Impact of Employees Turnover

A Conceptual Model of Expatriate Turnover Author(s): Earl Naumann Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 23, No. 3 (3rd Qtr. , 1992), pp. 499-531 Published by: Palgrave Macmillan Journals Stable URL: http://www. jstor. org/stable/155094 . Accessed: 09/10/2012 02:27 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www. jstor. org/page/info/about/policies/terms. jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive.We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email  protected] org. . Palgrave Macmillan Journals is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of International Business Studies. http://www. jstor. org A CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATETURNOVER Earl Naumann* Boise State University Abstract. Many factorsmay contributeto the high rate of expatriate turnover experienced by U. S. ultinational corporations. The objective of this article is to present a comprehensive model of the expatriateturnoverprocessby identifyingthe key contributing factors and suggesting intermediate linkages and relationships. The model appears to have both managerial and theoretical implications. The majority of U. S. multinationalcorporations(MNCs) suffer from an abnormally igh turnover ateamongexpatriate anagers, articularly hen h r w m p t T compared o bothforeign-based NCsanddomesticoperations. he turnover M ate commonly falls in the 20%-50%range for expatriatetransfers[Black 1988; Black and Stephens 1989; Copelandand Griggs 1985; Mendenhall and Oddou 1985;Tung 1988;ZeiraandBanai 1985], althoughturnover ay m be as high as 70% for some firns, particularlyn less developed countries i [Desatnick and Bennett 1978; Lanier 1979]. The problem of expatriate i turnovers more evidentamongU. S. -basedMNCs thanamongforeign-based MNCs. Tung [1982] noted that turnoverrates among U. S. MNCs are two to three times higher than foreign MNCs. For example, Tung's research M ndicatedthatonly 3%of European NCs and 14%of JapaneseMNCs had turnoverrates greaterthan 10% of expatriatetransferswhile 76% of U. S. MNCs had turnoverrates exceeding that level. b t Althoughdirectcomparisons etweendomestic(U. S. ) andexpatriateurnover ratesaredifficult,expatriateurnover atesappear o be at leasttwice domestic t t r rates. â€Å"Expatriateturnover†or â€Å"expatriatefailure† typically includes all individualswho quit or transferback to the U. S. priorto the completionof theirexpectedforeignassignments. ome researchersontendthat†expatriate S c turnover†may also occur up to a year or more after repatriation[Adler 1986; Harvey 1989].Conversely,virtuallyall domestic studies of turnover refer to the separationof the emp loyee from the organizationwith the o o t T preponderancef the studiesconcentratingn voluntaryurnover. o illustrate, in McEvoy ndCascio's 1987]meta-analytic a reviewof turnoverndperformance, a [ *Earl Naumannis Professorof Marketingat Boise State University. He received his Ph. D. from ArizonaState University. The authorwould like to thankthe reviewersfor their effort and contributions hich helped signifiw cantly improvesome crudeideas. Received: September1990; Revised: February,June, September1991 & January1992; Accepted: February1992. 499 500JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 twenty-four studies involving 7,717 individuals were cited. External turnover rates varied from 3% to 106% annually with a median of 22%. However, the subjects in the studies were drawn from nineteen rather generic job s categories including aerospace employees, pharmaceutical cientists, engineers, navy enlisted personnel, nurses, bank tellers, and small business new hires, for examp le. None of the subjects are directly comparable to expatriate managers. If the assumption can be made that expatriate managers are more similar to individuals such as engineers, scientists, and exempt lectronic employees than to individuals such as nurses, enlisted personnel, or small business new hires, the â€Å"normal domestic† turnover rate is more likely to approximate 10% annually [McEvoy and Cascio 1987]. This figure is consistent with the average of 12% for 303 firms reported by Mercer [1988]. Further, turnover rates typically decline at higher organizational levels so managerial turnover rates are likely to be less than the overall average figure. Thus, while no empirical research exists that directly compares turnover, the expatriate turnover rate appears to be at least twice the domestic rate.The extreme expatriate turnover rate results in high direct and indirect costs to U. S. MNCs. The direct costs associated with each expatriate turnover are estimated to be be tween $55,000 and $150,000 [Copeland and Griggs 1985; Harvey 1985; Mendenhall, Dunbar and Oddou 1987; Misa and Fabricatore 1979; Zeira and Banai 1985]. Therefore, the aggregate direct costs for expatriate turnover for U. S. MNCs are quite high [Copeland and Griggs 1985]. Additionally, the indirect costs associated with expatriate turnover are estimated to be even greater [Harvey 1985].The indirect costs include items such as reduced productivity and efficiencies, lost sales, market share, competitive position, unstable corporate image, and tarnished corporate reputation. While turnover is costly in domestic operations, turnover is apparently even more costly and troublesome in overseas operations. Due to the relatively high frequency of expatriateturnoverand the associated costs, the international business literature has been punctuated with efforts to isolate the factors causing difficulty in cross-cultural-adjustment.The three areas receiving the greatestinteresthave been the sele ction of the â€Å"ideal† expatriate manager [Abe and Wiseman 1983; Church 1982; Mendenhall and Oddou 1985; Mendenhall, Dunbar and Oddou 1987; Tung 1982, 1988; Zeira and Banai 1985], the underdeveloped state of expatriation and cross-cultural training programs [Black 1988; Black and Mendenhall 1990; Brislin 1979; Mendenhall and Oddou 1985; Kohls 1985; Schwind 1985; Torbiorn 1982; Tung 1982, 1984], and the difficulties encountered by the expatriate's spouse and/or family [Black 1988; Black and Stephens 1989; Grain and Cooper 1981; Harvey 1985; Tung 1982].While these factors are undoubtedly contributors to the turnover problem, study of these variables in isolation or jointly is likely to result in very little advancement of the understanding of the expatriate turnover problem. The reason for the low probability of significant improvements flowing from this stream of research is that there are CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATE TURNOVER 501 t t manyothervariableshatinfluence heturn over rocess. pecifically, onceptual p S c a models of the domesticturnover rocesshave pursued more comprehensive p pproachthan that found in the international usiness literature,and these b r i modelshavebeen generally alidated y subsequent esearchn organizational v b behaviorand appliedpsychology. While there have been numerousattemptsto model the domestic turnover process, two turnovermodels have received the strongestsupportbased on the frequency of citations in subsequentliteratureand on the number of attemptsto empiricallyvalidatethe constructsandrelationships. he model T of Mobley, Griffeth,Handand Meglino [1979] suggestedthatcharacteristics of the organization,he individual, ndthe environmenthapean individual's t s perceptionsand satisfactionleading to the formationof intentionsto stay or quit. The Steers and Mowday [1981] model addedadditionalconstructs of job performancelevel, efforts to change the situation, and non-work influences. In addition, he SteersandMowdaymodel exp andedthe affective t responsesto the job to includejob satisfaction,organizational ommitment, c andjob involvement. The satisfaction,commitment,and involvementof an w t individual ould lead to the formation f intentions o stay or quit. Together, o these models have guided or influencedturnoverresearchfor a decade.In thattime, both models have generallystood the test of empiricalvalidation. Thus,it appearsthatconstructs entralto these models may be generalizable c to the internationalnvironment ndhelp explainexpatriateurnover. y using e a t B theoretical odelsfromthe areaof appliedpsychology,this approach ttempts m a to address the criticisms of the internationalliteraturefrequentlyvoiced [BlackandMendenhall 990;Kyi 1988;Newmann, hattandGutteridge 978]. B 1 1 These authors ave notedthatthe internationalusinessliterature ften is not h b o integratedinto a theoreticalframeworkand appearspiecemeal and ad hoc.The purposeof this articleis to presenta model of expatriate urnover ased t b o n constructs entralto the Mobley,et al. [1979] andthe Steersand Mowday c [1981]models. Additionally,he expatriateurnover odelattemptso integrate t t m t concepts from the international usiness literature here possible. By purb w suing a more comprehensive heoreticalapproach nd recognizingthe comt a plex interactiveand longitudinaleffects, an improvedunderstanding f the o expatriateturnoverprocess may result. This improvedunderstanding ay m contributeto the developmentof retentionstrategiesthat would reduce the high turnoverrate.Lee and Mowday [1987] provided several reasons for the value of comprehensive odelsof turnover. irst,comprehensive odels m F m identify and categorizethe variousfactorsthatpreviousresearchhad found to be important. Second, models provide directionfor empiricalresearch, thus imposing discipline on researchers nd reducingthe occurrenceof an a ad hoc researchagenda. Finally, models help managersthink heuristically about a broaderrange of causes of turnoverrather than concentratingon one or two factors. Therefore,the model of expatriateturnovermay be of value to both researchers nd practicingmanagers. 