Japanese expatriates' management in global assignments: A review and research agenda

Abstract

Japanese firms and their management practices (including those related to expatriate management) have been of interest to international business researchers for decades. The international human resource management literature highlights the critical role expatriates' family play in the success or failure of global assignments. However, this issue has not been prominent in the literature on Japanese expatriates, despite the emphasis on collectivism and culture. This study uses the integrative literature review method to consolidate the research on Japanese work practices and expatriation issues in Japanese multinational enterprises, with emphasis on Japanese family issues in expatriate management. Using family systems theory as the analytical lens, we identify themes that have been covered in the literature on Japanese global assignees and their families. Current gaps in the literature are highlighted, and we provide a future research agenda with broad themes that can contribute to the academic writing and practices of Japanese expatriate management.

Expatriate management in Japanese firms: paradox of the HR system for Thai self-initiated expatriates

“…Expatriate management, from the perspective of expatriates, has still been scarce. Difficulties in working for both self-initiated expatriates and organisational expatriates in the Japanese firms were also suggested by previous studies (such as Furusawa and Brewster, 2016;McCann and Monteath, 2020;Bebenroth and Froese, 2020;Dang and Rammal, 2020;Peltokorpi and Froese, 2009). The turnover rate of expatriates is high in Japan as well: more than 44% of them left/wish to leave their Japanese firms within one year of their start date (METI, 2022).…”

“…Thus, there has been an increase in the volume of studies on Japanese IHRM and Japanese organisational expatriate management, both of which have received much attention from scholars. Current studies are more interested in organisational expatriates and self-initiated expatriates working in Japanese overseas firms or in Japan (such as Furusawa and Brewster, 2016; McCann and Monteath, 2020; Bebenroth and Froese, 2020; Dang and Rammal, 2020). For example, language and culture are indicated as important tools to overcome boundaries between expatriates and host labour (e.g.…”

“…Self-initiated expatriates coming from developed countries could work in other developed countries where they already have family or where they have received education, for example. Dang and Rammal (2020) note a lack of studies on Japanese firms' expatriate management in Japan and so focus on Japanese organisational expatriates, borrowing the ideas from previous research covering Japanese cross-cultural management, the Japanese HRM system JGM 11,3 and Japanese IHRM, in order to re-examine the important role of families in expats achieving their international assignments. It is suggested that a more collectivist national culture means that expats require their families' support to achieve success (Furusawa and Brewster, 2016).…”

Globally distributed talent communities: A typology of innovation problems and talent characteristics

“…Yet, it has become increasingly prohibitive for MNEs to pursue an internal talent strategy owing to the rising concerns of retaining talent (Lazarova & Caligiuri, 2001; Lazarova & Cerdin, 2007; Yan, Zhu, & Hall, 2002). The cost accrued to the MNEs in retaining internal talent includes not only the high training costs of developing talent (Morrison, 2000) but also the added cost of maintaining talent, which may require MNEs to extend efforts beyond employees to accommodate their families (Dang & Rammal, 2020). In the current talent climate, a focus on developing expertise for a specific purpose (Cappelli, 2008; Ratten & Ferreira, 2016) poses a significant risk of losing talent to the competition (Cappelli, 2000; Florida, 2006).…”

Global talent management in the “new normal”—Editors' special issue introduction

“…Historically, the intra‐organizational knowledge transfer from headquarters to subsidiaries or across subsidiaries used expatriate arrangements or from subsidiaries to headquarters using inpatriate arrangements (Bonache, Brewster, & Suutari, 2001; Dang & Rammal, 2020). Since tacit knowledge is more difficult to transfer than explicit knowledge, the physical movement of knowledge workers across borders facilitates interaction between individuals, which Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) describe as socialization and helps externalize the knowledge.…”