Supervisor:

In business research the global work experience has been heavily focused on expatriates. Expatriates are a subcategory of migrants, but their experience is not representative of the broader migrant population. Global migration has become an unquestionable reality of today’s societies. As most migration studies focus on low skilled migrants, there is an obvious neglect of research on highly skilled migrants, especially given that more than one in four migrants moving into the G20 economies holds at least a tertiary education degree. Only recently research has started to focus on highly skilled migrants and their implications for international business. Initial prior research already suggested that higher educational levels could be associated with lower adaptation stress of migrants and with a higher degree of identification with the host country. 

Besides educational level, generational status also influences the adaptation of migrants. In many countries, migrants show a high tendency to become entrepreneurs, which has often been ascribed to discrimination, ethnic networks, and sociodemographic differences. Some studies even suggest that some migrants self-selectively have an entrepreneurial personality. Other highly skilled migrants who choose to work within an already established organization experience occupational downgrading, which leads these employees through a sensemaking process to connect their experiences in the workplace with their identity. 

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the literature on highly skilled migrants in the workplace and in particular highlight the reasons behind their differing workplace experiences. 

References:

Bakker, W., Van Der Zee, K. and Van Oudenhoven, J.P., 2006. Personality and Dutch emigrants' reactions to acculturation strategies. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 36(12), pp.2864-2891. 

Fernando, D & Patriotta, G 2020. “Us versus them”: Sensemaking and identity processes in skilled migrants’ experiences of occupational downgrading. Journal of World Business, 55(4), p. N.PAG

Hajro, A, Caprar, DV, Zikic, J & Stahl, GK., 2021. Global migrants: Understanding the implications for international business and management. Journal of World Business, 56(2), p. N.PAG

Simon, B. and Ruhs, D., 2008. Identity and politicization among Turkish migrants in Germany: the role of dual identification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95(6), p.1354. 

Vandor, P 2021. Are voluntary international migrants self-selected for entrepreneurship? An analysis of entrepreneurial personality traits. Journal of World Business, 56(2), p. N.PAG

Supervisor: 

Psychological capital describes the positive psychological state of an individual, which features the resources of hope, effectiveness, resilience and optimism. Resources in this context refer to the persistence in achieving goals and finding alternative solutions, the expectation of a positive future, the ability to recover from drawbacks as well as the mobilization of motivation and cognitive resources. Further, insights indicate that psychological capital can be enhanced through various interventions.

Studies have investigated the relation between psychological capital and employee attitude, specifically also of expatriates. Expatriates face particular challenges during their foreign assignments, which require an adjustment of attitudes according to the cultural environment. Possessing psychological capital can facilitate this process.

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the literature on psychological capital and explore the impact on employee attitudes, specifically in relation to expatriate adjustment. Furthermore, the thesis should discuss opportunities and challenges of interventions to foster psychological capital for expatriates. 

References:

Avey, J. B., Reichard, R. J., Luthans, F., & Mhatre, K. H. 2011. Meta-analysis of the impact of positive psychological capital on employee attitudes, behaviors, and performance. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 22(2), pp.127–152. 

Firth, B. M., Chen, G., Kirkman, B. L., & Kim, K. 2014. Newcomers abroad: Expatriate adaptation during early phases of international assignments. Academy of Management Journal, 57(1), 280–300. 

Luthans, F., & Youssef-Morgan, C. M. 2017. Psychological capital: An evidence-based positive approach. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 4(1), 339–366. 

Supervisor:

Global leadership refers to the ability to influence the attitudes and behaviors of followers from different cultural backgrounds. A successful global leader should have a vision and purpose, exhibit certain leadership behaviors (e.g. building trust and spanning boundaries) and have a certain skillset in order to achieve their job responsibilities. 

A leader’s skills have an important impact on the overall performance of his subordinates. One important characteristic that seems to influence the subordinates’ performance is cultural intelligence (CQ).

