Foreign executives in local organisations

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate foreign executives appointed into cultural contexts distant from their country of origin and headquarters of organisations to which host-country nationals (HCNs) they supervise and HCN superiors they report to attribute a “local” national identity. Significant differences of these foreign executives in local organisations (FELOs) from other forms of expatriation, including assigned and self-initiated expatriates, are identified and discussed. Design/methodology/approach – The research utilises a qualitative exploratory approach based on triangulated multiple data sources. Data are sourced from in-depth semi-structured interviews with foreign executives (n=46) from 13 countries and their host-country peers (n=25) in organisations founded and headquartered in Malaysia. Dyadic data from the two sample groups are used to triangulate findings, while non-dyadic and socio-biographical data add further insight. Findings – The data analysis identifies issues surrounding allegiance, trust, and control, assumptions about income levels, and exposure to heightened local scrutiny as components of the distinct nature of the FELO experience. Research limitations/implications – Implications for future research on new types of international cross-cultural workplaces are discussed. While construct definitions for self-initiated expatriation (SIE) in the wider mobility and migration literature are still in flux, international management research may be at risk of neglecting local workplaces and perspectives. Practical implications – The FELO phenomenon differs significantly from expatriate assignments between headquarters and foreign subsidiaries of multinational corporations, and can be viewed as a rare and specific form of SIE. Its occurrence indicates an increasingly global market for individuals with career capital and global mobility. Originality/value – The findings elucidate the situation of FELOs and provide comparisons to other types of expatriates. The research contributes to extant literature on global mobility as it explores a specific cross-cultural phenomenon that has not been systematically investigated in the academic literature, but is described in the media and executive search firm publications as “fairly new, highly visible, and sometimes controversial” with demand for FELOs “likely to continue”.

The employability of newcomer self‐initiated expatriates in China: an employers' perspective

“…However, despite the recent increase in numbers of SIE studies in cross‐cultural career contexts (e.g. Arp, Hutchings and Smith ; Isakovic, bin Mohammed and Whitman ; Makkonen , b; Muir, Wallace and McMurray ; Rodriguez and Scurry ; Von Borell de Araujo et al. ).…”

For success in a cross‐cultural environment, choose foreign executives wisely

“…Research on FELOs has shown that both the foreign individuals and their host-country colleagues involved in this phenomenon view their workplaces as significantly different from expatriate assignments of global multinationals. Most important, local executives in this research do not describe their own companies as "global multinationals" under the inpatriation paradigm (Arp, 2012;Arp, Hutchings, & Smith, 2011, 2012. Overall, the FELO phenomenon can be viewed as part of the broader research paradigms of "boundary-less careers" (Bird, 1994;Stahl, Miller, & Tung, 2002) and "selfinitiated expatriation" (Jokinen, Brewster, & Suutari, 2008;Suutari & Brewster, 2000), which have in recent years captured the interest of international management scholars.…”

Typologies: What Types of Foreign Executives are Appointed by Local Organisations and What Types of Organisations Appoint Them?

“…These and other points of distinction are prominently mentioned by participants of in-depth interview studies (e.g. Arp, forthcoming 2013;Arp et al, 2011), highlighting that FELOs as well as their local peers perceive these workplaces to be quite different from other forms of expatriation. In addition, research with these two groups of executives illustrates that the reasons why foreign executives are initially appointed in spite of significant cultural distance, what they contribute to the local organisations that they work for, why some of them remain in their positions, and why these positions are not filled with local executives (Arp, forthcoming 2013), have little to do with the reasons for traditional expatriate assignments (i.e.…”

“…The Korn/Ferry Institute, 2009). While these foreign executives in local organisations (FELOs) can probably best be viewed as a specific form of self-initiated expatriation (SIE), their workplaces differ significantly from typical expatriate assignments (Arp, Hutchings, & Smith, 2011, forthcoming 2013.…”