No place like home? Self‐initiated expatriates in their ancestral homeland

Richardson, Christopher; Ng, Kim Hwa

doi:10.1111/1744-7941.12242

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 64 publications

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“…To ensure transparency, each interviewee was briefed on the researcher's personal and professional background at the very outset. The interview questions for the Japanese expatriates drew on previous studies on adjustment (Froese, 2012; Richardson and Ng, 2021). The opening questions of each interview centred on the background of the participant (how long they had been in Malaysia, the nature of their job, reasons for relocating, etc.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

It's all in the past: how do colonial legacies between host and home countries affect the expatriate experience?

Richardson

2021

JGM

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PurposeWithin the expatriation subset of the wider IB literature, the focus of research has been on contemporary contextual factors. The purpose of this paper is to link the present to the past by investigating how the individual expatriate experience may be affected by a colonial legacy between host and home countries.Design/methodology/approachGiven the exploratory nature of this study, a qualitative interview-based approach eliciting thick, detailed descriptions of the practical experiences of seven Japanese expatriate managers working in Malaysia was adopted. These were supplemented by additional interviews with three host-country nationals who work alongside some of the expatriates. The data were analysed through a two-stage coding process.FindingsThe expatriate respondents were largely unanimous in their view that the colonial past between the two countries had no negative impact on their experiences in Malaysia, and the Malaysian interviewees corroborated this. On the contrary, the majority of the expatriates actually spoke positively about their experiences. This was especially true for expatriates in both the tourism and education/research field whose work was linked in some way to the period of Japanese occupation.Research limitations/implicationsThe small, single-context nature of the investigation limits generalisation. There are also many particularities in this study (the nature of Japanese-Malaysian postcolonial relations, cultural values of the Malaysians and Japanese, and so on) that are perhaps not easily relatable to other contexts. Having said this, qualitative research is not always geared towards generalisability but rather towards contextual intricacies and nuances.Originality/valueWhile most of the extant literature on expatriation has examined largely contemporary factors, this paper explores the impact of more historical events on the expatriate experience. Although such events may seem distant from an expatriate's current activities, this study suggests that in certain circumstances, they may have a lingering effect.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

It's all in the past: how do colonial legacies between host and home countries affect the expatriate experience?

Richardson

2021

JGM

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“…Such an endeavor is particularly important in the Asia Pacific region. As shown by recent studies (Froese, 2012;Halim, Bakar, & Mohamad, 2014;Makkonen, 2017;Richardson & Ng, 2019;Tang, Chang, & Cheng, 2017), SIEs represent an important group of employees for organizations located in this region. They are, in fact, increasingly considered as part of local organizations' staffing strategy (Makkonen, 2016(Makkonen, , 2017).…”

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confidence: 89%

Psychological contract breach and organizational cynicism and commitment among self-initiated expatriates vs. host country nationals in the Chinese and Malaysian transnational education sector

2020

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In today's global economy, self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) and host country nationals (HCNs) both represent critical human resources for organizations operating globally. Yet, because these two groups of employees have been studied separately, little is known about how SIEs' and HCNs' perceptions of, and attitudes towards the organization compare and diverge (vs. converge) in terms of implications for human resource management. This study aims to contribute to fill this gap by examining psychological contract breach, organizational cynicism, and organizational commitment components (i.e., affective, normative, and continuance) among a sample of 156 SIEs and HCNs working in the Chinese and Malaysian transnational education sector. Using a one-year time-lagged study, we found that compared to HCNs, SIEs experienced more organizational cynicism and less affective, normative, and continuance commitment. Moreover, the breach-organizational cynicism relationship was stronger (i.e., more positive) among SIEs than HCNs. The indirect relationships between breach and affective and continuance commitment, as mediated by organizational cynicism, were also stronger (i.e., more negative) among SIEs than HCNs. Implications for human resource management are discussed under the lens of Conservation of Resources theory. Keywords Self-initiated expatriates. Host country nationals. Psychological contract breach. Organizational cynicism. Organizational commitment. China and Malaysia In a context of globalization, many organizations, from established multinational corporations to smaller enterprises and international joint ventures, seek to attract international talents (Collings, Scullion, & Morley, 2007). Along with those, talented

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“…present a barrier to expatriation to the region as firms give preference to local hires sourced through these connections (Horak, 2017). Similarly, Malaysian nationals of Chinese descent are increasingly self-initiating expatriation to China, attracted by financial and career incentives, but also because of their affinity with the cultural norms and their familiarity with the language (Richardson and Ng, 2019). A number of Chinese nationals, on the other hand, are going on assignment to Pakistan to work in Chinese firms setting up there (Nadeem & Mumtaz, 2018).…”

Section: Alternative Forms Of Global Mobilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Mobility in the Asia-Pacific Region and Role of Talent Management and International HRM

Kirk¹,

Howe-Walsh²

2021

International HRM and Development in Emerging Market Multinationals

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Vietnam (Banik, Barai and Suzuki (2017). Our specific interest is on those countries within this region where there is a variety of different forms of global mobility, but with a particular emphasis on intra-Asian commuting and, especially in the light of the current Covid-19 pandemic (Osborn, 2020), on virtual assignments. This is linked, in part at least to the differing stages of economic development and levels of connectivity across the region. Context & ConnectivityThe Asia Pacific region has contrasting forecasts for economic growth between developed and developing economies. Advanced economies including Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore, have forecast growth in 2021 of between 2.3% to 5%, according to the Asia and Pacific Economic Regional Outlook from the IMF (IMF 2020). In contrast, predictions for emerging economies range from 4% for Thailand, Malaysia 7.8%, 4.4% for Bangladesh, rising to 8.8% for India.In future, developments such as the Belt and Road Initiative in the Asia-Pacific region are predicted to enable the linking up of many cities integrating economies in this region much more closely together. This project is designed to improve overland and maritime connectivity from China to Central Asia and Europe (Dollar, 2020). It is forecast that this will enhance foreign trade, the flow of physical and financial capital, the transfer of knowledge and technologies, cultural exchanges, political relations, and the flow of people among the countries involved (Banik, Kumar and Suzuki, 2017). Connectivity has been further enhanced in the Asia-Pacific region by the development of education hub projects in India,

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No place like home? Self‐initiated expatriates in their ancestral homeland

Cited by 6 publications

References 64 publications

It's all in the past: how do colonial legacies between host and home countries affect the expatriate experience?

It's all in the past: how do colonial legacies between host and home countries affect the expatriate experience?

Psychological contract breach and organizational cynicism and commitment among self-initiated expatriates vs. host country nationals in the Chinese and Malaysian transnational education sector

Global Mobility in the Asia-Pacific Region and Role of Talent Management and International HRM

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