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8/10/2019 Cultural Novelty and Adjustment Western Business Expatriates in China_REPLICATION_2006
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Int. J. of uman Re.wurce Manag ement 17:7 July 2006 1209-1222 O Routledge
Cultural novelty and adjustment W estern
business expatriates in China
Jan Selmer
Abstract
Althou gh seld om formally teste d, the traditional assumption in the literature
on expatriate management is that the greater the cultural novelty of the host country, the
more d ifficult it wou ld be for the e xpatriate to adjust. To be able to test this propo sition, a
mail survey was directed towards Western business expatriates in China. Three
sociocuitural adjustment variables were examined: general, interaction and work
adjustment. Although a negative relationship was hypothesized between cultural novelty
and the three ad justment variables, resu lts of the hierarchical mu ltiple reg ression analysis
showe d that there was no significant association betwe en the m. Althou gh highly tentative,
the suggestion that it is as difficult for business expatriates to adjust to a very similar
culture as to a very dissimilar culture is fundamental. Implications of this potential ly
crucial finding are discussed in detail.
Keywords
Cu ltural novelty; sociocuitu ral adjustment; difficulty to adjust; China.
Introduction
There is an in tu i t ive log ic to i t : what seems very d if ferent cou ld be d if f icu l t to adjus t to
and wha t appears fami liar d oe s no t t ake l o ng t o g e t u .sed t o . Al thou gh s e l do m t es t ed by a
r igorous empir ica l inves t iga t ion, this has been the defau l t assumption regarding
expatriate adjustment for many years (cf. Black
et al.
1991) . This see ms to be a jus t if ied
assumpt ion suppor t ed by theo ry as we l l a s a myr iad o f anecdo ta l ev id ence . Soc ia l
l ea rn ing theo ry (Bandura , 1977) wou ld p r ed ic t s uch an ou tcome o f expa t r ia t e
assignme n ts . Perhaps even mo re convinc ing , many o f u s may have f e l t bewi ld e r ed when
dumped as t ou r is t s in f o r e ign l oca t ions unab le t o speak the l oca l l anguage and f ee l ing
very unsu r e abou t wha t t o do ne x t . Ho weve r , d is s en t ing vo ices have bee n hea rd c la iming
tha t i t cou ld be as d if f icu l t for business expatr ia tes to adjus t to a s imilar as to a very
d if fe r en t cu l t u r e (Brews te r , 1995; Brews te r et al. 1993; O'Grad y and Lane , 1996). So ,
does i t r ea l ly mat ter whatever the answer may be? Yes , this is an issue of considerable
theo r e t ica l and prac t ica l impor tance . Bes id es po t en t ia l ly l ead ing t o the need t o b r eak
new theo re t ica l gro u nd, far- reaching implica t ions can be expe c ted for in terna t ional f irms
with business expatr ia tes if so l id evidence can be produced tha t the t radi t iona l
assumption is untenable . This may emphasize the need for in terna t ional f irms to provide
bet ter suppor t for their business expatr ia tes , e i ther through appropr ia te cross-cu l tura l
Jan Selmer, Department of Management and International Busines.s, Aarhus School of Business,
Fugiesangs Alle 4, DK-8210 Aarhus V, Denmark (tel; -1-45 8948 6828; fax: +45 8948 6125;
e-mail: [email protected]).
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training or through m ore sophisticated selection m echan isms, to ensure that they are well
prepared to deal with assignments in both similar and dissimilar host cultures.
Therefore, the purpose of this investigation is to examine the association between
cultural novelty and expatriate adjustment. This is both relevant and important, since the
adjustment of expatriates may be related to their performance. Although the theoretical
link between expatriate adjustment and performance is conceptually unclear, it has been
observed that expatriate.s who are unable to adjust to work and life at a host location are
also likely to perform poorly (Ones and Viswesvaran, 1997). Emerging rigorous
empirical research supports a positive association between the adjustment of expatriates
and their work performance (Caligiuri , 1997; Kraimer et ai 200 1; Parker and McEvoy,
1993).
