in personal and professional characteristics between domestic and expatriate managers in the Croatian hospitality industry. The research was conducted in 2011 and 2012 using the questionnaire on a sample of middle- and top-level domestic and expatriate managers employed in Croatian hospitality companies. Several tests of inferential statistics were performed and the results suggested that Croatian and foreign managers do not differentiate significantly in personal characteristics (age, education attainment, marital status and dependents). However, significant differences exist regarding their professional characteristics, such as field of education, managerial level, authority and career satisfaction.