Chinese host country nationals' willingness to support expatriates: the role of collectivism, interpersonal affect and Guanxi

Arup Varma, Shaun Pichler, Pawan S. Budhwar, Soumendu Biswas

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The willingness of host country nationals (HCNs) to provide support to the expatriate has received a lot of attention in the literature on international assignments. Surprisingly, though, the number of empirical studies examining this relationship is extremely limited. This study examines the role of HCNs' collectivistic orientation, interpersonal affect, and guanxi in relation to their willingness to support expatriates. Using data from 212 HCNs in China, it is found that HCNs' perceived relationship quality with the expatriate has a significant impact on their willingness to provide assistance, both role information and social support, to expatriates. Further, it is found that relationship quality is related to perceived cultural similarity. The results reinforce the importance of paying attention to the perceptions and reactions of HCNs towards expatriates. Implications of the findings are discussed, and suggestions are offered for future research.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)199-216
Number of pages18
JournalInternational Journal of Cross Cultural Management
Volume9
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Aug 2009

Keywords

  • expatriates
  • host country nationals
  • role information
  • social categorization
  • social support

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