Cultural intelligence consists of different meta-cognitive, cognitive, motivational and behavioral components and can be viewed as the ability of a person to adapt to an unfamiliar situation and correctly interpret communication across different cultures. 

There is a growing body of literature on global leadership development and as CQ is a feature that can be trained, it becomes of interest for MNCs looking to develop global leaders. 

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the literature on global leadership and cultural intelligence and discuss how cultural intelligence impacts global leadership.

References:

Alon, I & Higgins, JM 2005. Global leadership success through emotional and cultural intelligences. Business Horizons, 48(6), pp. 501–512.

Li, M., Mobley, W. H. & Kelly, A. 2013. When do global leaders learn best to develop cultural intelligence? An investigation of the moderating role of experiential learning style. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 12(1), pp. 32–50.

Ramsey, JR, Rutti, RM, Lorenz, MP, Barakat, LL & Sant, Anna, AS. 2017. Developing global transformational leaders. Journal of World Business, 52(4), pp. 461–473.

Reiche, B, Bird, A, Mendenhall, M & Osland, J 2017. Contextualizing leadership: a typology of global leadership roles. Journal of International Business Studies, 48(5), pp. 552–572.

Supervisor:

Research on multicultural teams has pointed to both benefits and challenges created by diversity. For example, diversity in teams may lead to greater variety in ideas and enhance creativity but may also create communication barriers and ultimately lead to conflict. 

Organization scholars distinguish between task conflict and interpersonal conflict. Whereas the former – if managed well – can result in increased creativity, the latter often disrupts cooperation within teams. This undesirable interpersonal conflict is more likely to occur in heterogeneous teams because of “interpretive barriers” stemming from team members’ different values, beliefs, and language systems, acquired from varying socialization experiences. These differences entail varying conventions for social interaction, which lead to disconfirmed expectations and consequently trigger conflict. To minimize friction, multinational team members need to effectively resolve interpersonal conflict. 

This Bachelor thesis should critically discuss sources of conflicts in multicultural teams and conflict resolution strategies geared towards addressing these challenges. 

References:

Brett, J. M., Olekalns, M., Friedman, R., Goates, N., Anderson, C., & Lisco, C. C. 2007. Sticks and stones: Language, face, and online dispute resolution. Academy of Management Journal, 50 (1), pp. 85–99. 

Ren, H., & Gray, B. 2009. Repairing relationship conflict: How violation types and culture influence the effectiveness of restoration rituals. Academy of Management Review, 34 (1), pp. 105–126. 

Von Glinow, M. A., Shapiro, D. L., & Brett, J. M. 2004. Can we talk, and should we? Managing emotional conflict in multicultural teams. Academy of Management Review, 29 (4), pp. 578–592.

Supervisor: 

Multinational teams (MNTs) consist of team members from diverse cultural backgrounds. MNTs have become more and more important for multinational companies due to their ability to integrate a variety of perspectives and skills. 

The individual team members’ characteristics and skills significantly affect MNT performance. One important aspect of such characteristics and resulting skills is cultural intelligence. 

Cultural intelligence consists of different (meta-)cognitive, motivational and behavioral components and can be viewed as the ability of a person to adapt to an unfamiliar situation and correctly interpret communication across different cultures. 

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the literature on cultural intelligence and multinational teams to highlight and contrast the opportunities and challenges different levels of CQ can have on the functioning of MNTs. 

References:

Chen, M.-L., & Lin, C.-P. 2013. Assessing the effects of cultural intelligence on team knowledge sharing from a socio-cognitive perspective. Human Resource Management, 52(5), pp. 675–695.

Earley,P.E. , Murnieks, C. , & Mosakowski,E. 2007. Cultural intelligence and the global mindset, in Mansour Javidan, Richard M. Steers, Michael A. Hitt (ed.) The Global Mindset (Advances in International Management, Volume 19) Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.75–103. 

Zander, L., Mockaitis, A. I. & Butler, C. L. 2012. Leading global teams. Journal of World Business, 47(4), pp. 592–603. 