502 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 THE MODEL The basic rationale that underlies this model is that the fundamentalconcepts associated with the turnover process in domestic situations can be adapted to model the expatriate turnover process. Thus, the discussion of major constructs will summarize the existent body of research where possible although there is an absence of empirical studies of a variety of unique international factors. Also, the model of expatriate turnover is implicitly oriented toward middle to upper level managers.These organizational levels appear to be most commonly represented among expatriates [Tung 1981]. While many of the constructs will also apply to operatives, the propositions and discussions adopt a managerial orientation. The discussion of the model (Figure 1) will flow from the predicto rvariables through intermediate linkages to the turnover decision. The sequence of discussion is intended to follow the direction of predominant causality in this turnover model. Three categories of predictor variables have received general empirical support domestically as being important elements of the o mployee turnoverprocess:job/task characteristics, rganizationcharacteristics, three groups of variables collectively and worker characteristics. These influence an expatriate's degree of job satisfaction, commitment to the organization, and involvement in the achievement of the organization's goals. These attitudes are formed with respect to the parent organization, and, since most expatriates are initially transfers from domestic positions, the attitudes have probably been formulated predominantly in a domestic environment.The expatriate's general satisfaction with, commitment to, and involvement in the organization may be moderated by perceptions of the career path resulting fr om the international assignment or by the overall level of cross-culturaladjustment. The expatriate's satisfaction, commitment, and involvement may also be moderated by the employee's family situation and the family's overall satisfaction with the international experience or by o the characteristics f the countryto which the expatriateis assigned.Collectively these factors will lead to the modification of satisfaction, commitment, and involvement with respect to the organization in the foreign assignment. Due to the developmental state of the international business literature and the small percentage of international human resource articles appearing in leading business journals [Black and Mendenhall 1990; Boyacigiller and Adler 1991; Rosenzweig and Singh 1991], the specific international variables influencing expatriateattitudes are largely unknown.However, these attitudes toward the organization in the foreign assignment may result in the expatriate clarifying the intent to change employers, stay with the same employer but transfer â€Å"home,† or stay in the international assignment. The expatriate's intentions may be modified by perceptions of both external and internal employment alternatives. The intentionsmay result in explicit search behavior, ultimately resulting in an initial turnover decision. The turnover decision, even if the choice is to stay, may result in changes in the employee's job CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATETURNOVER 03 0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 0~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~0c U 0~~~~~~~0 0 .. 1 I=- I z0 LL †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ E 0 4) ll l la E L, k . ; ~~~~0 , 504 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 and career expectations and influence subsequent performance. A decision to leave may not be manifested for an extended time period and may result in other withdrawal cognitions. To assist in clarifying the expected relationships in the model, research propositions are presented after each discussion. The degree of detail in each propos ition is largely a reflection of the existent body of research.If research is available that suggests specific relationships and the direction of influence, the propositions are relatively detailed. If research is lacking and the expected relationships are based instead on intuitive reasoning, the propositions are stated very generally. Also, although this is a model of expatriate turnover, only a few of the propositions deal explicitly with turnover. The reason for this is that turnover is the behavioral outcome of a complex process and the propositions address the specific antecedent relationships among variables. Each of these variables will be addressed individually.However, clarifying the relatively ambiguous concept of â€Å"turnover† may be useful first. Turnover Turnover among domestic operations typically refers to the separation of the individual employee from the firm. This definition is too narrow for the international environment and must be broadened to include several other dimensions of turnover since expatriate turnover often involves transfers internal to the organization. Turnover may be categorized as external or internal, voluntary or involuntary, and functional or dysfunctional. External turnover occurs when an individual leaves an organization to seek employment elsewhere.While this type of turnoveris most common domestically, there is no research indicating the frequency of external turnover as a component of total expatriate turnover. By any measure, external turnover is costly and results in reduced short-term efficiency, at the very least. Internal turnover occurs when an individual changes positions but remains in the same firm. This situation is apparently more common in international operations than in domestic situations [Tung 1984]. Essentially this occurs when an expatriate manager is transferred back to the U. S. or another internationallocation.Research has indicated that many expatriate managers find the repatriation process much more stressful and frustrating than the initial expatriationand repatriationexperiences may be a cause of subsequent turnover [Adler 1980; Harvey 1989]. Also, many expatriates may develop an intention to quit while on foreign assignment and view the transfer â€Å"home† as simply an intermediate step to leaving the firm [Harvey 1989]. Turnover may also be voluntary or involuntary (from the employee's viewpoint). Voluntary turnover occurs when the employee quits or requests and receives a transfer.Involuntary turnover occurs when an employee is fired or transferred at the will of the organization. By integratingthese concepts, a four-celledmatrixcan be developed (Figure 2). The turnover models of Mobley, et al. [1979] and Steers and Mowday CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATETURNOVER 505 r [1981] and much of the subsequentdomesticturnover esearchin organizational behavior and applied psychology concentrateon cell 1, voluntary external turnover,and to a lesser degree, on cell 2, involuntaryexternal f turnover. The international usiness literature ocuses primarilyon cells 3 b i a and4, voluntary ndinvoluntarynternal urnover, ith little or no distinction. t e Very little discussionin the international usiness literature xists of cell 2, b involuntaryexternal turnover,or cell 1, voluntaryexternal turnover. The model presentedhere will apply generally to all four types of turnover. f While the model is conceptuallymost appropriateor both types of voluntary turnover,the model also has implicationsfor both types of involuntary w turnover. he implicationsor the varioustypes of turnover ill be addressed T f in subsequentsections of this article.Turnovermay also be conceptualizedas functionalor dysfunctionalto the firm. Functionalumoveris typicallyviewed as beneficialto the organization. t An example might be when a low-performingexpatriatequits or is fired, t thus creatingan opportunity o staff the position with a more capable indit vidual. Anotherexampleo f functional urnover ightbe the internaltransfer m and/or promotionof a high-performing xpatriate. There appearsto be a e dark side of functional turnoverthat may be easily overlooked. When a t â€Å"low performing†expatriate eaves the organization, he departure ay be l m he organization s a resultof the individual'snability o effectively a t viewedby i o make the cross-cultural djustment r as a result of spouse or family proba lems [Tung 1982]. However, it appearslikely that the cause of â€Å"low performance† may be mistakes made by the organizationin many cases. To illustrate,the selection criteriafor expatriatemanagersmay be inappropriate, expatriation raininginadequate or nonexistent),the job may be poorly t ( designed, the performanceexpectationsunreasonable,or the performance W appraisal rocessinadequate. hilethe expatriate ay be a â€Å"low performer,† p m he low performance ay be due to the organization'smismanagednternam i tional efforts,not the expatr iate'sncompetence. ennings[1985] noted that i J companies are often the cause of their high turnoverrates due to poor managementdevelopment and misuse of talented people. Failure by the t organization o use the skills developedin the international nvironment y e b a the expatriates apparently commonsourceof dissatisfactionmongrecently i a repatriated anagers [Harvey 1989]. If an expatriateis viewed as a low m t t perforner,identifying he causesof low performancesppears o be important. a oViewing the departure f a low perfonneras a good thing may, indeed, be very simplistic. Dysfunctionalturnoverdamagesthe firm in some way by having a valued employee quit or requestan early transfer. Dysfunctionalturnoveris most as commonly onceptualized beinginitiated y theemployee lthoughnvoluntary c b a i internaltransfersare also undoubtedly ysfunctionalin the short tenn. d The functional/dysfunctionalonceptualization ould apply to all four types c c of turnoverin Figure 2. The point to be made h ere is that not all turnover 506 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992FIGURE 2 Types of Turnover Voluntary (For the Employee) External (To the Organization) Involuntary (For the Employee) I Quit! You're Fired! 