Cross‐cultural training and expatriate adjustment in China: Western joint venture managers
| Published date | 01 February 2005 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/00483480510571888 |
| Date | 01 February 2005 |
| Pages | 68-84 |
| Author | Jan Selmer |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour |
Cross-cultural training and
expatriate adjustment in China:
Western joint venture managers
Jan Selmer
Department of Management, School of Business,
Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Abstract
Purpose – Joint ventures remain the largest group of foreign-invested enterprises in China. Given the
high level of potential conflict, this paper examines whether Western expatriates in joint ventures
benefit from cross-cultural training.
Design/methodology/approach – A mail questionnaire targeted business expatriates assigned by
Western firms to joint ventures and other types of organisations in China.
Findings – Results show that training had a weak positive association with work adjustment for
expatriates in joint ventures, but no relationship with work adjustment for Western managers in other
types of operations.
Research limitations/implications – Data were collected through a self-report questionnaire and
a cross-sectional approach was applied. However, the scale measuring sociocultural adjustment may
have some potential problems.
Practical implications – This paper emphasises the work context in China when training
expatriate candidates. Alternatively, individuals should be selected with recent positive experiences of
the host country and work task at hand. Such experience could be regarded as a perfect substitute for
cross-cultural training
Originality/value – The distinction between different organisational contexts in assessing the effect
of cross-cultural training constitutes a novel approach. The study contributes to the literature on the
effectiveness of cross-cultural training of business expatriates in general and the impact of their
organisational setting in particular. It is important to notice that the improved adjustment covers the
very reason for the foreign assignment, the work duties of the expatriate manager.
Keywords China, Joint ventures, Managers, Cross-cultural management,Training, Expatriates
Paper type Research paper
China is an important current and potential market for Western and other international
business firms. Foreign capital has poured into China on a large scale over the last two
decades and the Chinese market has retained a considerable attraction for international
business. Initially, the Joint Venture law from 1979 only allowed foreign companies to
invest in joint ventures (JVs), but from 1987 onwards they could also form wholly
foreign-owned enterprises. Although the number of wholly foreign-owned enterprises
is increasing at a faster rate, international JVs (IJVs) still constitute the largest group
(Bjo
¨rkman and Lu, 2001; Braun and Warner, 2002). In 1997 and 1998 alone, agreements
for more than 21,000 IJVs were signed with a total contract value exceeding US$ 61.5
billion (Zhang and Rajagopalan, 2002).
However, China is distinctly different from most other countries and would be a
challenging destination for Western business expatriates. Their need for effective
cross-cultural skills appears to be substantial, as they have to adjust to a
fundamentally different cultural and social context than their own. Although
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PR
34,1
68
Personnel Review
Vol. 34 No. 1, 2005
pp. 68-84
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/00483480510571888
adjustment may be facilitated by means of cross-cultural training, there is inconclusive
evidence of its effectiveness (Kealy and Protheroe, 1996). Although seldom studied, the
impact of such training may be contingent on circumstances at the host location, as for
example, the organisational context of the foreign assignment. As elsewhere, IJVs in
China are usually managed jointly by the local and foreign parent companies, both
seeking “due representation” in the top management group (Bjo
¨rkman and Lu, 2001;
Hambrick et al., 2001). Besides involving the usual problems of partners having their
own expectations, objectives and strategies, top executives usually differ widely in
national origins, cultural values and social norms (Li et al., 2002). Hence, the challenges
facing Western expatriate managers in Sino-foreign JVs could be extraordinary. This
could make an expatriate assignment to an IJV in China a very frustrating experience.
Presumably, cross-cultural training may be particularly helpful for the adjustment of
Westerners encountering the frustrating work environment in a Sino-foreign JV. In
comparison, the adjustment of Western expatriate executives in other types of
organisations may not be facilitate d as much by cross-cultural training . In
organisational settings totally dominated by the foreign parent, Western expatriates
may encounter a less frustrating internal work environment.
Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the differential effects of
cross-cultural training on the adjustment of Western expatriate managers in
Sino-foreign JVs and other business organisations in China. This is an important and
relevant task due to the high level of conflict in IJVs in China. It is not surprising that so
many IJVs fail in China, but rather how any can succeed at all (Li et al., 1999). If
cross-cultural training has potential in facilitating the adjustment of Western
executives in Sino-foreign JVs, it should be offered more frequently and perhaps even
targeted at and designed for the relevant group of business expatriates. Besides, the
literature on how the effectiveness of cross-cultural training may be influenced by
various circumstances at the location of the foreign assignment is very scant. The
distinction between different organisational contexts in assessing the effect of
cross-cultural training is a novel approach. Hence, the present pioneering study may
contribute to the literature by incorporating the impact of organisational abode on the
effectiveness of cross-cultural training of business expatriates.
Against the backdrop of a discussion of challenges of IJVs in general, and the
problems with Sino-foreign JVs in particular, this paper introduces the captioned topics
of cross-cultural training and expatriate adjustment. Hypotheses are developed and the
methodology of the study is highlighted. The results section is followed by a thorough
discussion of the findings and the main conclusions of the paper.
Managing JVs in China
Challenges of IJVs
Owing to its multi-parent origins, the JV relationship is complicated. As parent firms’
interests seldom fully overlap and typically are in conflict, JV managers may encounter
problems. Conflict, confrontations and crises seem unavoidable in JVs, leading to poor
performance, threatening failure, and even dissolution (Peng and Shenkar, 2002).
The problems of JVs areaccentuated in the international arena.Managers of IJVs face
a host of additional challenges due to the international context. Such executives usually
differ widely in national origins, cultural values and social norms, as well as in their
demographic background, international experience and experiences with the parent
Expatriate
adjustment in
China
69
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