This is crucial, since the reason for assigning expatriates to foreign locations is to
perform certain work tasks. So, depending on the finding of this study, the cultural
novelty may be a more or less relevant factor in assessing the performance of business
expatriates. Popular notions, such as hardship posting s and tough assign me nts ,
referring to a radically different cultural con text to justify special consid eration and
treatment for expatriates, may turn out to be an irrelevant line of argument.
Consequently, the main potential contribution of this investigation is the exploration of
the traditional, intuitively appea ling notion ofth e presumed negative association between
cultural novelty and expatriate adjustment.
The place of investigation is China. This host location was selected both for its
growing importance to Western business firms and its dissimilar cultural context
permeating d aily l ife and work of Western expatriates assigned there. Th e cou ntry s
entry into the World T rade O rganization has accen tuated its importance as a current and
potential market for Western and other international business firms. Virtually
uncontested, C hina has em erged as the world s m ost desirable m arket. W ith a
population of 1.3 billion, China has one-fifth of the population of the world. In 1979,
when China opened up for foreign investment, foreign businesses started to move in to
claim a share ofth e cou ntry s vast markets. China continues to attract more foreign direct
investment than any other developing country. However, establishing operations in
China may constitute more than a financial concern to foreign firms. China is distinctly
different from m ost other countries . From a W estern persp ective , Ch ina is seen as the
most foreign of all foreign places. Its culture, institutions, and people appear completely
baffling - a ma tter of absolu te difference, not of de gre e. (Ch en, 200 1: 17). This m akes
China a challenging destination for Western bu siness expatriates, since they have to deal
with a very different way of life than in their own country and they have to perform in an
unfamiliar work context. There is a wealth of evidence suggesting that many Western
business expatriates could find their assignment in China frustrating (Bjorkman and
Schaap, 1994; Kaye and Taylor, 1997; Sergeant and Frenkel, 1998).
After introducing the concept of expatriate adjustment, and especially the
sociocultural aspects of this notion, the association between this construct and cultural
novelty is discussed. Using social learning theory (Bandura, 1977) as the theoretical basis
for this relationship, three hypotheses are proposed. The methodology for testing these
hypotheses is delineated and the results of the analysis are presented. The findings are
discussed in detail, noting potential limitations and implications ofthe study. Finally, the
conclusions from this investigation are drawn.
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S e l m e r :
Cultural novelty and adjustment
1211
Expatriate adjustment
Sociocultural adjustment
The concept of sociocultural adjustment has been proposed and defined in the literature
on international adjustment (Searle and Ward, 1990; Ward and Kennedy, 1992; Ward
and Searle, 1991). Socio cultural adju stmen t relates to the ability to fit in or effectively
interact with members of the host culture (Ward and Kennedy, 1996). Sociocultural
adjustment has been associated with variables that promote and facilitate culture learning
and acquisition of .social skills in the host culture (Cross, 1995; Searle and Ward, 1990).
The sociocultural notion of adjustment is based on cultural learning theory and highlights
social behaviour and practical social skills underlying attitudinal factors (Black and
M endenhall, 1991; Furnham , 19 93; Klineberg, 1982).
Black et al. (1991) argued that the degree of cros.s-cultural adju.stment should be
treated as a multidimensional concept, rather than a unitary phenomenon as was the
previous dominant view (Gullahorn and Gullahorn, 1962; Oberg , I960). In their
proposed model for international adjustment. Black et al. (1991) made a distinction
between three dimensions of in-country adjustment: (I) adjustment to work, (2)
adjustment to interacting with host nationals and (3) adjustment to the general non-work
environment. This theoretical framework of international adjustment covers socio-
cultural a spects of adjustme nt and it has been sup ported by a series of empirica l .studies of
US expatriates and their spouses (Black and Gregersen, 1990, 1991a, 1991b, 1991c;
Black and Stephens, 1989). McEvoy and Parker (1995) also found support for the three
dimensions of expatriate adjustment.
ultural novelty and adjustment
In the literature on expatriate management, the traditional argument is that the greater the
cultural novelty of the host country, the more difficult it would be for the expatriate to
adju.st in the foreign location (Black etai. 1991). This is an intuitively appealing position
supported by common sense and a host of anecdotal evidence. Although conflicting
suggestions have been proposed over the years (Brewster, 1995; Brewster et al. 1993;
O G rad y an d Lane , 1996), the tenets of social learning theory (Ban dura, 1977) have been
used to justify this initial stance (Black and M end enha ll, 1991).