12 34 Internal (To the Organization) Transfer Me! You're Transferred! is bad; some turnover may actually be beneficial and afford the organization an opportunityto improve. However, since a significant portion of expatriate managers are initially â€Å"internal transfers† from a domestic assignment rather than â€Å"new hires,† the expatriates are likely to be high performers in the domestic environmentdue to the expatriateselection process.Specifically, a manager's â€Å"domestic track record† is often a major factor in the expatriate selection process [Mendenhall and Oddou 1987; Tung 1981]. Thus, it may be hypothesizedthat dysfunctionalturnoveris more common among expatriates than among domestic managers (i. e. , losing valued empl oyees). A further complication to the traditional approach to turnover research also t appearsnecessary regardingthe appropriate ime horizon. Turnovermay occur significantly after repatriation but be caused by the international experience or the repatriationprocess.An expatriatemanager may become disenchanted while on the international assignment and actually formulate an intention to quit [Adler 1986]. However, the expatriate may simply â€Å"gut it out† until b transferred ack to the U. S. , and a new job is found. Alternatively, a expatriate may become disenchanted with the organization due to events occurring during the repatriation process and subsequently leave the organization. However, turnover after repatriation introduces many issues not addressed in the expatriate turnover model presented here.Therefore, the discussion in this article is limited to turnover that occurs while an expatriate is actually on the foreign assignment. The model does adopt a decidedly tempo ral dimension, however. Steers and Mowday [1981] contend that the intention to quit is usually manifested behaviorally within a year and that the relationship between intention and turnover subsequently weakens. The reason that an extended time horizon is necessary in turnover studies is the existence of gradual changes in worker attitudesleading to behavioralchanges, a phenomenareferredto as â€Å"progression theory† [Rusbult, Farell, Rogers and Mainous 1988].Specifically, declining CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATETURNOVER 507 workerattitudesdo not instantlyresultin the formationof intentionsto quit. For example,an expatriate ay experiencelow levels of attitudes or several f m monthsbeforethinking boutquitting ndthenultimatelyormingthe intention a a f to quit. Likewise, an employee may have low levels of attitudes,but the t situationmay improve,resultingin an intention o stay with the organization. Since the expatriateturnover ate appearsto be roughlytwice the domestic r ate, a variety of unique internationalfactors apparentlycontributeto a gradualdeterioration f worker attitudesover a period of time for many o expatriates. anyexpatriates ay have positive attitudesinitiallybut graduM m ally develop more negative attitudes. Thus, a longitudinalperspective is t important o the model. t Regardlessof the type or timing of turnover, he ultimateturnoverdecision is precededby antecedent ariablesandintermediateinkages. The predictor v l variablesof job/task,organization, nd workercharacteristics re the initial a a startingpoint in many studies of employee turnover.Job/Task Characteristics Of the threebroadcategoriesof predictorvariables,job/taskcharacteristics have received the most researchattentiondomestically[Glisson and Durick 1988] while receiving very little attention internationally. eceiving the R strongest support as predictorsof employee attitudes are role ambiguity [Teely, French and Scott 1971; Lyons 1971; Abdel-Halim 1981; Bedeian and Armenakis 1981 ] and skill variety [Bartel 1982; Marsh and Manari 1977; Price and Mueller 1981; Dewar and Werbel 1979; Gerhart 1987; Glisson and Durick 1988; Blau and Boal 1989].Thus, the greaterthe role clarity and the more diverse the skills needed, the more likely the worker is to be satisfied,committed,and involved. Additionally,the characteristics of role conflict, task identity, and task significance have received support as predictor ariables. It appears,therefore, hatissues relatedto the specific v t task environmentcan influence the satisfaction,commitment,and involvement of workersat a variety of organizationalevels. l The uniquenessand dynamismof international nvironments ay lead both e m to more role ambiguity and task variety among expatriates.The volatile externalenvironment ay cause MNCs to have less clarityin theirposition m descriptionsas managersrequiremore flexibility to respond to changes. m Therefore, orerole ambiguity ay exist whichmay lead to reducedsatisfacm tion amongexpat riate anagers. owever,overseasassignments ftenrequire m H o managersto use a broaderrange of general managementskills than their domestic counterpartsCzinkota,Rivoli and Ronkainen1989; Edstromand [ Galbraith1977]. This implies that increasedtask varietywill contributeto a higher level of satisfaction among expatriatemanagers.Thus, job/task characteristics ay offset one anotherin theircontributiono an expatriate's m t workattitudes. Withone exception,these constructs enerallyhave not been g investigatedin the international nvironment. e 508 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 While most of the studies cited above utilized domestic U. S. subjects, Black [1988] found that role ambiguity, conflict, overload, and discretion were related to the cross-cultural adjustment of American expatriates in Japan. The direction of Black's findings was generally consistent with the domestic literature.A potentially importantconsideration in the international situation is the similarity of the domestic and foreign jobs performed by the expatriate [Dowling and Schuler 1990]. If the foreign job requirementsare quite similar to the domestic position previously held, the transition and work adjustment should be easier. If the domestic and foreign positions are highly divergent, the expatriate must adjust to both a new work environment as well as a new cultural and physical environment. Another job/task characteristic that may be of importance internationally is the concept of work grouphomogeneity. Althoughusing a domestic U.S. sample frame, O'Reilly, Caldwell, and Barnett [1989] found that aspects of work group homogeneity were related to the degree of social integration which was negatively related to turnover. Since foreign work groups in U. S. MNCs are often composed of U. S. expatriates, host country nationals, and third country nationals, a good deal of work group heterogeneity is likely to exist. This diversity is likely to inhibit the individual soci alization process and result in lower levels of cohesiveness. The lower level of social integration may contributeto reduced attitudesthat would ultimately lead to increasedturnover.Work group homogeneity may also be conceptualized on a broader, more macro level. In addition to the fit between the expatriate and other job associates, the degree of homogeneity between the foreign subsidiary and parent corporation may be important [Brittain and Freeman 1980; Lincoln, Olson and Hanada 1978]. The more similar the composition and functioning of the foreign work group to the parent, the more positive the expatriate's attitudes are likely to be. Milliman, Von Glinow and Nathan [1991] contend that MNCs attempt to apply isomorphism to foreign subsidiaries as a mechanism of control and continuity.Based on the literature that addressed job/task characteristics, both domestically and internationally, the following propositions were developed. Proposition 1 There is a positive relationshipbetwee n skill variety, task identity, autonomy, and task significance and expatriate satisfaction, commitment, and involvement. b Proposition 2 Thereis a negativerelationship etweenrole ambiguity and role conflict and expatriate satisfaction, commitment, and involvement. Proposition 3 The degree of similarity between the expatriate's domestic and foreign jobs is positively related to xpatriate atisfaction,commitment,and involvement. s CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATETURNOVER 509 Proposition4 There is a positive relationship between work group homogeneity and expatriate satisfaction, commitment,and involvement. OrganizationCharacteristics Behavioral, structural,and demographiccharacteristicsof organizations have received researchattentionas predictorsof satisfaction,commitment, and involvement. Behavioralissues such as participationn decisionmaking i have received strong support [Gladstein 1984; Glisson and Durick 1988; Millerand Monge 1986].Leadership onsideration as also receivedsupport c h [Morrisand Sherman1981;Batemanand Strasser1984; Glisson andDurick 1988; Blau and Boal 1989]. Dimensions of organizationstructuresuch as centralization Child 1972; Hage and Aiken 1969], differentiation Redding [ [ and Hicks 1983; Bimbaum and Wong 1985], and formalization[Redding andHicks 1983;Child1972;HageandAiken 1969]havealso beenempirically validatedas predictors f attitudes. emographic rganizationalactorssuch o D o f as organization ge, workgroupsize, andtype of industry ave receivedweak a h upportas predictive variables. Cotton and Tuttle's [1986] meta analytic review providesa more comprehensive eview of these variables,and their r findings indicated U. S. studies differed from non-U. S. studies in several ways. In U. S. studies, an employee's genderhad less impacton satisfaction and unions had more influence on turnover. Satisfactionwas less reliably tled to turnoverin non-U. S. firms. In the internationalnvironment varietyof othervariables ppear otentially e a a p A import ant. s Dowling and Schuler[1990] noted, a firm's structure, ontrol c echanisms, and human resource policies are linked to the evolutionary P processof globalization. ucik[1985] also notedthatthe evolutionary rocess p is continuousas organizationscontinuallyadapt to dynamic international environments. Although there are several organizationchange models, the concept of organizationlife cycles (OLC)has been applied internationally Adler and [ Ghadar1989; Milliman, Von Glinow and Nathan 1991]. As organizations progressfrom one stage to another fouror five stages are typicallyincluded) ( an MNC's strategy, structure,and human resource policies also need to change.Milliman, Von Glinow and Nathan [1991] noted that change is needed so that MNCs can optimizetheir â€Å"fit. † There is a need to optimize the externalfit of the foreign subsidiaryto the local environmentand the parent ompanyto the domesticenvironment. hereis also a need to optimize c T the internalfit between the parent and foreign subsidiary. Complicatingthe optimizationof both externaland internalfit is the need for flexibility due to environmental ifferencesand changes. For example,Black, Mendenhall d and Oddou [1991] noted that flexibility in the work environmentis related to aspects of cross-cultural djustment. illustratethe importance f these T a o concepts, when an organization becomes more experienced internationally, 510 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 the amount of role conflict and role ambiguity may be reduced as the a s organization trategically daptsmore effectivelyto the foreignenvironment. ( c m Also, the adaptation ay lead to a differentstructural onfiguration foreign sales agent versus foreign sales office versus vertically integratedforeign operation)that could enhance satisfaction,commitment,and involvement though