From dilemmatic struggle to legitimized indifference: expatriates' host country language learning and its impact on the expatriate-HCE relationship

Article

Zhang, L. and Harzing, A. 2016. From dilemmatic struggle to legitimized indifference: expatriates' host country language learning and its impact on the expatriate-HCE relationship. Journal of World Business. 51 (5), pp. 774-786. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2016.06.001
TypeArticle
TitleFrom dilemmatic struggle to legitimized indifference: expatriates' host country language learning and its impact on the expatriate-HCE relationship
AuthorsZhang, L. and Harzing, A.
Abstract

We address the lack of knowledge concerning the role of host country languages in multinational corporations based on an inductive qualitative study involving 70 interviews with Nordic expatriates and host country employees (HCE) in China.
Building on the strongly discrepant views of expatriates and HCEs, we demonstrate how expatriates’ willingness to learn and use the host country language lead to different types of expatriate-HCE relationships, ranging from harmonious to distant or segregated. In doing so, we emphasize the subtle and fragile connection between expatriates’ attitude towards HCEs’ mother tongue and trust formation in addition to the construction of superiority-inferiority relationships.

KeywordsExpatriate; Chinese; Learning; Host country employee; Host country language
Research GroupInternational Business group
PublisherElsevier
JournalJournal of World Business
ISSN1090-9516
Electronic1878-5573
Publication dates
Online16 Jun 2016
Print09 Sep 2016
Publication process dates
Deposited10 Jun 2016
Accepted03 Jun 2016
Output statusPublished
Publisher's version
License
Accepted author manuscript
Copyright Statement

© 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jwb.2016.06.001
LanguageEnglish
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