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Degree

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Psychology, 1990.

Abstract

The sojourn literature on expatriate business people has seldom focused on expatriate's subjective experiences of the paradoxes that confront them. The qualitative exploratory portion of this study investigated two questions: (1) Do expatriate stories reflect the transformational nature of the "hero's adventure" myth (Campbell, 1968)? and (2) Do expatriates experience one or more of nine paradoxes derived from the author's own expatriate experiences? Both questions were answered affirmatively with extensive anecdotal data. The quantitative section of the study was a retrospective correlational analysis focusing on the relationship between awareness of paradoxes and a variety of cultural involvement, competence, acculturation, and effectiveness variables. The cultural variables dealt with the nature of the work, the host culture, and the expatriate's personal situation. The competencies measured were identity integration (Loevinger's ego development), incongruity tolerance (Driver and Streufert's GIAL), and social acuity (Snyder's self-monitoring scale). Ego development and self-monitoring correlated positively with awareness of one or more of the nine paradoxes. Effectiveness, measured through self-reports, was positively correlated with awareness of the powe rful/powerless paradox (feeling powerful as headquarters representative and powerless as a neophyte in understanding the host culture's norms) and negatively correlated with awareness of conflicting demands between headquarters and the host country situation.

Keywords

expatriate business

Advisor

Eric H. Neilsen

Pages

430p.

Document number: case1054660024
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1054660024

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