improvedjob design. t uThe open systems approach sed by manyorganizationalheoryresearchers [Lawrenceand Lorsch 1967; Pfeffer and Salancik 1978; Thompson 1967] d clearly implies that the natureof the environment ictates the appropriate e w S structure. ince most researchers ould agreethatinternationalnvironments a t relative o the U. S. , thenmoreflexible,decentralized,utonomous aredynamic, T foreign structureswould be appropriate. his view of more decentralized foreignsubsidiariesis also consistentwith the trendtowardflatterstructures in the U. S. and with the trend of workerempowerment. Specifically, as a rganizations ttemptto become more innovativeand responsive,decisionl making authorityis often forced to lower organization evels. While these variablesare intuitivelylogical predictorsof satisfaction,commitment,and e involvementand may be relatedto a firm's multinational volution in the been very little empiricalinvestigationor international ontext, there has c validationof these constructs. h training ave receiveda good deal of attention a Expatriationnd cross-cultural D business literature. espite the rapidincreas ein world in the international o e tradeflows in the pasttwentyyearsandtherelated mergence f multinational f e corporations, xpatriation rainingfor managersin U. S. multinationalirms is still in its infancy. Specifically, in multinationalcorporations,training a programs re generallysuperficialand incompleteor nonexistent. In Tung's [1981] study, only 32% of respondingfirms had formalizedtrainingprot t grams. Furthermore,he focus of the formaltrainingprograms endedto be t c on environmental oncerns. Country-level rainingin cultureand language was uncommon. DunbarandEhrlich[1986] and Schwind[1985] also found t that the majorityof firms had no formalexpatriation rainingfor managers. i thatthe stateof expatriation rainingn U. S. multinational Tung [1981]suggests corporationsis a major reason for expatriateturnoverrates in U. S. firms a being two to threetimes the level of those in European nd Japanesefirms. That is, the resultof underdeveloped xpatriationrainingprograms ay be m t e that expatriate anagers xperiencevery high levels of initialrole amtbiguity m e f P s and conflict which in turnreduces workattitudes. roviding upport or this t position is Black and Mendenhall's[1990] review of cross-culturalraining i research. They noted that cross-culturalraining s positivelyrelatedto skill t a development, djustment,ndperformance. t c An additionalfactorthatmay be an important ontributoro turnoveris the c t conceptof corporate ulture. Organizationsypicallydevelopa predominant, identifiableculturealthoughit is rarelystatedexplicitly [Wilkinsand Ouchi 1983]. Also, an organization'sculture can vary across functional areas, CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATETURNOVER 511 operatingdivisions, or geographicallocations [Gregory1983; Wilkins and Ouchi 1983]. Since most expatriatemanagersare internaltransfersrather than new hires, the assumptionprobably can be safely made that most i xpatriates ave been socially integrated nto the parentfirm's predominant h culture. If the work gro up at the foreign location has developed a unique and differentcorporateculture,the expatriatemay experience adjustment c difficultiesdue to the divergent otporate ulture. pecifically,the expatriate's c S w valuesandorganizationaleliefs may be incongruent ith the local operation, b hence decreasedwork attitudesmay result. While this issue is conceptually similar to work group homogeneity, subunit corporateculture is a more p b training rograms. pervasiveconceptandcouldbe influenced y cross-cultural bProposition5 There is a significantrelationship etween dimena sions of a foreign subsidiary'sstructure nd expatriatesatisfaction,commitment,and involvement. t The moredecentralizedndautonomoushe foreign a subsidiary,the more positive the work attitudes. b Proposition 6 Thereis a positiverelationship etweenthe quality of expatriationrainingand expatriate atisfaction, t s commitment,and involvement. b Proposition 7 Thereis a positive relationship etween an organization'sstageof multination al evolution, articipation p in decisionmaking,leadershipconsideration,and s a expatriateatisfaction,ommitment,ndinvolvement. Proposition8 There is a positive relationshipbetween the similarity of a firn's predominantcorporateculture and local foreign corporatecultureand expatriate satisfaction,commitment,and involvement. Worker Characteristics o Empiricalinvestigationdomesticallyof characteristics f the workerhave o a c yielded mixed resultsas predictors f satisfaction, ommitment, nd involvement. Personality[Staw and Ross 1985; Staw, Bell and Clausen 1986], age [Dewar and Werbel 1979], being female [McNeely 1984], and job tenure [Coverdaleand Terborg1980] have received weak supportas predictorsof satisfaction.However, personality [Hulin and Blood 1968; Steers and Spencer 1977], marital status [Porterand Steers 1973], age [Morris and Sherman1981], tenurein the organization Stevens,Beyer and Trice 1978], [ and education[Steers 1977] have received strong supportas predictorsof commitm ent. Age, tenure, and maritalstatus (being married)are usually y w positivelyassociatedwith commitment hile yearsof education, earsin the samejob, and alternative mployment pportunitiesre negativelyassociated o a e with commitment. Althoughmicro level contingencytheory models would contend that individual characteristicswould be importantpredictorsof 12 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 attitudes in different work contexts, there is apparently little research that provides consistent direction in this area [Glisson and Durick 1988]. The level of performance of the employee is also a possible predictor of satisfaction, commitment, and involvement. Research has generally supported the contention that performance leads to satisfaction [Ivancevich 1978; Lawler and Porter 1967; Sheridanand Slocum 1975]. Therefore,an individual's performance level is generally thought to be positively associated with satisfaction, commitment, and involvement.In the international context, a variety of worker characteristics have been discussed or empirically investigated. Worker characteristics postulated as important to expatriates are technical competence [Hawes and Kealey 1981; Tung 1982], relational abilities [Tung 1982; Mendenhall and Oddou 1986], and stress reduction [Abe and Wiseman 1983; Hammer, Gundykunst and Wiseman 1978; Barrettand Bass 1976; Ratiu 1983]. Other possibly important workercharacteristics re personality[Torbiom 1982; Dapsin 1985; Mendenhall a and Oddou 1986] and tolerance for ambiguity [Hammer, Gundykunst and Wiseman 1978; Ratiu 1983].Another worker characteristicthat may be positively associated with intemational success is the individual's years of previous international experience [Black and Stephens 1989; Church 1982]. An individual who was unsuccessful in a previous international ssignmentwould likely limit subsequentinternational a assignments. Conversely, an individual who has experienced success internationally may be more re ceptive to subsequent international assignments. Thus, simple trial and errormay result in an expatriate's years of international experience being positively related to satisfaction, commitment, and involvement.Somewhat related to internationalexperience, particularlyin a specific country, is an expatriate's linguistic ability. The more fluent the expatriate in the language of the host country, the easier the social integration to both the work and general environment. Thus, linguistic ability should be positively related to work attitudes. Two other rather controversial types of worker characteristics exist, an expatriate's sex and marital status. The majority of expatriates are male, 97% in Adler's [1984] study, and most are married [Black 1988].Since most expatriatesare male, does the high turnoverrate caused by an expatriate's gender, coincidentally vary with it, or is it totally unrelated to it? Unfortunately, this topic has not been empirically investigated in an international environment. Thai and Cateora [1979] noted that being a woman expatriate can be a significant liability due to the culturalbias in some foreign countries (i. e. , in the Middle East, Latin America, and Japan). However, Adler [1984, 1986] and Adler and Izraeli [1988] contend that cultural bias against women in management often does not apply to expatriates.Cultural views of women are often restricted primarily to women of that country. A woman expatriateis usually viewed predominantlyas a foreigner,who also incidentally happens to be a woman. In some cases, being a woman was enough of a CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATETURNOVER 513 novelty to be viewed as a positive asset. As Adler and lzraeli [1988] noted, the overwhelming conclusion about women expatriatesis their scarcity. While there are more U. S. women managersand expatriates(as a percentage of the total workforce) thanin most countries,the proportion f women o anagersin almost all countriesis low due to the same general reasons: culturalsanctions, educationalbarriers,legal restrictions,corporateobstacles, and women's disinterestin pursuingmanagerialcareers. Due largely to the scarcity of women expatriates,there is no data that suggests that women would have more, or less, positive work attitudesthan men. Maritalstatus has also received researchattention,but with mixed results. i Some authors ontendthatbeing marrieds a stabilizing actorfor expatriates, f c while otherscontendthatspouse and family problemsare the leading cause of expatriate ailure[Tung 1984].While some MNCs develop cross-cultural f f i trainingprograms or an expatriate's pouse, the assumption s usuallymade s thatthe expatriate s male andthe spouse is female [Adlerand Izraeli 1988]. i t o Unfortunately, he literature f the impact of maritalstatus is scarce so no directionof relationshipcan be inferred. SteersandMowday[1981]contended hatworker xpectations ay be related t e m to subsequentattitudes. Their discussion focused on â€Å"met expect ations,† or the extent to which pre-employmentexpectations were subsequently fulfilled by job expenrences. n arguingfor realismin pre-employmentnterI i iews, Steersand Mowdayfelt that â€Å"met expectations† nd workerattitudes a were positively related. The same concept may apply internationally. f a I manager's pre-international xpectations differ greatly from subsequent