Transnational Organizations and Cross-Cultural Workplaces

Shimoda, Yukimi

doi:10.1057/978-1-137-52212-2

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…There is extantbut mostly anecdotal-evidence showing that internationally mobile workers, tend to avoid the "problem of strangehood" and "stranger anxiety" by retreating into "prefabricated enclaves" (Nash, 1969, pp. 574-577) and build temporary communities amongst themselves (Fechter, 2007;Lauring and Selmer, 2009;Shimoda, 2017) based JGM 11,1 on shared national identities, but also shared language and experiences (Harrington and Seabrooke, 2020). Expatriate "bubbles" have been characterised in the literature as "gated communities", which provide expatriates a safe space where they can feel at home (Castells, 2000, p. 447) and protect expatriates from "otherness" in the host country (Guttormsen, 2018).…”

Section: Expatriate Bubbles As Identity Workpacesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identity work in the backstage: exploring the role of expatriate bubbles in identity work of self-initiated expatriate engineers through a Goffmanian lens

Papafilippou

Efthymiadou²

2022

JGM

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PurposeWhile there is vast research on expatriate adjustment, it is still known very little on how self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) in particular might cope with identity conflicts and how they engage with identity work. What is more, although there is some literature on the existence of expatriate bubbles, this does not cover how these bubbles might impact identity work. The purpose of this paper is to explore identity work that is taking place within expatriate bubbles and thus advance our knowledge on both expatriate bubbles and expatriate adjustment.Design/methodology/approachThe study reports on the analysis of in-depth, semi-structured interview data collected from 37 self-initiated expatriate engineers from Greece, Spain and Italy, currently residing in Bristol, UK.FindingsPrevious studies have argued that expatriate bubbles impede adjustment. The study analysis, however, shows that expatriate bubbles can be not only a powerful mechanism for coping with foreignness and strengthening their sense of belonging but also act as identity workspaces where SIEs engaged with identity work and navigated identity conflicts.Originality/valueThe present study addresses two empirical gaps: the paucity of literature on the identity work that self-initiated expatriates engage with and the paucity studies on self-initiated expatriate engineers. The study also has a theoretical contribution as, drawing upon a Goffmanian dramaturgical framework sheds light on the back regions of performance taking place within expatriate bubbles. Thus, showing how SIEs relax but also rehearse their performances in order to reduce any identity gaps triggered by the new organisational and national context.

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Section: Expatriate Bubbles As Identity Workpacesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identity work in the backstage: exploring the role of expatriate bubbles in identity work of self-initiated expatriate engineers through a Goffmanian lens

Papafilippou

Efthymiadou²

2022

JGM

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“…Historically, the term expatriate drew on the authority of race and class (Kunz, 2016) and on colonial histories; these have continued their presence in the contemporary literature through the figures of neo-colonialism -Western managers and executives working in large corporate firms as drivers of globalisation (Beaverstock, 2011). However, the dynamism of Asian economic patterns has meant that intra-Asian mobility of such skilled migrants has grown significantly (Altman and Shortland, 2008;Napier and Taylor, 2002;Shen and Jiang, 2015;Shimoda, 2017). Most of the literature emphasises the importance of 'the boys' network' in this form of migration with women rarely seen as key players.…”

Section: Skills Migration and Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Importantly, this gender gap in skilled migration requires locational sensitivity. For instance, it may operate through migratory regimes through institutional practices operating at the level of the firm (for Japan, see Holbrow and Nagayoshi, 2016;Shimoda, 2016Shimoda, & 2017 or at the level of the family, but overall, mobility is valorised as depending on and adding to human capital. Importantly, the rise of China (Fanjun, 2009) has led to questions about its role as a destination for highly skilled migrants.…”

Section: Theorising Gendered Skilled Migration Development Human Capi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Gendered highly skilled migration in the knowledge sector

Raghuram¹,

Sondhi²

2020

Handbook on Gender in Asia

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Highly skilled women form a large part of skilled migrant flows within, from and to Asia, although they have little place in the imaginaries of Asian gendered migration. This chapter focuses on the mutually constitutive relationship between gender and skilled migration. It first reviews the key feminist contributions to theorising skilled migration. Second, it outlines how gender, skills and migration play out in skilled migration regimes. Lastly, it sets out a future research agenda for gendered skilled migration research that is sensitive to the geographies in which gender analysis of skilled migrants is conducted, and the need to extend research beyond a heteronormative and patriarchal matrix.

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“…Nevertheless, they easily retreat into the expatriate bubble (Roth, 2015;Van Bochove and Engbersen, 2015). On the other hand, corporate expatriates can be seen as living simultaneously in several bubbles at the same or different times and spaces (Shimoda, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A bubble in the making: symbolic boundaries in a Finnish expatriate community

Peltonen

Huhtinen

2023

JGM

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PurposeWhile there is anecdotal evidence that internationally mobile workers often form isolated nation-based communities or “expatriate bubbles,” previous academic scholarship on the expatriate communities and their subjective boundaries is limited. The primary purpose of this article is to advance the theoretical or conceptual understanding of expatriate communities as bubbles.Design/methodology/approachAs developed by Lamont and Molnár (2002), the theory of symbolic boundaries is applied and set to scrutinize the production and maintenance of insulated expatriate communities. Empirically, an ethnographic study of a community of Finnish expatriates in a Southeast Asian country is undertaken to describe how symbolic boundaries are constructed.FindingsThe main theoretical implication of the paper is the recognition that expatriates themselves are involved in creating the “bubble.” The boundaries separating the national expatriate community are not externally imposed but can be viewed as consequences of the active boundary work of the expatriates. The empirical study demonstrates how the Finnish expatriates negotiated the symbolic boundaries of their community, drawing on cultural, moral and spatial modalities in different levels of boundary work.Originality/valueThere need to be more systematic attempts to develop a theoretically grounded understanding of insulated expatriate communities and their boundaries. This article contributes to the sociological conceptualization of expatriate bubbles by utilizing the symbolic boundary approach, which adds perspective to the embryonic theory of the subjective boundaries of expatriate communities. The multiplicity of different types of symbolic boundaries and their modalities suggests that an expatriate bubble is rarely a finished state or structure.

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Transnational Organizations and Cross-Cultural Workplaces

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Identity work in the backstage: exploring the role of expatriate bubbles in identity work of self-initiated expatriate engineers through a Goffmanian lens

Identity work in the backstage: exploring the role of expatriate bubbles in identity work of self-initiated expatriate engineers through a Goffmanian lens

Gendered highly skilled migration in the knowledge sector

A bubble in the making: symbolic boundaries in a Finnish expatriate community

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