Shea Xuejiao Fan

An Investigation of Entrepreneurs' Venture Persistence Decision: The Contingency Effect of Psychological Ownership and Adversity

We incorporate psychological ownership theory and adversity literature to examine the joint effect of psychological ownership and adversity on entrepreneurs persistence decision. The results of two experiments and one survey show that both low adversity and high psychological ownership for the venture increase entrepreneurs likelihood of persistence. We also identify the moderating effect of adversity. Psychological ownership is more relevant to the likelihood of persistence when adversity is high than when it is low. Our research contributes to psychological ownership theory and the entrepreneur- ial persistence literature and has practical implications for entrepreneurs.

Setting the Scene: Expatriates, Language and Culture in China

The purpose of this chapter is to present a broad-brush picture based on quantitative data on the role of expatriation, language and cultural differences in China. Contrasting this data with corresponding information for eight other host countries or regions allows us to illustrate China’s unique position. The chapter first presents an overview of the current state of expatriation; this is followed by an analysis of the dominant functions of expatriation in China and the extent to which expatriates are integrated into the subsidiary culture. We then investigate the intertwined role of language and culture. Here, we examine how far linguistic and cultural differences can form a barrier between headquarters and subsidiaries, and the extent to which such differences can be the source of conflict and misunderstanding. One way to address linguistic differences is through the use of a corporate language. While this is a solution which is applied by many multinational corporations (MNCs), as will be seen in later chapters, it is not without problems in its implementation. Finally, we will discuss how the specific combination of expatriation, language and culture in China can be seen to lead to problems in HR management.

Gaining Acceptance from Local Colleagues: Evidence from Indian Expatriates in China

The previous chapters in this book have focused predominantly on the role of the host country language in China and looked specifically at Western expatriates. In this and the following chapter, we turn our attention towards issues related to culture and identity and investigate two very different groups of expatriates: Indian expatriates and overseas Chinese expatriates. Here, we investigate what acceptance means to expatriates and local employees, given that it is an essential factor in expatriates’ adjustment to the host country and in their interaction with local employees. We start by outlining the historical, political and cultural background to the relationship between India and China to set the scene for discussing interactions between Indian expatriates and Chinese local employees. We then present a three-level acceptance model and elaborate on each level of acceptance. The chapter concludes with a discussion of both the implications of this model and how understanding acceptance affects expatriates and MNCs.

Host Country Language: Why It Matters, and Why Expatriates Need to Learn It

Language, in particular host country language, has been ignored by both academics and practitioners in expatriate management. When it comes to issues affecting expatriate performance, there is a tendency to focus on technical details such as the job description, task-related training and leadership style and to overlook the fundamental issue of language. In this chapter, we present the language realities of MNC subsidiaries in China with regard to whether local employees speak English with expatriates, and how willing they are to do so. We argue that there is in fact a strong local demand for expatriates to learn and use the host country language. However, given that Chinese, the language of this particular host country, is such an unfamiliar language, and perceived as difficult, we also recommend a range of strategies that allow expatriates without host country language skills to cope with the language challenges.

Conclusion: Expatriate Language and Identity Challenges and Recommendations for Expatriate Management

In this chapter, we review the main findings of our book and highlight the key implications that we can draw from our studies. While sending expatriates to China is still a common practice, MNCs clearly struggle in managing this group of employees. Expatriates themselves also find it challenging to cope with the changing social and work environments around them in the host country. They struggle when deciding whether to learn the local language and how much effort should be devoted to this. They ask themselves how confident they should feel before speaking the local language, regardless of their actual proficiency. Expatriates are also concerned as to whether they will ever be accepted, given that they look different and speak a different language. Even when expatriates have the same ethnicity as the locals, they might wonder whether the shared ethnicity is a positive or negative characteristic. Furthermore, we discuss the notion of change in terms of the changing expatriate concept; we also examine the changes in identity which occur during the process of negotiating acceptance. Finally, we provide a series of practical recommendations for MNCs, urging them to take an active role in managing employee diversity in the subsidiary as well as headquarters. This includes presenting concrete advice to both expatriates and local employees on how to embrace the differences between them.

The Double-Edged Sword of Ethnic Similarity

In this chapter, we focus on how ethnic identity affects interactions between expatriates and local employees when they share an ethnicity. A large number of overseas Chinese are working in China; yet how they view their shared ethnicity might be different from how local employees view it. Such divergent perspectives are one cause of the challenges ethnic Chinese expatriates face when interacting with local employees. We propose the concept of ethnic identity confirmation, defined as the level of agreement between how one party views the importance of his/her ethnic identity and how his/her ethnic identity is viewed by other people, as a key factor in expatriate-local employee interactions. We provide detailed analyses of how expatriates might perceive their own ethnic identity and why their view might diverge from that of local employees. Three studies were conducted to test the role of ethnic identity confirmation. Study 1 (N = 256) reveals that ethnic identity confirmation matters more among ethnically similar expatriates and local employees than among ethnically different pairs and that this also affects knowledge transfer between them. Study 2 (N = 154) and study 3 (N = 292) investigate local employees’ ethnic identity confirmation and reveal that local employees tend to share more information with ethnically similar expatriates who confirm their views of their own ethnic identity. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for expatriates and MNCs.

The Impact of Host Country Language Skills on Expatriate Adjustment and the Expatriate-Local Relationship

Following the theme of Chap. 3 on the importance of host country language, here, we further explore how expatriates’ host country language skills influence how they adjust to the local environment, both in the workplace and in their out-of-work space. Based on fine-grained interviews with both expatriates and their local colleagues, we examine this aspect of expatriates’ lives from three perspectives: expatriates’ interaction with locals at/outside work, the support expatriates can receive from locals at/outside work and the social networks expatriates can develop at/outside work. We also present three different types of relationships that expatriates can develop with their local colleagues, dependent on their willingness and ability to speak the host country language: harmonious, distant and segregated.

How you see me, how you don’t: ethnic identity self-verification in interactions between local subsidiary employees and ethnically similar expatriates*

Abstract Multinational corporations often assign expatriates who share an ethnicity with host country employees (termed ethnically similar expatriates) to work on international assignments. Although sharing an ethnicity with local employees can be an advantage, it also creates a unique identity challenge. In this article, we develop the argument that ethnic similarity might in fact threaten expatriate-local employee interactions if the two parties hold divergent views towards the importance of expatriates’ ethnic identity in their interactions. Drawing on self-verification theory, we explain why people desire to achieve congruence between how they view their own identity and how others view this identity. Subsequently, we identify key cultural and personal constraints affecting expatriates’ efforts to achieve ethnic identity self-verification. We also illustrate how unfulfilled ethnic identity self-verification affects ethnically similar expatriates, local employees and their interactions. Our study, thus, introduces a new angle to understand expatriate-local employee interactions and advances self-verification research by demonstrating the challenges in achieving ethnic identity self-verification when two social parties share an ethnicity.