AIB 2012 Conference Proceedings - Academy of International ...

MONDAY
internationalization process of Telefonica, the Spanish telecommunications company. (For more information,
please contact: Rafael Lucea, George Washington University, USA: rafel@gwu.edu)
Internationalization and CEO Turnover
Yu-Kai Wang, Soochow University
Kun Yang, Florida International University
Nathan Hiller, Florida International University
The requirements facing CEOs in modern organizations are generally challenging, yet also highly variable such
that two CEOs may face entirely different degrees of complexity and challenge in their role. Using the concept
of executive job demands (Hambrick cite), we posit that an MNE's degree of internationalization (measured as
firm-level international diversification, political complexity, and cultural complexity) is related to CEO turnover.
Data from an unbalanced panel dataset of 208 U.S.-based manufacturing MNEs with 813 observations from
2004 to 2009 suggests that international diversification, firm-level cultural complexity, and firm-level political
complexity are each positively associated with the likelihood of CEO turnover. These effects were not amplified
by the dynamism of the industry and were present even when controlling for firm performance and other
possible explanatory variables. Taken together, these results suggest that the demands faced by a high degree
of firm internationalization are likely to present challenges that increase the likelihood of corporate disruption
through CEO departure. (For more information, please contact: Yu-Kai Wang, Soochow University, Taiwan:
ywang012@scu.edu.tw)
Session: 2.2.10 - Competitive
Track: 9 - Cross-cultural Management and HRM
Multicultural Teams & Managing Diversity
Presented On: July 2, 2012 - 10:45-12:00
Chair: Mary Elizabeth Zellmer-Bruhn, University of Minnesota
Language Differences as Impediments to Shared Mental Model Formation in Multinational Teams
Helene Tenzer, Tübingen University
Markus Pudelko, Tübingen University
Large corporations increasingly use multinational teams to integrate their global operations. To perform this
complex task efficiently, team members need to develop shared mental models (SMMs), i.e. an organized
understanding of the knowledge base they are sharing. In multinational teams, the heterogeneity of team
members makes SMM formation especially challenging. While previous research has investigated the influence
of different diversity factors on SMMs, the impact of language differences has surprisingly been neglected so
far. To address this important gap we investigate how different elements of the language barrier impede the
formation of different types of SMMs. Based on 84 semi-structured interviews with team leaders, members and
senior managers of 15 multinational teams in three German automotive corporations we develop a model
showing how pragmatic and paraverbal barriers between team members obstruct SMMs about roles,
responsibilities and interaction patterns and how shortcomings in lexical, syntactical and phonetic proficiency
impede SMMs about team members' preferences, strengths, weaknesses as well as values and attitudes. These
findings integrate linguistic and psychological theories with management studies and complement our
understanding of the antecedents of SMMs in multinational teams. This is of crucial importance since SMMs
have been established as important prerequisites for team performance. (For more information, please contact:
Helene Tenzer, Tübingen University, Germany: helene.tenzer@uni-tuebingen.de)
AIB 2012 Conference Proceedings
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