e experiences,an expatriate'sattitudeswould likely decline. While expatriation trainingmay provide an opportunity or a realisticjob preview, other f techniquessuch as preview trips, may also help clarify expectations. Proposition9 Thereis a positive relationship etween an expab triate's tenure, organizationlevel, performance, yearsof previousinternationalxperience, inguise l tic ability,age, andrelational bilityand expatriate satisfaction,commitment,and involvement. Proposition10 Thereis a positiverelationship etweenthe degree b to whichan expatriates9sre-intemational p expectaaremetin subsequentnterna tional tions i experiences and satisfaction,commitment,and involvement. a T t C Satisfaction, ommitmen4nd Involvement owardhe ParentOrganization a i l Satisfaction,commitment, nd involvementare importantntermediateinkages between predictorvariablesand employee tumoverdecisions. Because of theirimportance, hese constructs ave receivedextensiveconceptualand t h empiricalattention. Models of employee turnover ave explicitly addressed h heirrole [Blau and Boal 1987; Bluedom 1982; Mobley, et al. 1979; Steers 514 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 and Mowday 1981; Price 1977]. Additionally, over one hundred empirical studies have validated these constructs and have indicated the strength and direction of intermediate linkages (see Miller and Monge [1986] and Cotton and Tuttle [1986] for meta analytic reviews). Therefore, only a brief definition and discussion of these variables will be presented here. Job satisfaction has been defined as â€Å"the positive emoti onal state resulting from the appraisalof one's job or job experiences† [Locke 1976].Organization commitment is defined as the worker's â€Å"strong belief in the organization's goals and values, a willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organization, and a strong desire to remain a member of the organization† [Mowday, Porter and Steers 1982]. Job involvement is defined as â€Å"the extent to which an individual identifies psychologically with her/her job† [Blau 1985]. Although these constructs are related, each is distinct due to measurement of attitudes about the individual (satisfaction), the job (involvement), or the organization (commitment) [Blau and Boal 1987; Morrow 1983].For example, employees with high job satisfaction may feel positive about their jobs due to fulfillment of personal needs and values [Miller and Monge 1986]. For individuals with high levels of job involvement, the job is important to the worker's self-image [Kanungo 19 82]. Workers with a high level of organizational commitment feel positive about their employer, identify with the organization,and wish to maintain membership in it [Porter, Crampton and Smith 1976]. While these constructs are conceptually distinct, interactive effects have been shown to exist between commitment and involvement [Blau and Boal 1989], nd satisfaction and commitment [Glisson and Durick 1988] and satisfaction, commitment, and involvement [Lee and Mowday 1987]. However, satisfaction, commitment, and involvement generally complement one another as intermediate linkages between predictor variables and turnover [Blau and Boal 1987]. Attempts have been made to identify a causal orderingbetween these attitudinal variables. The implicit assumptionof these attemptsis thatsince satisfactioncan be formulated quickly, satisfaction leads to commitment and involvement which are more long lasting and enduring [Steers 1977; Stevens, Beyer and Trice 1978].Attempting to test this conten tion, Williams and Hazer [1986] found strong interaction between satisfaction and commitment but could not infer causality due to the cross-sectional nature of the data. However, Farkas and Tetrick [1989] used a longitudinal design but were unable to identify causal direction. They did identify that satisfaction and commitment are differentially related over time, and the relationship may be cyclical or reciprocal. Therefore, the model presented here assumes that these variables are strongly and positively related to one another, but does not assume any causal relationship.Since the majority of expatriates are internal transfers ratherthan new hires, the workers have probably achieved some degree of social integration into CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATETURNOVER 515 the organization. Accordingly,the argumentis made that expatriatesstart theirinternational ssignmentwith attitudesthatare reasonablywell formua lated. Also, as transfers,expatriates ay have reasonablypositive attitudes m initially. Althoughthereis no empiricalsupportfor this contention,it seems intuitivelylogical that a disgruntled mployee would be an unlikely candie t date for an internationalransfer.The situationfor new hires is more complex. While new hires apparently constitutea small portionof expatriates,new hires' attitudesare probably more formative than internaltransfers. Since new hires would have little i b t opportunityo achievesocial integrationntothe organization eforedeparting for the foreignassignment, he local foreignorganization ould be relatively t w i more importantn shapingworkattitudes. Also, pursuingthe logic of Steers and Mowday [1981], pre-employmentexpectations would be relatively more importantin shaping new hires' work attitudessince expectations w a regarding oththe organization ndthe foreignassignment ouldbe clarified. Whetherthe expatriateis an internaltransferor a new hire, the expatriate initially arrives in the foreign assignmentwith some level of satisfaction, b co mmitment nd involvement. dditionally, ased on the domesticresearch, a A these three attitudesare positively relatedto one another. Proposition 11 Thereis a positive elationshipmongan expatriate's r a satisfaction,commitment,and involvementwith respectto the organization. Attitudestowardthe Organizationin the Foreign AssignmentThe traditionalturnovermodels of Mobley, et al. [1979] and Steers and Mowday [1981] postulatethat satisfaction,commitment,and involvement collectively result in an employee formulatingintentions to stay in the organization r to quit. In the international ontext,an expatriate anager's o c m a family situation,the careerpathingperceptions,countrycharacteristics, nd the degree of cross-cultural djustment ppearto be moderatingvariables. a a Thus, the employees' attitudetowardthe parentorganization ay be modim fied to resultin attitudestowardthe organization n the foreign assignment. These attitudeswould still conceptuallyinclude satisfaction,commitment, and involve ment,but the constructswould be more directlyinfluencedby the international xperience. e Supportfor the changes in an expatriate'sattitudestowardthe organization in the international ontext is providedby Gregersonand Black [1990a]. c Their researchindicatedthat expatriatesare often differentiallycommitted to the organization nd local foreignoperations. urthermore,on-jobfactors a F n were significantly related to local commitment. These findings appearto f t and c rovide upportorthecontentionhatcountry haractenrstics an expatriate's s family situationwill affect the expatriate'ssatisfaction,commitment,and involvementwith respectto the organizationn the international ssignment. i a 516 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 Unfortunately,the concept of dual commitments, or dual attitudes in general, has received very little research attention internationally. Therefore, it is unknown whether attitudes toward the parent organization or attitudes toward the local f oreign organization would dominate in the formation of behavioral intentions.However, the model explicitly assumes that the expatriate's initial attitudes do not remain constant. As suggested by the high expatriate turnover rate, the expatriate's attitudes generally deteriorate due to a variety of unique internationalfactors. Some of the factors were discussed previously within the three categories of predictor variables. The remaining unique internationalfactors of family situation, country characteristics,career pathing, and cross-cultural adjustment appear quite important and will be addressed individually in the following sections.The assumption is made, however, that there is a â€Å"spill-over effect† between an expatriate's attitudes toward the parent organization (probably formulated domestically) and attitudes toward the international assignment. Expatriates with very positive attitudes toward the organization in general are also likely to have more positive attitude s internationally. Expatriates who possess lower levels of attitudes toward the organization in general are likely also to have lower levels of affective responses internationally.This explicitly assumes that each of the three attitudes can be formulated at a more macro level toward the organization in general or at a micro level that is more closely related to the foreign assignment. While the dual levels of commitment and satisfaction have been well identified in the domestic literature, it seems intuitively logical that the same could be said for job involvement. For some expatriates, attitudes toward the organization may remain positive while negative international attitudes may develop. Such a situation may result in an internal transfer.For other expatriates, initially positive attitudes toward the organization may deteriorate internationally leading to external turnover. Proposition 12 There is a positive relationship between job satisfaction,commitment,and involvement (with respect to the organization) and expatriate satisfaction, commitment, and involvement (with respect to the international assignment). Expatriate's Family While an employee's family situation may not be central to the domestic turnover process, the family situation is apparently a critically important oderatingvariable in the expatriateturnoverprocess. Harvey [1985] contends that the family situation may be the most important contributorto expatriate turnover. Supportfor Harvey's contentionis providedby Tung's [1982] research that indicated that two of three most frequently cited causes for expatriate failure were family related. Specifically, â€Å"the inability of the expatriate's family/spouse to adjust to a different physical or cultural environment† and CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATETURNOVER 517 â€Å"otherfamilyrelatedproblems†receivedstrongsupport. espitethe apparent D mportanceof the family, less than half of MNCs