IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/arbeit/v28y2019i3p215-240n2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Grenzstellenarbeit in transnationalen Arbeitsumgebungen: Expatriate-Manager als ‚Boundary-Spanner‘ in translokalen und transkulturellen ‚Workscapes‘

Author

Listed:
  • Bredenkötter Bastian

    (Universität Bielefeld, Fakultät für Soziologie, Universitätsstr. 25, 33615Bielefeld, Deutschland)

Abstract

The article uses the ‘workscapes’ framework of Felstead, Jewson and Walters (2005a) to investigate the work of expatriate managers as boundary spanners in multinational companies (MNCs). It proposes to describe the workscape of expatriates as ‘transnational workscape’ and shows that the central characteristics of this workscape – the translocality of workstations and workplaces and the transculturality of the ‘new’ office – are accompanied by challenges, the management of which is a key aspect of the boundary-spanning work of expatriates in MNCs and deeply influences their working and living conditions. The article thus introduces a conceptual framework to the German-language discussion on the new places of work and at the same time a space-sensitive perspective to expatriate research and demonstrates its benefits. The terms ‘transnational workscape’ and ‘transcultural office’ also contribute to the further development of the approach of Felstead and colleagues by adding a systematic perspective on the globalization of work.

Suggested Citation

  • Bredenkötter Bastian, 2019. "Grenzstellenarbeit in transnationalen Arbeitsumgebungen: Expatriate-Manager als ‚Boundary-Spanner‘ in translokalen und transkulturellen ‚Workscapes‘," Arbeit, De Gruyter, vol. 28(3), pages 215-240, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:bpj:arbeit:v:28:y:2019:i:3:p:215-240:n:2
    DOI: 10.1515/arbeit-2019-0015
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/arbeit-2019-0015
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/arbeit-2019-0015?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eve Chiapello & Luc Boltanski, 2003. "Der neue Geist des Kapitalismus," Post-Print hal-00680087, HAL.
    2. Au, Kevin Y. & Fukuda, John, 2002. "Boundary spanning behaviors of expatriates," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 285-296, January.
    3. Harzing, Anne-Wil, 2001. "Of bears, bumble-bees, and spiders: the role of expatriates in controlling foreign subsidiaries," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 366-379, January.
    4. Johnson, Karen L. & Duxbury, Linda, 2010. "The view from the field: A case study of the expatriate boundary-spanning role," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 29-40, January.
    5. B Sebastian Reiche & Anne-Wil Harzing & Maria L Kraimer, 2009. "The role of international assignees' social capital in creating inter-unit intellectual capital: A cross-level model," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 40(3), pages 509-526, April.
    6. Caligiuri, Paula & Bonache, Jaime, 2016. "Evolving and enduring challenges in global mobility," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 127-141.
    7. Noriko Yagi & Jill Kleinberg, 2011. "Boundary work: An interpretive ethnographic perspective on negotiating and leveraging cross-cultural identity," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 42(5), pages 629-653, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Florian Becker-Ritterspach & Christoph Dörrenbächer, 2011. "An Organizational Politics Perspective on Intra-firm Competition in Multinational Corporations," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 533-559, August.
    2. Chipoong Kim & Chul Chung & Chris Brewster, 2019. "Beyond Nationality: International Experience as a Key Dimension for Subsidiary Staffing Choices in MNEs," John H Dunning Centre for International Business Discussion Papers jhd-dp2019-03, Henley Business School, University of Reading.
    3. Julia Backmann & Rouven Kanitz & Amy Wei Tian & Patrick Hoffmann & Martin Hoegl, 2020. "Cultural gap bridging in multinational teams," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(8), pages 1283-1311, October.
    4. Kostova, Tatiana & Marano, Valentina & Tallman, Stephen, 2016. "Headquarters–subsidiary relationships in MNCs: Fifty years of evolving research," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 176-184.
    5. Ahrens, Carolin & Oehmichen, Jana & Wolff, Michael, 2018. "Expatriates as influencers in global work arrangements: Their impact on foreign-subsidiary employees’ ESOP participation," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 452-462.
    6. Heather Berry, 2017. "Managing valuable knowledge in weak IP protection countries," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 48(7), pages 787-807, September.
    7. Bader, Benjamin & Schuster, Tassilo, 2015. "Expatriate Social Networks in Terrorism-Endangered Countries: An Empirical Analysis in Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 63-77.
    8. Burmeister, Anne & Lazarova, Mila B. & Deller, Jürgen, 2018. "Repatriate knowledge transfer: Antecedents and boundary conditions of a dyadic process," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(6), pages 806-816.
    9. Ilya R. P. Cuypers & Gokhan Ertug & John Cantwell & Akbar Zaheer & Martin Kilduff, 2020. "Making connections: Social networks in international business," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(5), pages 714-736, July.
    10. Michael J.D. Roberts & Paul W. Beamish, 2017. "The Scaffolding Activities of International Returnee Executives: A Learning Based Perspective of Global Boundary Spanning," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 511-539, June.
    11. Tung, Rosalie L., 2016. "New perspectives on human resource management in a global context," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 142-152.
    12. Urzelai, Berrbizne & Puig, Francisco, 2019. "Developing international social capital: The role of communities of practice and clustering," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 209-221.
    13. Ahlvik, Catarina & Smale, Adam & Sumelius, Jennie, 2016. "Aligning corporate transfer intentions and subsidiary HRM practice implementation in multinational corporations," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 343-355.
    14. Hae-Jung Hong & Dana Minbaeva, 2022. "Multiculturals as strategic human capital resources in multinational enterprises," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(1), pages 95-125, February.
    15. Dahms, Sven, 2019. "Foreign-owned subsidiary knowledge sourcing: The role of location and expatriates," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 178-188.
    16. Horak, Sven & Yang, Inju, 2016. "Affective networks, informal ties, and the limits of expatriate effectiveness," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 1030-1042.
    17. Li, Liang (Arthur) & Schotter, Andreas P.J. & Beamish, Paul W., 2024. "The origin and nationality of general manager successors in local-market-seeking MNE subsidiaries," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(3).
    18. Duvivier, Florence & Peeters, Carine & Harzing, Anne-Wil, 2019. "Not all international assignments are created equal: HQ-subsidiary knowledge transfer patterns across types of assignments and types of knowledge," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 54(3), pages 181-190.
    19. Schmid, Stefan & Wurster, Dennis J., 2017. "International work experience: Is it really accelerating the way to the management board of MNCs?," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 991-1008.
    20. João Vasco Coelho, 2022. "Recruiting Business Expatriates in Portugal: The Moderating Role of Employee Willingness," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 8(2), pages 206-227, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:arbeit:v:28:y:2019:i:3:p:215-240:n:2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyter.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.