Cultural Adaptation of Business Expatriates in the Host Marketplace
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Expatriates
Adaptation the
in
Host
of
Business
Marketplace SunkyuJun*
HANNAM UNIVERSITY
JamesW. Gentry**
OF NEBRASKA UNIVERSITY
Yong J. Hyun***
Ajou UNIVERSITY
Satisfaction with the host culture has been found to influence the expatriate's commitment to the local operation and to the parent company. This paper investigates the role that the expatriate's consumer experiences play in the determination of his/her satisfaction with the new culture. Market alienation has INTRODUCTION Business expatriates are sojourners sent to a foreign country by multinationals with the intent to control the company operations and to provide technical and administrative services (Torbiorn, 1982). A marked upsurge of interest in the topic of expatriates' cultural adaptation has been provoked not only by the growth in the volume of expatriates but also due to the financial costs associated with expatriation as well as premature repatriation (the cost of failed expatriate
a negative effect on satisfaction, but it is reduced by participation in the host marketplace. Further, cultural knowledge was not found to be directly related to satisfaction with the host culture, but rather was related indirectly through its association with participation in the host marketplace. stints is estimated to be between $2 and $2.5 billion; Kotabe and Helsen, 1998). Successful cultural adaptation of business expatriates affects their organizational commitment as well as other performance variables (Gregersen and Black, 1989; Jun, Lee, and Gentry, 1997; Mathieu and Zajac, 1990). At the same time, the organization's perspective on expatriation as part of the career path affects greatly the desire to adapt culturally (Feldman and Thomas, 1992; Feldman and Tompson, 1993).
*SunkyuJun is Associate Professorof Marketingat HannamUniversity in Korea.He obtained his doctorate from University of Nebraska-Lincoln. **James W. Gentry is Professor of Marketing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He obtained his doctorate from Indiana University. * **Yong J. Hyun is Associate Professorof Marketingat Ajou University in Korea.He obtained his doctorate from University of Wisconsin-Madison. JOURNALOF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STUDIES,32, 2 (SECONDQUARTER2001): 369-377
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CULTURALADAPTATION OF BUSINESS EXPATRIATES
Business people are not free from the culture shock experienced in daily life in a new cultural environment. Cross-cultural problems may be manifested in the marketplacewhen individuals fail to understand and accept the local consumption and market practices due to different cultural backgrounds. Birdseye and Hill (1995) found that the expatriate's material life dissatisfaction is strongly associated with turnover tendencies. Our emphasis on the expatriate's (and his/her family's) interface with the host marketplace, a major element in his/her material life (dis)satisfaction, is relatively uniq
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