interviewthe spouse in the expatriate election p rocess [Black and Stephens1989; Tung 1981] and s expatriation rainingfor the family is very rare [Black and Stephens 1989]. t If a spouse or family memberis undergoingcultureshock or experiencing t difficulty in makingthe cross-cultural djustment, he morale,performance a and work attitudesof the expatriatemanagermay be adversely affected [Harvey 1985; Mendenhall,Dunbarand Oddou 1987; Tung 1982]. Since the majority of expatriatemanagers are male [Adler 1984], the greatest impact of a foreign relocationmay be experiencedby the wife [Gaylord 1979].The wife may experiencehigh levels of stress due to a disruptionof i children'seducation,loss of self-worthand identity,particularlyf she was previouslyemployed, lack of contactwith friends and relatives, and social or culturalostracism in the foreign country [Harvey 1985]. Furthermore, children are often resistantto moving, even domestically. The problems faced by childrenregarding ducation,linguisticdifferences,social relatione ships, and c ulturalvalues also can be the sourceof stress and conflict. Thus, the greaterthe numberof children,the more likely adjustment roblemsare p o occur. Also, older children such as teenagers are more likely to have t developedstrongpeer social relationships nddisrupting hose relationships a for an internationalransfer ay have negativeresults. Despite the apparent t m importanceof these variables,there is apparentlyittle empiricalinvestigal on expatriateturnover. tion of the impactof the family situation However,as noted by Black and Stephens[1989], the family situationis an e t intuitivelyimportant lementof the expatriate urnover rocess. They noted p t hatthereappearso be botha positiveandnegative†spillovereffect†between expatriatesand their spouses' perceptionsof an international ssignment. a w Specifically, expatriateand spouse adjustment ere significantlyand positively correlated, nd were relatedto the expatriate'sintentionto stay in the a foreign assignment. Even if an e xpatriatemanageris very positive about the foreign assignment, a transfer â€Å"home† may be the result of family dissatisfaction. Conversely,a positive family situationis likely to enhance an expatriate's attitudes and cross-culturaladjustment,and increase the probabilityof a successful foreign experience.Theredoes appearto be a potentialproblemin evaluatingthe impactof the spouse or family situationon turnover. Attributingexpatriateturnoverto the failure of the spouse to adjustmay be simplistic [Dowling and Welch 1988]. Expatriatesmay use their spouses as scapegoats,ratherthan admit theirown failuresto adjust. This may reducethe negativecareerimplications of an early transferhome. Likewise, top level corporateexecutives may attributeexpatriatefailure to the expatriate'sfamily ratherthan critically evaluatetheir own firm's expatriation rogramswhich may be deficient. p There are many dimensions of an expatriate'sfamily situation that may w oderate orkattitudes. nfortunately, ost of these variables ave received h m U little or no researchattention. Therefore,the following propositionhas been 518 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 stated very generally as a global measure of â€Å"family satisfaction,† which is undoubtedly a multifaceted concept. Proposition 13 The expatriate's family satisfaction with the international experience has a positive moderating influence on the expatriate's job satisfaction, commitment, and involvement with respect to the organization in the foreign assignment. The more ositive the expatriate's family attitudes, the more likely the expatriate is to develop positive work attitudes internationally. Proposition 14 The fewer the number of children that relocate with the expatriate, the more positive the expatriate's work attitudes. Proposition 15 The younger the children that relocate with the expatriate, the more positive the expatriate's work attitudes. CountryCharacteristics All foreign assignme nts are not created equal. Dramatic differences exist both between and within countries that can influence expatriates', and their families', cross-cultural adjustment and their subsequent attitudes.In many cultures, foreigners are viewed with distrust and skepticism. As a result, building social relationships with local nationals may be impossible. For example, few western women find the Arabic countries enjoyable due to the constrained role of women in those societies [Thai and Cateora 1979; Dowling and Schuler 1990]. As a result, some companies may prefer to select managers who are unmarried for foreign assignments in the belief that a single person will have fewer adjustments.However, many single male expatriates are socially ostracized, and they may have a more difficult social adjustment than a married couple who can provide each other mutual support. In addition to social and cultural factors, expatriates can experience dissatisfaction due to living conditions and health prob lems. A foreign oil company executive with extensive international experience expressed his preference for having Americans on international projects because they were always the first to get sick if a health problem existed. The Americans were his â€Å"miner's canary† that served as an early warning of potential health problems.Issues such as these have been referred to as â€Å"cultural toughness† and â€Å"cultural novelty† [Black and Stephens 1989; Mendenhall and Oddou 1985; Torbiorn 1982]. Cultural toughness describes the difficulty that a western expatriate would have adapting to certain cultures. For example, Torbiorn [1982] noted that western expatriates experienced higher levels of dissatisfaction with assignments in India, the Middle East, North Africa, CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF EXPATRIATE TURNOVER 519 East Africa, and Liberia. Thus, some cultures are very different from western cultures and are also very difficult to adjust to.Other countries may have a ve ry different culture, but are much easier to adapt to for expatriates and their families. The concept of culturaldifferences influencing the cross-cultural adjustment process is intuitively logical. However, there appears to be a lack of consensus regarding conceptualizations of this factor. For example, the terms â€Å"cultural toughness,† and â€Å"cultural novelty,† appearin the international business literature. Unfortunately, tightly developed definitions and consistent research operationalizations are generally lacking. Hofstede [1980] perationalized â€Å"cultural distance† along four indices of work-related values, but most researchershave used a broader,more macro level approach. Harbison and Myers [1959] conceptualized cultural differences in stages of economic development and the role of the firm in that process. Farmer and Richman [1980] conceptualizeddifferences along socio-cultural,legal-political, economic, and educational dimensions. Nath [1988] described behavioral differences that included cultural factors such as attitudes, beliefs, value systems, behavioral patterns, and management philosophies.Negandhi and Prasad [1971] evaluated differences in the task environment such as distributors, suppliers, employees, consumers, government, and community. Consensus regarding the appropriatedimensions to use in measuring cultural differences is lacking, but there is apparently strong support for the general concepts of cultural toughness, cultural novelty, and/or cultural distance. Each country presents the expatriate, and the expatriate's family, with a unique set of adjustmentproblems. The more divergent a foreign assignment and location from the home country environment, the greater the potential of experiencing culture shock.Indirectly supporting this contention was Beamish's [1985] finding that MNCs are more likely to be dissatisfied with the performance of operating units located in less developed countries that are likely to be â€Å"culturally tough. † The more â€Å"culturally tough† a foreign country, the more likely the expatriate's work attitudes will be negatively affected. Therefore, the following proposition was developed. Proposition 16 The culturaland environmentalsimilarity of home and host countries has a positive, moderating influence on expatriate satisfaction, commitment, and involvement (with respect to the international assignment).The more similar the foreign culture and environmentto the home environment, the more positive the impact on expatriate satisfaction, commitment, and involvement with respect to the organization in the foreign assignment. Career Pathing Research on the career value of foreign assignments in MNCs is inconsistent. The inconsistency may result from the fact that the human resources function constitutes the weakest link in the overall strategic planning process in 520 JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONALBUSINESS STUDIES, THIRD QUARTER 1992 most U. S. MNCs [L orange and Murphy 1983; Tung 1984].Thus, many foreign assignments appear haphazard rather than part of a planned process to develop certain managerial skills. As a result, international assignments appear to be avoided by some high performing managers due to potential negative career consequences [Adler 1980]. For example, Edstrom and Galbraith [1977] suggested that expatriates often viewed the purpose of their overseas assignment as development for future executive responsibility. However, Gonzalez and Negandhi [1966] found that about half of former expatriates were in low level positions fifteen years later.Howard [1973] and Harvey [1989] found that a good deal of uncertainty and conflict surrounded the expatriation and repatriation process and skills developed by expatriates were seldom used after their return home. These results led Mendenhall, Dunbar and Oddou [1987] to note that the â€Å"overseas assignment is a haphazard, ill-planned affair that is usually accompanied with vertical advancement. † They concluded that the impetus for overseas staffing seems to be more to meet immediate manpower needs than to create an integrated career development strategy for future corporate executives.This lack of career path clarity may cause expatriate managers to reevaluate their own career goals and the congruity of those goals with the organization. Since career counseling is very rare regarding international transfers, many expatriates are probably unaware of some career issues until they are actually on foreign assignment.