Supervisor: 

Over the last decade many multinational companies have globally integrated their operations. This has led to a growing importance of multinational teams: Culturally and linguistically diverse work groups are expected to generate innovative solutions, integrate knowledge and implement complex business strategies. 

Given these high expectations, effective multinational teamwork is crucial for overall company success. However, it has not yet been definitely determined how multinational team effectiveness can be measured. Which criteria does a team have to meet to be called “effective”? Team literature yields multiple conceptualizations of effectiveness, which still need to be integrated. 

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the most recent conceptualizations of multinational team effectiveness and its measurement, giving recommendations for their combination and suggesting avenues for further research. 

References: 

Chou, L.-F., Wang, A.-C., Wang, T.-Y., Huang, M.-P. & Cheng, B.-S. 2008. Shared work values and team member effectiveness: The mediation of trustfulness and trustworthiness. Human Relations, 61(12), pp. 1713–1742. 

Gibson, C.B., Zellmer-Bruhn, M.E. & Schwab, D.P. 2003. Team effectiveness in multinational organizations: evaluation across contexts. Group & Organization Management, 28(4), pp. 444-474. 

Mathieu, J., Maynard, M. T., Rapp, T., & Gilson, L. 2008. Team effectiveness 1997-2007: A review of recent advancements and a glimpse into the future. Journal of Management, 34 (3), pp. 410-476.

Supervisor: 

Research on the role of trust has expanded considerably in recent years within business and organizational studies. An increasing number of studies have identified trust as the antecedent to many favorable organizational outcomes such as decreasing uncertainty, reducing transaction and management costs or improving cooperative efficiency.

Trust development processes require at least two parties, a trustor and a trustee. The level of trust among these parties is determined by the propensity to trust of the trustor and the perceived trustworthiness of the trustee. Psychological mechanisms, operating between trustor and trustee, and various contextual moderators together influence trust forms (e.g. presumptive trust, relational trust) and trust dynamics (e.g. trust development, breakdown and repair).

There are significant differences in terms of how trust is developed in a Western as compared to the Chinese cultural context. Research has shown, for example, that collectivistic cultures, such as in China, are more heavily influenced by affective and situational trust cues. By contrast, individualistic cultures, prevalent in the West, are more influenced by dispositional and cognitive trust cues. 

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the relevant literature on trust development and discuss both commonalities and differences regarding this process in a Western as well as Chinese context.

References:

Bueechl, J., & Pudelko, M. (2018). Do Chinese subordinates trust their German supervisors? Developing a trust development model. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2018(1), 11507.

Child, J., & Möllering, G., (2003) Contextual confidence and active trust development in the Chinese business environment. Organization Science, 14(1):69-80.

Huff, L., & Kelley, L., (2003) Levels of organizational trust in individualist versus collectivist societies: A Seven-Nation Study. Organization Science, 14(1):81-90.

Pudelko, M., & Liu, J. (2020). The role of trust in cross-cultural management. In The SAGE Handbook of Contemporary Cross-Cultural Management (pp. 326–339). SAGE Publications Ltd.

Zaheer, S., & Zaheer, A. (2005). Trust across borders. Journal of International Business Studies, 37(1), 21–29.

Supervisor:

Individuals tend to think in categories. They identify themselves with a certain category of people and categorize others into social groups. The Social Identity Theory and the Self-Categorization Theory explain how these social categories influence individuals’ self-concept and behavior as well as their perceptions of and expectations towards in-group and out-group members. 

A culturally diverse environment influences people’s social identity and self-categorization, which can influence the functioning of multinational teams positively or negatively. Multinational organizations and team leaders, but also team members need to be aware of these effects in order to manage possible conflicts and frictions. 

This Bachelor thesis should critically discuss the challenges culturally diverse multinational teams face with particular reference to Social Identity and Self-categorization Theory. On this basis managerial recommendations on how to address these issues should be developed.

