The Distinction between Stable and Dynamic Cross-cultural Competencies: Implications for Expatriate Trainability
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Cross-cultural
Implications
for
Stable
between
Distinction
Expatriate
and
petencies:
Corn
Trainability SharonLeiba-O'Sullivan*
OF OTTAWA CONCORDIAUNIVERSITY/UNIVERSITY
Existing research fails to distinguish between stable cross-cultural (C/C) competencies (e.g., personality traits) and dynamic ones. Yet, stable competencies may constrain trainability in the dynamic C/C skills that are critical for C/C adjustment. Accordingly, this distincINTRODUCTION
Expatriates who are unprepared for the challenges of an international assignment are likely to have difficulty adjusting abroad and are likely to experience culture shock (Oberg,1960). Poorly adjusted expatriates are, in turn, likely to perform poorly (Ones & Viswesvaran, 1997). While the cost of training, relocating, and compensating employees for expatriate assignments is estimated to be $80,000 U.S. for each expatriate (Dowling, Schuler, & Welch, 1996), the costs associated with expatriates'failure to adjust and perform in foreign cultures have been estimated at well above twice that amount (Briscoe, 1995; Dowling, et al., 1996).
tion is drawn using Black & Mendenhall's (1990) 3-dimensional typology of C/C competencies as a framework. Operationalizations for the C/C competencies are suggested. The practical and theoretical implications for expatriate management are then discussed. In the international management literature, myriad lists of cross-cultural (C/C) competencies have been posited to be helpful for C/C adjustment (e.g., Hammer, Gudykunst, & Wiseman, 1978). Accordingly, extensive evidence exists for the effectiveness of C/C training as a means of providing these competencies and improving C/C adjustment (Black & Mendenhall, 1990). However, despite all that has been learned to date about managing expatriates, a number of key questions remain unanswered. First, can all C/C competencies be acquired through training, and is everyone equally C/C trainable? These questions have not been substantively addressed (Kealey, 1996). Yet, they are critical given the international management lit-
* Sharon Leiba-O'Sullivan is an Assistant Professor of Human Resource Management at the University of Ottawa. Her research focuses on issues related to expatriate career management. The author wishes to thank Peter Divers, Gary Johns, Joanne Leck, and Terri Lituchy for their helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, 30, 4 (FOURTH QUARTER 1999):
709-725
709
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STABLE AND DYNAMIC EXPATRIATECOMPETENCIES
erature's focus on C/C training interventions as the antidote for C/C maladjustment. Second, are all C/C competencies equally essential for C/C adjustment? Clearly, answering this question has staffing implications. Organizations that face short lead times prior to commencement of international assignments (and hence cannot provide pre-departureC/C training),
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