Jetblue Mrketing Essay

Needs, wants and demands are three basic things that each company must have in mind in order to produce a valuable â€Å"market offering† that will bring the so called â€Å"long-lasting and valued relationships† to their table, and JetBlue is not the exception. JetBlue like any other business is competing at the market by offering something to their costumers. But what do they really offer? Simple, JetBlue is an airline, even though their clients claim that â€Å"is more than an airline†, at the end of the day, that is just what they are, an airline. And why would people want to use the services of an airline? Basically because they NEED to transport and fly to another destiny. So when you talk about JetBlue needs, I will say that the most logical answer will be to state all the things that are an essential requirement to satisfy this main NEED of â€Å"transport†, so getting down to the basic things, JetBlue’s costumers’ needs are basically : the need of having FOOD, the need of having a SEAT and of course the need to FEEL SECURE while TRAVELING. And as we can see they are really covering this costumer needs: â€Å"I never fell thirsty. I never feel hungry.† (A customer opinion about is needs satisfaction). On the other hand a costumer may have the need to have food, but they might want an apple instead of an orange, so its really important for JetBlue to know what are some of their clients WANTS in order to satisfy in the best way possible these costumers’ needs by offering the right things. By reading the case I will say that JetBlue’s costumer WANTS may rely in coffee juices and snacks, confortable seats with more space than normal, variety of channels in the TV, nice and confortable terminals with more security lines, free Wi-Fi, etc. and last but not least we have the clients’ demands, these are the products or services for which clients were able to pay, and they expect them to be deli vered as soon as possible. In my opinion the first demand that any JetBlue costumer has, is a low cost fly including all services and products that they promised to make their fly enjoyable (legroom and flatter recline position, dunking donuts coffee, leather sits, LCD TVs, latest movies and favorite TV shows for just 6$, a terminal with excellent restaurants and stores, etc.). These are demands that they’ve been able to cover and that are the reason of the priceless customer’s loyalty that they keep having nowadays, even after the Valentine’s Day nightmare. 2-Describe in detail all the facets of JetBlue’s product. What is being exchanged in a JetBlue transaction? JetBlue is clearly running an airline were everything is about costumer satisfaction. The facets of JetBlue’s service include bringing the best jetting experience from the napkins to the flight security. They implement a lot of things that others airlines does not have, the airline has focused on providing features that are simply not the norm when it comes to commercial air travel. For example they implement 3 inches more in every sit, so now people are able to stretch and cross their legs, a thing that normal airlines lacked, they even have a legroom to offer more luxury to their clients. They also offer the best snacks and free selection of beverages in a way that clients don’t feel like begging for them, instead the flight attendants are all the time walking around giving the best food and overall service of all times. On the other hand, they know that not everything is in their hands and that flight delays may occur, so they are prepared with the best terminals and DVD’s selections of the time in order to keep giving their clients the best service’s features even in the most complicated times. All of this is achievable thanks to an exchange between JetBlue and their costumers. JetBlue gives love to their costumers by adding special value to the normal flight experience in return of, costumer loyalty and profits. 3-Which of the five marketing management concepts best applies to JetBlue? In my honest opinion they are one step left of implementing a â€Å"societal marketing concept†, but they still remain at the â€Å"marketing concept† right now. Their philosophy is to really getting to know the needs and wants of their target market and deliver them the desired satisfaction better than their competitors do, which is exactly what the â€Å"marketing concept† looks for. However they are lacking the humanitarian (GO GREEN!!!) part that a â€Å"societal market concept† would carry with it. Jet Blue is a company that is focused in more than the production, in more than the product, and in more than the sales, they are committed to the costumers, and they are willing to research everything in order to make their service adapt to their clients not backwards. They are also interacting with clients and improving their company, adding more value by taking their costumer’s critics in count to build stronger costumer’s relationships. On the other hand, implementing a new GO GREEN FUEL to their planes, or reusable water bottles (who knows) may get the company into the latest marketing trend, â€Å"the societal marketing concept†. 4-What values does JetBlue create for its costumers? JetBlue is completely focus on delivering the highest value possible to its clients. They are extremely committed to offer the highest valuable experience to their clients and you can see it in the way they treat their clients. They provide value by treating their costumers like family, like the CEO Barger tells, â€Å"The human side of the equation is the most important part of what we are doing†, â€Å"the hard product-airplanes, leather seats, satellite TVs, bricks and mortar-as long as you have a checkbook, they can be replicated† but the culture its really hard to replicate, that’s the superior value they give to their costumer: â€Å"Affordable flights, with the top service ever†, a feature that other airlines are no able to serve to their costumers. However, there is always the extra value of â€Å"having the most confortable seats ever; giving their clients a higher valued experience while flying†, and all the other material things, that if serve as intended might bring the costumer satisfaction to a whole new level. People can’t stop talking about JetBlue’s experience because, it breaks all the standards, the service is just UNBELIABLE. 5-Is JetBlue likely to continue being successful in building customer relationships? Why or Why Not? Yes, they will continue being successful in building costumer relationships as long as they keep delivering their high valued service, and meeting their costumer’s expectations in the best way possible. JetBlue is right now at the very top of the airline’s industry for it costumers, and as long as they keep doing what they are doing and improving the critics they may get, I don’t believe there is a possible way for costumers’ loyalty to fade away. Like I said they have been creating long-lasting relationships with their clients by providing them an excellent service and a high valued experience, unlike short meaningless transactions. On the other hand I do believe that they should try to catch up with the latest trend of marketing, and attempt to get into the â€Å"societal marketing concept† by creating something into the â€Å"Society, Consumers, Company† triangle or better said involving something â€Å"GO GREEN† in their mission. Maybe this will update them even more and would let them get their brand into a whole new dimension. However it seems like they are doing well, and that w e will all become JetBlue lovers in the long run. GO JETBLUE!!

Criminal law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 1

Criminal law - Essay Example There can be two types of manslaughter, voluntary and involuntary. Voluntary manslaughter occurs when a person kills with a malice aforethought or intention (mens rea). Involuntary manslaughter occurs when death occurs because of negligence or because of another illegal, dangerous act. To clarify, Actus Reus is the criminal act. It often goes with mens rea. There are two types of involuntary manslaughter. These are Constructive Manslaughter and Gross Negligence Manslaughter. Constructive manslaughter or Unlawful Act Manslaughter usually occurs when death results from the defendant’s unlawful act. To understand the concept of involuntary manslaughter, we could put the situation of David and Nick for consideration. David and Nick could be charged with Constructive Manslaughter. The prosecution, if the duo should be charged with Constructive Manslaughter, needs to establish the legal elements in the case. The actus reus was homicide, specifically manslaughter. The death occured b ecause of David and Nick’s unlawful act of damaging the tyres of the car Gordon drove. The mens rea for this situation would be the mere idea that they should puncture the tyres of the politician because they are unhappy with the way the politician runs the government. The mere thought that they should inflict an illegal act upon someone’s belongings, whether the intention is to kill or not, is sufficient enough to charge someone of manslaughter, because they intended to inflict harm on someone. Because the death only resulted from an act they performed indirectly on the politician, it can’t be murder. Since the killing is the result of the David and Nick’s unlawful act of slashing the tires, and they were reasonable enough (not insane) to rationalize that they needed to slash Gordon’s tyres because on the grounds that the politician was causing their problems, the act is Constructive Manslaughter. The act cannot be considered murder as they slashe d the tyres without meaning to kill the person, even if it meant the death of the driver of the car. The mens rea is quite clear and they indeed meant harm to the politician, although not necessarily his death. The death happened because of the injuries sustained from the head injuries that were incurred during the accident, which is not a direct harm but merely a consequence caused by the defendants’ actions. This phenomenon is called the Natural Consequences of the Defendant’s Act, like the R v Pagett Case in 1983 where the defendant tried to use a little girl as human shield when he was being arrested by the police. The girl died because she took the bullet. This case is similar to David and Nick’s case because Gordon died because David and Nick put him in danger because of their behavior. David and Nick could also be charged with Gross Negligence Manslaughter. This happens when the death is because of negligence or omission on the part of the defendant. Acco rding to the judge in R v Bateman (1925) 19 Cr App R 8, the negligence of the accused showed disregard for the life and safety of others as to amount to a crime. To describe the grossness of the negligence in a case, the Adomako (from R v Adomako (1994) 3 All ER 79Â  )Â  test: a) the existence of a duty of care to the deceased; b) a breach of that duty of care which; c) causes (or significantly contributes) to the death of the victim; and d) the breach should be characterised as gross negligence, and therefore a crime. Since

