AIB 2012 Conference Proceedings - Academy of International ...

TUESDAY
Session: 3.4.13 - Interactive
Track: 9 - Cross-cultural Management and HRM
Managing Overseas Assignments
Presented On: July 3, 2012 - 14:30-15:45
Chair: Naoki Ando, Hosei University
The Influence of Terrorism on Expatriate Performance: a Conceptual Approach
Benjamin Bader, University of Hamburg
Nicola Berg, University of Hamburg
This article presents a conceptual model of the influence of terrorism on expatriates' work attitudes and
performance. After briefly discussing the challenges connected with terrorism and the expatriation of employees
into high-risk countries, we develop a causal model based on the stress perspective. Several role and situational
stressors contribute to an expatriate's individual stress level, which is then reflected in his or her work attitudes
and performance. Then, propositions on the postulated relationships are derived and moderating influences are
discussed. The paper ends with managerial implications and directions for future studies. (For more information,
please contact: Benjamin Bader, University of Hamburg, Germany: benjamin.bader@uni-hamburg.de)
The Effect of Absolute and Relative Numbers of Expatriates on Foreign Subsidiary Performance
Naoki Ando, Hosei University
This study examines the relationship between foreign subsidiary staffing and the performance of foreign
subsidiaries. In particular, this study emphasizes two practices of foreign subsidiary staffing, i.e., the ratio of
parent country nationals to foreign subsidiary employees and the number of parent country nationals assigned
to the foreign subsidiary. Hypotheses are developed that predict curvilinear relationships between foreign
subsidiary staffing and the performance of foreign subsidiaries. Using the data consisting of 2,228 foreign
subsidiaries of Japanese firms, empirical analysis is conducted to test the hypotheses. The results of the
analysis show that the ratio of parent country nationals has an inverted U-shaped relationship with foreign
subsidiary performance. The results also show that the number of parent country nationals assigned to the
foreign subsidiary has a U-shaped relationship with foreign subsidiary performance. The results of this study
suggest that the two distinctive but related staffing practices have different effects on foreign subsidiary
performance. (For more information, please contact: Naoki Ando, Hosei University, Japan: nando@hosei.ac.jp)
Cross-Cultural Adjustment of Expatriates: The Role of Emotional Intelligence, Sex, Cultural Similarity and
Experience
Alexei Koveshnikov, Hanken School of Economics
Heidi Wechtler, Sorbonne Business School
Cecile Dejoux, CNAM Paris
The role of emotional intelligence (EI) in cross-cultural adjustment (CCA) of expatriates on international
assignments remains under-researched in extant literature. In this paper, we test a model which shows that EI
is an important positive predictor of expatriates' general living, interactional and work-related CCA. Additionally,
we find that cultural similarity facilitates general living adjustment only and not the other two dimensions of
CCA. Finally, the analysis yields an interesting interaction effect between sex and appraisal of emotions in the
self and others, showing that emotionally intelligent (in that particular adaptive ability) females are likely to
experience slower CCA on all three dimensions than males. The adaptive ability of appraisal of emotions in the
self and others has a relatively faster diminishing utility for females than for males, i.e. the improvement in CCA
AIB 2012 Conference Proceedings
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