How host organizations prepare for and learn from expatriate assignments

Fee, A; Michailova, S

How host organizations prepare for and learn from expatriate assignments

Fee, A

Michailova, S

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Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Thunderbird International Business Review, 2019
Issue Date:: 2019-01-01

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Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Fee, A https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0598-0776	en_US
dc.contributor.author	Michailova, S https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3000-2931	en_US
dc.date.issued	2019-01-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Thunderbird International Business Review, 2019	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	1096-4762	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/138825
dc.description.abstract	© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. This article reveals what goes on inside host organizations prior to and during expatriate assignments. On the basis of analyzing organizational documents and conducting 43 interviews with host country nationals (HCNs) and expatriates in 30 Vietnamese organizations that host external foreign assignments, we provide a detailed account of HCNs' experiences and unearth sophisticated preparation and management activities designed to maximize these organizations' learning. We depict what we call “a host organization lifecycle” and extract five lessons: (a) host organizations prepare carefully in advance to learn as much as possible from expatriates; (b) HCNs experience quite dramatic adjustments and burdens during expatriates' placements; (c) mutual trust between expatriates and HCNs is a prerequisite for HCNs' learning; (d) most of HCNs' learning occurs informally via interactions with expatriates or observing how they work; (e) host organization managers actively manage HCN–expatriate relationships. Our findings outline a “wish list” of practices that expatriate-using organizations could consider deploying for expatriate assignments that focus on the benefit of the host organization' development.	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Thunderbird International Business Review	en_US
dc.relation.isbasedon	10.1002/tie.22099	en_US
dc.rights	"This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Fee, Anthony; Michailova, Snejina. How host organizations prepare for and learn from expatriate assignments (2019) Thunderbird International Business Review; doi: 10.1002/tie.22099 which has been published in final form at 10.1002/tie.22099 ”. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving."
dc.rights	info:eu-repo/semantics/embargoedAccess
dc.subject.classification	Business & Management	en_US
dc.title	How host organizations prepare for and learn from expatriate assignments	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.for	1503 Business and Management	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Business/Management Discipline
utslib.copyright.status	open_access	*
utslib.copyright.embargo	2021-09-30T00:00:00+1000
pubs.publication-status	Published	en_US

Abstract:

© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. This article reveals what goes on inside host organizations prior to and during expatriate assignments. On the basis of analyzing organizational documents and conducting 43 interviews with host country nationals (HCNs) and expatriates in 30 Vietnamese organizations that host external foreign assignments, we provide a detailed account of HCNs' experiences and unearth sophisticated preparation and management activities designed to maximize these organizations' learning. We depict what we call “a host organization lifecycle” and extract five lessons: (a) host organizations prepare carefully in advance to learn as much as possible from expatriates; (b) HCNs experience quite dramatic adjustments and burdens during expatriates' placements; (c) mutual trust between expatriates and HCNs is a prerequisite for HCNs' learning; (d) most of HCNs' learning occurs informally via interactions with expatriates or observing how they work; (e) host organization managers actively manage HCN–expatriate relationships. Our findings outline a “wish list” of practices that expatriate-using organizations could consider deploying for expatriate assignments that focus on the benefit of the host organization' development.

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http://hdl.handle.net/10453/138825