Theoretical framework
Albert Bandura (1977) is one of the main proponents of social learning theory which
integrates cognitive and behavioral theories. In his book, Bandura (1977) asserts that in
addition to individuals learning based on the consequ ences of their own actions,
individuals can also learn and behave based on their vicarious experience, by observing
other peop le s behav iour and associated consequ ences and by im itating the m odelled
behaviour. In the same source, Bandura further suggests that people are capable of
choosing how they will respond in future situations. The complete theory can be found
elsewhere (Bandura, 1977, 1983) and only theoretical aspects underpinning the
discussion about the association between cultural novelty and expatriate adjustment will
be touched upon here.
Social learning theory would suggest that individuals entering a new culture tend to
pay attention to those elements in the foreign cultural context that are similar to their own
culture and, therefore, seem familiar. They may even superimpose familiarity on
anything that only remotely resembles familiar cues. Given this tendency of selective
perception towards the familiar, individuals are most likely to notice only those
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differences between their own and the host culture that are clearly visible and striking.
Initially, whether the host culture appears familiar or not, individuals are likely to make
use of past behaviour which in their own culture has proved from successful in similar
situations. However, to the extent that new cultural environment is different from their
own culture, generically similar situations may require radically different behaviours.
Hence, to the extent that the host culture requires different specific behaviours,
individuals are likely to exhibit inappropriate actions. In turn, these inappropriate
behaviours are l ikely to generate negative consequences (Black and Mendenhall , 1991).
If the cultural novelty of the host culture is large, the frequency of novel situations and
the probabili ty of the newcomers committing behavioural blunders are substantial
(Torbiorn, 1982). There is also a higher probability that the magnitude of the negative
consequences of displaying inappropriate behaviour in a host setting with high cultural
novelty will be greater (Black and Mendenhall , 1991). These arguments based on social
learning theory all seem to suggest that the higher the cultural novelty ofthe host culture,
the more likely expatriates are to exhibit inappropriate b ehaviours and gene rate n egative
consequences which may adversely affect their adjustment in the foreign location. In
other words, these arguments appear to propose a negative association between cultural
novelty and expatriate adjustment.
Another line of theoretical argumentation can be based on the factors that have been
shown to be important in influencing which models a person selects to focus his or her
attention on. Such factors include attractiveness and similarity of the model (Bandura,
1977). The cultural novelty ofthe host culture is likely to affect the similarity of potential
models and, therefore, the attractiveness of the models (i.e., host country nationals,
HC Ns). The greater the dissimilarity between parent country nationals (PCN s) and HC Ns
due to cultural novelty, the greater the likelihood that the individual will perceive
the models (HCNs) as less attractive and as a consequence pay less attention to the
behaviours modelled by HCNs. The less attention paid to modelled behaviours, the less
likely the individual is to acquire and retain new behaviours appropriate for the host
culture accurately, and the more likely the individual is to exhibit inappropriate
behaviours (Black and Me ndenhal l , 1991) . The m ore the individual displays
inappropriate behaviours and experiences negative feedback and consequences, the
greater will be the impediment to adjustment. Furthermore, the greater the cultural
novelty oft he host culture, the greater the dissimilarity betw een the individu al s notions
of appropriate behaviour and appropriate behav iour in the new culture (Torbiorn, 1982).
The greater the dissimilarity of appropriate and inappropriate behaviours between the
two cultures, the more difficult it will be for the individual to exhibit appropriate
behaviours, even if attention was paid to HCNs as models of appropriate behaviour
(Black and Mendenhall , 1991). Consequently, these arguments also seem to suggest a
negative relationship between cultural novelty and expatriate adjustment. Hypotheses
1 to 3 examine this proposition in terms of the three sociocultural dimensions of in-
country expatriate adjustment: general adjustment, interaction adjustment and work
adjustment.
