IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/worbus/v45y2010i1p29-40.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The view from the field: A case study of the expatriate boundary-spanning role

Author

Listed:
  • Johnson, Karen L.
  • Duxbury, Linda

Abstract

Research suggests growing interest in the boundary-spanning role played by expatriates in supporting organizational learning and adaptation in uncertain environments. However, efforts to examine this role have relied on conceptual frameworks that have not been empirically grounded. This exploratory case study of 79 expatriates in the field applies a qualitative methodology to elaborate and extend current conceptualizations of the boundary role to the work of the expatriate. Findings suggest that interpersonal relationships may be the cornerstones of the role and the enablers of other cross-boundary resource exchanges.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:worbus:v:45:y:2010:i:1:p:29-40
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090951609000273
    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. 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.
    2. Michael D Lord & Annette L Ranft, 2000. "Organizational Learning About New International Markets: Exploring the Internal Transfer of Local Market Knowledge," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 31(4), pages 573-589, December.
    3. Michailova, Snejina & Worm, Verner, 2003. "Personal Networking in Russia and China:: Blat and Guanxi," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 509-519, August.
    4. Au, Kevin Y. & Fukuda, John, 2002. "Boundary spanning behaviors of expatriates," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 285-296, January.
    5. Hoon-Halbauer, Sing Keow, 1999. "Managing relationships within sino-foreign joint ventures," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 344-371, January.
    6. Jackson, Susan E. & Schuler, Randall S., 1985. "A meta-analysis and conceptual critique of research on role ambiguity and role conflict in work settings," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 16-78, August.
    7. Julian Birkinshaw, 1997. "Entrepreneurship In Multinational Corporations: The Characteristics Of Subsidiary Initiatives," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(3), pages 207-229, March.
    8. Steve Lovett & Lee C Simmons & Raja Kali, 1999. "Guanxi Versus the Market: Ethics and Efficiency," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 30(2), pages 231-247, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Guo, Ying & Rammal, Hussain Gulzar & Pereira, Vijay, 2021. "Am I ‘In or Out’? A social identity approach to studying expatriates’ social networks and adjustment in a host country context," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 558-566.
    2. Liu, Yipeng & Meyer, Klaus E., 2020. "Boundary spanners, HRM practices, and reverse knowledge transfer: The case of Chinese cross-border acquisitions," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 55(2).
    3. João M. Lopes & Sofia Gomes & Pedro Lopes & Adriana Silva & Daniel Lourenço & Duarte Esteves & Mafalda Cardoso & Valter Redondo, 2023. "Exploring the Role of Gamification in the Online Shopping Experience in Retail Stores: An Exploratory Study," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-15, April.
    4. He, Shaowei & Khan, Zaheer & Shenkar, Oded, 2018. "Subsidiary capability upgrading under emerging market acquirers," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(2), pages 248-262.
    5. Gao, Qiuling & Cui, Lin & Lew, Yong Kyu & Li, Zijie & Khan, Zaheer, 2021. "Business incubators as international knowledge intermediaries: Exploring their role in the internationalization of start-ups from an emerging market," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(4).
    6. 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.
    7. Collien, Isabel, 2019. "Functions of boundary spanning in context: A postcolonial, power-sensitive perspective," Working Papers 2, Helmut Schmidt University, Research Cluster OPAL.
    8. 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.
    9. 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.
    10. 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.
    11. Naoki Ando, 2016. "Similarity to successful peers and the implications for subsidiary performance," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 15(2), pages 110-136, April.
    12. Guo, Ying & Rammal, Hussain G. & Benson, John & Zhu, Ying & Dowling, Peter J., 2018. "Interpersonal relations in China: Expatriates’ perspective on the development and use of guanxi," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 455-464.
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. Ilya R. P. Cuypers & Gokhan Ertug & John Cantwell & Akbar Zaheer & Martin Kilduff, 0. "Making connections: Social networks in international business," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 0, pages 1-23.
    16. Deniz Köksal & Jochen Strähle & Martin Müller, 2018. "Social Sustainability in Apparel Supply Chains—The Role of the Sourcing Intermediary in a Developing Country," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-35, March.
    17. Jia, Fu & Lamming, Richard & Sartor, Marco & Orzes, Guido & Nassimbeni, Guido, 2014. "International purchasing offices in China: A dynamic evolution model," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 580-593.

    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. 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.
    2. 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.
    3. Klaus E. Meyer & Chengguang Li & Andreas P. J. Schotter, 0. "Managing the MNE subsidiary: Advancing a multi-level and dynamic research agenda," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 0, pages 1-39.
    4. Schotter, Andreas & Beamish, Paul W., 2011. "Performance effects of MNC headquarters-subsidiary conflict and the role of boundary spanners: The case of headquarter initiative rejection," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 243-259, September.
    5. Dirk Holtbrügge, 2013. "Indigenous Management Research," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 1-11, February.
    6. Araujo, Luis & Rezende, Sergio, 2003. "Path dependence, MNCs and the internationalisation process: a relational approach," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 12(6), pages 719-737, December.
    7. 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.
    8. 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.
    9. Yen, Dorothy Ai-wan & Abosag, Ibrahim, 2016. "Localization in China: How guanxi moderates Sino–US business relationships," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 5724-5734.
    10. Dan Li & Manuel Portugal Ferreira & Fernando Serra, 2007. "Technology transfer within MNEs: An investigation of inter-subsidiary competition and cooperation," Working Papers 1, globADVANTAGE, Polytechnic Institute of Leiria.
    11. Wu, Yan & Strange, Roger & Shirodkar, Vikrant, 2022. "Lateral knowledge transfer and foreign affiliate performance: The importance of affiliate strategic roles," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 116(C).
    12. Davina Vora & Tatiana Kostova & Kendall Roth, 2007. "Roles of subsidiary managers in multinational corporations: The effect of dual organizational identification," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 595-620, October.
    13. Chatzopoulou, Erifili-Christina & Dimitratos, Pavlos & Lioukas, Spyros, 2021. "Agency controls and subsidiary strategic initiatives: The mediating role of subsidiary autonomy," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(3).
    14. Andreas P. J. Schotter & Ram Mudambi & Yves L. Doz & Ajai Gaur, 2017. "Boundary Spanning in Global Organizations," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 403-421, June.
    15. Buckley, Peter J. & Clegg, Jeremy & Tan, Hui, 2006. "Cultural awareness in knowledge transfer to China--The role of guanxi and mianzi," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 41(3), pages 275-288, September.
    16. Benjamin M. Oviatt & Patricia P. McDougall, 2005. "Defining International Entrepreneurship and Modeling the Speed of Internationalization," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(5), pages 537-553, September.
    17. Klaus E. Meyer & Chengguang Li & Andreas P. J. Schotter, 2020. "Managing the MNE subsidiary: Advancing a multi-level and dynamic research agenda," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(4), pages 538-576, June.
    18. G. G. Nalbandyan & V. H. Hovhannisyan, 2018. "The Impact Evaluation Of International Ethnic Ties On Industrial Companies’ Opportunity Exploitation When Entering Foreign Markets," Strategic decisions and risk management, Real Economy Publishing House, issue 4.
    19. Olwen Bedford, 2011. "Guanxi-Building in the Workplace: A Dynamic Process Model of Working and Backdoor Guanxi," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 104(1), pages 149-158, November.
    20. Xiaohua Yang & Elly Ho & Artemis Chang, 2012. "Integrating the resource-based view and transaction cost economics in immigrant business performance," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 753-772, September.

    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:45:y:2010:i:1:p:29-40. 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.