IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/worbus/v37y2002i4p285-296.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Boundary spanning behaviors of expatriates

Author

Listed:
  • Au, Kevin Y.
  • Fukuda, John

Abstract

Expatriates provide benefits to multinational corporations (MNCs) when they enact boundary spanning roles. They do so by relaying local information and identifying opportunities that meet internal needs of MNCs. To test hypotheses based on social capital and role theories, we surveyed 232 expatriates. The findings indicated that local experience and the diversity of social networks were conducive to the boundary spanning activities of expatriates, whereas environmental uncertainty and overseas experience had little effect. By engaging in boundary spanning activities, expatriates felt less role ambiguity and gained role benefits, and were more eager to use the resources that were found within different communities of the host country. In addition, those expatriates who engaged in more boundary spanning activities had higher job satisfaction and more power within their own companies than those who did not.

Suggested Citation

  • Au, Kevin Y. & Fukuda, John, 2002. "Boundary spanning behaviors of expatriates," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 285-296, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:37:y:2002:i:4:p:285-296
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090951602000950
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Selmer, Jan, 1999. "Corporate expatriate career development," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 55-71.
    2. Kwok Leung & Peter B Smith & Zhongming Wang & Haifa Sun, 1996. "Job Satisfaction in Joint Venture Hotels in China: An Organizational Justice Analysis," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 27(4), pages 947-962, December.
    3. Michael L. Tushman & Elaine Romanelli, 1983. "Uncertainty, Social Location and Influence in Decision Making: A Sociometric Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(1), pages 12-23, January.
    4. Kwok Leung & Peter B Smith & Zhongming Wang & Haifa Sun, 1996. "Job Satisfaction in Joint Venture Hotels in China: An Organizational Justice Analysis," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 27(5), pages 947-962, December.
    5. Earl Naumann, 1993. "Organizational Predictors of expatriate Job Satisfaction," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 24(1), pages 61-80, March.
    6. Inkson, Kerr & Arthur, Michael B. & Pringle, Judith & Barry, Sean, 1997. "Expatriate assignment versus overseas experience: Contrasting models of international human resource development," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 351-368, January.
    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. Yidong Tu & Xinxin Lu & Yue Yu, 2017. "Supervisors’ Ethical Leadership and Employee Job Satisfaction: A Social Cognitive Perspective," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 229-245, February.
    2. Gamble, Jos, 2006. "Introducing Western-style HRM practices to China: Shopfloor perceptions in a British multinational," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 328-343, December.
    3. Bai, Yuntao & Lin, Li & Li, Peter Ping, 2016. "How to enable employee creativity in a team context: A cross-level mediating process of transformational leadership," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(9), pages 3240-3250.
    4. Dimitrova, Mihaela & Chia, Sherwin Ignatius & Shaffer, Margaret A. & Tay-Lee, Cheryl, 2020. "Forgotten travelers: Adjustment and career implications of international business travel for expatriates," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 26(1).
    5. Hon, Alice H.Y. & Lu, Lin, 2015. "Are we paid to be creative? The effect of compensation gap on creativity in an expatriate context," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 159-167.
    6. Stahl, Günter K. & Miller, Edwin L. & Tung, Rosalie L., 2002. "Toward the boundaryless career: a closer look at the expatriate career concept and the perceived implications of an international assignment," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 216-227, October.
    7. Victor Lau & Yin Wong, 2009. "Direct and Multiplicative Effects of Ethical Dispositions and Ethical Climates on Personal Justice Norms: A Virtue Ethics Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 90(2), pages 279-294, December.
    8. Michailova, Snejina & Fee, Anthony & DeNisi, Angelo, 2023. "Research on host-country nationals in multinational enterprises: The last five decades and ways forward," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(1).
    9. Jing Yang & Frank Tipton & Jiatao Li, 2011. "A review of foreign business management in China," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 627-659, September.
    10. Cappellen, Tineke & Janssens, Maddy, 2005. "Career paths of global managers: Towards future research," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 348-360, November.
    11. Alexander Newman & Ingrid Nielsen & Russell Smyth & Angus Hooke, 2015. "Examining the Relationship Between Workplace Support and Life Satisfaction: The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 120(3), pages 769-781, February.
    12. Abby Jingzi Zhou & Émilie Lapointe & Steven Shijin Zhou, 2019. "Understanding mentoring relationships in China: Towards a Confucian model," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 415-444, June.
    13. Su, Steven K. & Morris, Michael W. & Leung, Kwok, 2000. "Justice in the Culturally Diverse Workplace: Problems of Over-Emphasis and Under-Emphasis of Cultural Differences," Research Papers 1658r, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    14. Tae-Yeol Kim & Jeffrey Edwards & Debra Shapiro, 2015. "Social Comparison and Distributive Justice: East Asia Differences," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(2), pages 401-414, December.
    15. GAO, Wenshu & SMYTH, Russell, 2010. "Job satisfaction and relative income in economic transition: Status or signal?: The case of urban China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 442-455, September.
    16. Guillermina Jasso & Samuel Kotz, 2008. "Two Types of Inequality," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 37(1), pages 31-74, August.
    17. Luo, Yadong, 2009. "Are we on the same page?: Justice agreement in international joint ventures," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 383-396, October.
    18. Cohen-Charash, Yochi & Spector, Paul E., 2001. "The Role of Justice in Organizations: A Meta-Analysis," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 278-321, November.
    19. Kwok Leung & Xiaowan Lin & Lin Lu, 2014. "Compensation Disparity between Locals and Expatriates in China: A Multilevel Analysis of the Influence of Norms," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 107-128, February.
    20. Leung, Kwok & Wang, Zhongming & Hon, Alice H.Y., 2011. "Moderating effects on the compensation gap between locals and expatriates in China: A multi-level analysis," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 54-67, March.

    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:eee:worbus:v:37:y:2002:i:4:p:285-296. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620401/description#description .

    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.