Hypothesis I: Cultural novelty has a negative association with general adju.stment.
Hypothesis : Cultural novelty has a negative association with interaction adjustment.
Hypothesis 3: Cultural novelty has a negative association with work adjustment
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Selmer:
Cultural novelty and adjustment
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Method
Sample
A mail survey targeted at business expatriates assigned by Western firms to China was
used as the source to extract data for this study. The number of returned questionnaires
was 165, representing a response rate of 25.2 perc ent . This is not high, but it is equivalent
or higher than other mail surveys of business expatr ia tes (Harzing, 1997;
Naumann, 1993).
The average age oft he respondents was 44.68 years (SD = 8.61) and on the average,
they had spent 5.98 years in Ch ina (SD = 7.45) and had lived abroad for 9.94 years
(SD = 8.77), including China. Most of the expatriate managers were from the US
(24.2 per cent), Germany (13.3 per cent), Britain (9.7 per cent), Australia (9.2 per cent)
and Denmark (5.5 per cent). Expatriates from other Western countries made up smaller
groups. As shown in Table 1, consistent with other recent studies of business expatriates
(Caligiuri, 2000 ; Selmer, 2 00 1; Shaffer
et al.,
1999), most of the respondents were male
and married. Almost all the respondents had managerial positions, of which the majority
was CEOs. Joint ventures were the most frequent place of work. The sampled
respondents were located in most of the 23 provinces of China, but a majority was from
the three largest citie.s: Beijing (32.7 per cent), Shanghai (25.5 per cent) and Guangzhou
(9.7 per cent).
Instrument
Cultural novelty was measured by the scale used by Black and Stephens (1989) adopted
from Torbiorn (1982)
(alpha =
.77). The expatriates were asked to indicate on a five-
point Likert-type scale how sim ilar or different a number of conditions w ere where they
lived in China compared to their home country. As in the original scale, the response
categories varied from I = extremely different to 5 = extremely similar (sample item:
Every day custom s that must be foll ow ed ). F or easier interpretation of the results, this
Table Background of the .sample
Background variables Frequency
Gender
Male 157 95
Female 8 5
Married 126 77
Position
CE O 125 76
Manager 36 22
Non-managerial 3 2
Type of organization
Joint-venture 68 42
Wholly-owned subsidiary 47 29
Repre sentative office 40 25
Branch 6 4
ote N = 165
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The International Journal of Hum an Resource Managem ent
scale was reversed in the analysis to make a higher score represent a higher cultural
novelty.
Respon dents also comp leted Black and Steph ens (1989) 14-item scale to assess
sociocultural adjustment. This scale is designed to measure three dimensions: general
adjustment
(sample i tem: Fo od ) ,
interaction adjustment
(sample item: Spea king with
host natio nals ) and work adjustment (sample item: Supe rvisory respons ibilities ). The
respondents indicated how well adjusted they were to China on a scale ranging from
1 = very unadjusted to 7 = com pletely adjusted. Principal com pon ents factor analys is
with varimax rotation produced the three previously identified dimensions of expatriate
adjustment. Seven items on general adjustment (alpha = .S\) and four items on
interaction adjustment (alpha = .81) were identified. However, due to low reliability,
one of the three items on work adjustment was deleted resulting in a reliability of
alpha
= .70 for this two-item factor.
Time in China was used as a control variable. It is essential to control for the time
expatriates had spent in China since expatriate adjustment is a process over time (Black
and Mend enhall, 1991; Church, 1982; Furnham and Bochner, 1986). The variable
time in
China w as measured by directly asking the respondents how long they had been assigned
to China.
esults
Table 2 displays sample means, standard deviations and zero-order correlations. The
mean score for the variable
cultural novelty
is significantly higher than the neutral
midpoint, 3.00, of the scale (t = 19.75; p < .001), not surprisingly, suggesting that the
Western expatriates felt that China as a host location represented a relatively high
cultural novelty. Also all of the three variables of expatriate adjustment have
significantly higher mean scores than the midpoint of the scale,
general adjustment
(t = 22.35;p < .001), interaction adjustment (t = 17.68;/?