SummaryA major challenge facing Multinational Enterprises (MNEs) is finding ways to increase the success rates of managers assigned overseas. Our paper draws upon social identity theory to develop a model that focuses on the role of host country nationals (HCNs) in determining the adjustment of expatriate managers. Specifically, our model proposes attributes of the expatriate and the HCN that can increase the salience of national identity and outgroup categorization of expatriates by the HCNs. We also suggest how outgroup categorization interacts with a number of situational factors to influence the role of HCNs as socializing agents for expatriate newcomers. Finally, we propose that the socializing behaviors HCNs may display or withhold from the expatriate will affect the adjustment of the expatriate. Our model highlights the oftenoverlooked partners in the expatriate adjustment process and emphasizes the need for MNEs to be cognizant of the social dynamics between HCNs and expatriates in the host location.

The present study investigated how key organizational contextual factors relate to bundles of human resource (HR) practices. In a two-phase study of a sample of 661 organizations representing a full range of industries and organizational size, the authors found that organizations use 1 of 5 HR bundles: cost minimizers, contingent motivators, competitive motivators, resource makers, and commitment maximizers. In addition, the authors showed that the organizations that use a given type of HR bundle may be distinguished by the organizational values they pursue and their organizational structure, thus suggesting that HR choices are related to the context within which organizations operate.

Many expatriate human resource (HR) policies, particularly in the area of compensation, remain rooted in the past because they continue to favor the expatriate over local staff and do not take into account the increasing qualifications and aspirations of these local employees. Inequitable treatment leads to low commitment and poor work performance among local staff. More importantly, inequitable treatment creates tension between local and expatriate employees and causes the local staff to be less willing to be cooperative or supportive of the expatriates with whom they have to work. Without local support, expatriates may experience greater difficulty adjusting to their new jobs and the new environment, which is a contributing factor in the failure of expatriates. To minimize these problems, HR practices of expatriating organizations should focus on providing more equitable compensation for local and expatriate employees, selecting expatriates who are truly worthy of the higher pay, and increasing the transparency of pay practices so that local employees can see the linkage between work inputs and compensation more clearly. Managers at the local organization should emphasize favorable referents for local staff, breed organizational identification among the employees, prepare the local staff for incoming expatriates, and encourage them to assist and mentor incoming expatriates. It is critical that multinational companies (MNCs) are aware that some existing HR practices have potentially unintended negative consequences and that neglecting the impact of these practices on local employees hurts the effectiveness of the organization as well as the ability of expatriates to succeed in their assignment.

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The current research set out to understand the stereotypes individuals hold about occupations, and to also examine how occupational segregation is related to incongruences between demographic and occupational stereotypes. In Study 1, we applied the Stereotype Content Model (SCM) to develop a novel taxonomy of occupational stereotypes based on the dimensions of warmth and competence. We found evidence that occupations are reliably stereotyped along the dimensions of warmth and competence, and that raters agreed more on certain occupational stereotypes than others. In Study 2, we mapped the occupational stereotype taxonomy onto demographic stereotypes from the SCM to predict occupational segregation in the United States. Supporting an occupational stereotype incongruence hypothesis, women were more represented in occupations characterized by high warmth, low competence, Asian people were more represented in occupations characterized by high competence, and Black and Hispanic workers were more represented in occupations characterized by low competence. This work contributes to our understanding of how individuals perceive occupations in society, provides us with a means for systematically comparing occupational stereotypes and demographic stereotypes by applying the same descriptive dimensions, and highlights the importance of occupational stereotypes for understanding and potentially alleviating occupational segregation.

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