Asset Classes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Asset Classes - Essay Example One of the major asset classes of OXT is stock. For the last 52 weeks, the company has recorded a daily average of 1.2 K shares in the UK market. Even though the company has displayed a downward trend on the 50 day moving average, the 20 day moving average depicts a financial strength of the company. One of the major concerns of the company management is the 200 SMA that stands at 18.47, thus creating a lot of resistance from the investors. According to the performance of Coca-Cola on the 9th of August, 2012, the company shares closed at 79.24 USD, indicating a decrease of 0.4%. On August 9, 2012, 4.79 million shares were traded, which indicates an increment of 23.89% as compared to 2011. As compared to OXT, which shows a downward movement of its stock prices, Coca-Cola stock prices depict a significant increment. Money market is an additional asset class of OXT. Currently, the company market capitalization stands at 1 while shares in issue are 5.43 million. The company profit margin is 500% while turnover per share stands at 0.001 (Oxford Technology Venture Capital Trust: Fundamentals, 2012). On the other hand, Coca-Cola market capitalization stands at 178.39 billion. The company shares outstanding 2.25 billion, thus attracting many investors. Based on its high profitability and large investment portfolio, Coca-Cola’s earning per share (EPS) stands at 3.78 USD. According to the financial report provided by the company in the month of July 2012, an average of 6.16 million shares has been sold. Asset classification of Oxford Technology Venture Capital Trust PLC and other similar mutual funds is significant in that it helps the investors to determine the type of investment that fits their needs. It is important to note that due to the recent economic downturn, the current investment environment has been faced with challenges based on low level of employment, which was experienced in many

Baskin Robins Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Baskin Robins - Research Paper Example Organizations within that industry can then access the information for a certain fee. Basin-Robins require syndicated data concerning organizations within its industry, especially those that serve the same or similar market. The information must be based on organizations that have changed their logo in the past. The effects the change had on customers’ purchasing patterns and overall sales and profitability can guide Basin-Robins on deciding whether changing the logo is a worthwhile venture or not. The secondary and syndicated data would serve to give insights on the viability of changing the logo for Baskin-Robins. Qualitative research provides information on changes that have been effected in organizations in a certain industry. The information obtained through qualitative research on competitors would inform Baskin-Robins on the expected reactions from customers upon changing its brand. Moreover, the impact of the reactions on profit margins and sales volume can be estimated using the qualitative research (Kolb, 2008). There are customers who have established an identity with the existing brand. These customers may be reluctant to accept the new brand. Changing the brand without considering its impact on such customers may be detrimental to the organization’s performance. On the other hand, the research can insightfully establish the need for brand change. The brand change may bring in more customers and persuade existing ones from seeking competitors’ products by taking care of their changed tastes and

Movie Review Essay An Inconvient Truth (with Al Gore)

Movie Review An Inconvient Truth (with Al Gore) - Essay Example The main attraction, however, is the beautiful blend of awesome digital animation, and personal reflections from Gore that add a very nice human element to the film. The way the film mixes the autobiographical elements: from Gore in a classroom in 1968, listening with rapt attention to the great geochemist Roger Revelle explaining the first few years of data on carbon dioxide increases in the atmosphere to the Al Gore on the family farm, talking about his father's tobacco business, and how he shut it down when his daughter (Al Gore's sister) got lung cancer: is simply phenomenal. The natural elan with which Gore carries off his acting makes us realise that here is a man who he is clearly in his element here, talking about something he has cared deeply about for over thirty years. What was most heart warming to notice was the efficient manner in which the film handles science, including reference to some of the very latest research that is going on in contemporary times. Not only are discussions of recent changes in Antarctica and Greenland expertly laid out, but Al Gore also does a very good job in talking about the relationship between sea surface temperature and hurricane intensity.

Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Analysis - Essay Example The primary difference between fiction and nonfiction is the genesis of the story. For nonfiction, the author creates a story that has its entire framework already exists. That is, the events of the story and the characters correspond to real events and individuals. The author may creatively fill in details, such as various minor events and minor aspects of character, but this does not make the work fiction. A writer of nonfiction is allowed to alter minor details in order to create a piece that is interesting to read. The majority of life is boring and to make a work of nonfiction interesting and purposeful minor alterations are often needed. In contrast, authors of fiction create a story that does not have an existing framework. The author must create events and characters entirely from his own mind. These events and characters might contain characteristics and details that originate in various situations and people in the author’s life, but this does not make the work nonfi ction. Fiction is the creation of a piece from the elements of the author’s mind. In short, nonfiction is altering true events and characters to create a purposeful piece of writing, and fiction is creating events and characters by rearranging parts of the author’s knowledge to create a purposeful piece of writing. Part II The narrator of â€Å"No Name Woman† by Maxine Hong Kingston is a woman who is lacking an identity. She is the daughter of a Chinese immigrant family, and as such, she has no identity in America. In order to create some semblance of a life, she focuses on understanding herself by understanding her cultural history. From this history, she selects her aunt who committed suicide due to pregnancy borne of adultery. This aunt was a ghost, a woman erased from the family’s past. In her aunt, the narrator finds a kindred soul, a woman with no identity. By creating an imagined life for this aunt, the narrator creates a life for herself. Each par t of the aunt’s life has a corollary in the character of the narrator. The narrator considers her aunt’s unknown lover as a means of understanding her own beliefs about love and belonging. The aunt’s lover is someone in the village, but she never reveals him, and he never reveals himself. When thinking about her aunt’s lover, the narrator considers what it means to be attractive in American culture. She wonders how she will attract Chinese boys without attracting everyone else. She is even unsure of whom she wishes to attract. She finds the pain she feels in trying to find someone to love in her new culture reflected in her aunt’s life. The village punishes the aunt for attempting to have a private life, and the narrator feels punished for having a private life as well. The aunt’s role as an outcast in her community mirrors the narrator’s view of herself as an outcast in American society. The narrator understands that her aunt was an outcast because the aunt was living with her parents when she should have been living with her husband’s parents. From this realization, the narrator reasons that the family would have forced the aunt to eat alone and separate from the family. This separation is what the narrator feels in America. She both takes part in the culture and is separated from it. Lastly, the aunt’s story creates a fear within the narrator that endures for twenty years. Because of the shame she has brought upon the family, the aunt is cast from the family home the night her baby is born. That

The Replacement Movie Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Replacement Movie - Assignment Example It clearly shows his ability to analyze different situations in the game and to know when it is appropriate for him to make a move with the ball towards his opponents. Secondly, just before the game starts we see that how calculative he is concerning the goals. He believes that certain actions like coming to the match or game late have the potency of providing negative results during the game and he is also not welcoming on taking excuses from his fellow teammates regarding the game. This we see in his conversation with Keanu on why he reported late to the game. Brooke as a character in the movie also shows leadership in how she interacts with Keanu regarding him going to the game. Brooke shows social responsibility which amounts in civic responsibility as she is sure that Keanu’s car will not allow him to be in time for his game. She volunteers to drive Keanu in her car. In addition, she displays integrity because when she asked Keanu to join her in her car, she was genuine a nd willing to drive Keanu to the game (The Replacements). John Madden and Pat Summerall also show leadership based on social responsibility. They have taken the role as the play by play announcers to ongoing match that is being played by the two teams. We see their ability to communicate effectively and clearly during the game. In most cases, people are always anxious when placed in fronts of cameras, but in the movie, they show the ability to stand before large crowds of people in front of cameras and deliver.

Diplomacy in politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Diplomacy in politics - Essay Example No less a person than Mr Gladstone, it is recorded, was of the opinion that the University Common Room was as bad as the Bank of England Parlour in narrowing the point of view. It seemed to me, therefore, that I might best, perhaps, speak on a subject which throws some light on the complexity of human nature and which I have had some opportunity to observe at close quarters. I am sure you will acquit me of any undue estimate of the importance of the role which I myself played in a subordinate position during the two great wars, if I illustrate my theme occasionally from my own experience. For it is by action that a man is made most vividly aware of the limitations which human nature imposes on the conduct of policy. It is no accident that the two most scolding pens amongst British historians today are wielded by two who have had no practical experience of political or military affairs. The subject of diplomacy has of course been expounded by a long array of writers. They have, however, often considered it in the wider aspect of policy rather than in that of the method by which policy is implemented. But today I intend to speak of the tactics of diplomacy, not of its strategy. There is, it is true, as in war, a vital connexion between the two. The most magnificent conceptions of policy are useless unless there is a means of putting them into effect. In the last war immense devotion, skill and energy and a wealth of economic and statistical information and analysis were devoted to the elaboration of plans by which the war against Germany could be quickly won by a bombing offensive. Their only weakness was that it was impossible to carry them out. Similar situations often arise in the formation of foreign policy. For this reason even in this field a subordinate may be able at times to make a contribution to great events and no Foreign Minister has ever touched greatn ess unless he was