References: 

Ashforth, B., & Mael, F. 1989. Social identity theory and the organization. Academy of Management Review, 14(1), pp. 20-39. 

Griepentrog, B., Harold, C., Holtz, B., Klimoski, R., & Marsh, S. 2012. Integrating social identity and the theory of planned behavior: Predicting withdrawal from an organizational recruiting process. Personnel Psychology, 65, pp. 723–753.

Hofhuis, J., van der Zee, K., & Otten, S. 2012. Social identity patterns in culturally diverse organizations: The role of diversity climate. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 42(4), pp. 964–989. 

Supervisor:

Inpatriation is an important addition to a multinational company’s repertoire of international assignments and can help transfer knowledge, improve headquarters-subsidiary relationships and develop managers. 

The use of inpatriates increases the cultural diversity and multicultural staff composition at the headquarters. It also allows the headquarters to inculcate subsidiary managers into the corporate culture in a more direct way than would be possible by the transfer of expatriates and might also be a useful option to transfer tacit knowledge from the subsidiaries to the headquarters.

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the benefits and drawbacks of inpatriation in the context of international HR policies and practices.

References:

Harvey, M. G., Novicevic, M. M., & Speier, C. 1999. Inpatriate managers: how to increase the probability of success. Human Resource Management Review, 9(1), pp. 51-81.

Reiche, S. 2006. The inpatriate experience in multinational corporations: An exploratory case study in Germany. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 17(9), pp. 1572-1590.

Reiche, S., & Harzing, A. W. 2011. International assignments. International Human Resource Management, 3, pp. 185-226.

Supervisor:

Research on expatriation has been a popular topic in international business for more than four decades. Given the increasing amount of expatriate assignments in an increasingly international business environment, the issue of how expatriates adjust to foreign cultures and perform in their jobs has become increasingly important.

As expatriate failure has negative consequences both for the organization and the expatriate, selecting the right candidate for an international assignment is of high importance. 

One group that appears to have particular capabilities to overcome the challenges of expatriation are cosmopolitans. They are credited with a certain degree of openness towards other people, mobility and competence with a foreign culture. 

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the literature on cosmopolitans in expatriate positions and explore the relevance of cosmopolitan characteristics for a successful expatriation period. 

References:

Grinstein, A., & Wathieu, L. 2012. Happily (mal)adjusted: Cosmopolitan identity and expatriate adjustment. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 29(4), pp. 337–345 

Shaffer, M.A., Harrison, D.A. & Gilley, K.M., 1999. Dimensions, determinants and differences in the expatriate adjustment process. Journal of International Business Studies, 30(3), pp. 557-582. 

Skovgaard-Smith, I., & Poulfelt, F. 2018. Imagining ‘non-nationality’: Cosmopolitanism as a source of identity and belonging. Human Relations, 71(2), pp. 129–154. 

Supervisor:

Multinational teams have become more and more important for multinational companies due to their ability to integrate a variety of perspectives and skills. However, the cultural diversity between team members confronts these teams with a range of challenges. For example, they need to manage conflicts across members’ national cultural boundaries, deal with coordination and control issues, maintain communication richness, and develop and uphold team cohesiveness. For multicultural teams to be effective, members must learn to address these challenges arising from team members’ differing nationalities and cultural backgrounds. 

Despite these challenges, some scholars argue that the differences in cultures and the diversity in resulting perspectives within a multinational team can also contribute to their performance, for instance by increasing team creativity and reducing groupthink. 

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the positive and negative effects of cultural diversity on team performance and provide recommendations on how to effectively manage this diversity within a multinational team. 

References:

Lattimer, R. L. (1998). The case for diversity in global business, and the impact of diversity on team performance. Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal, 8(2), pp. 3-17.

Pieterse, A. N., Van Knippenberg, D., & Van Dierendonck, D. (2013). Cultural diversity and team performance: The role of team member goal orientation. Academy of Management Journal, 56(3), pp. 782-804. 

Stahl, G. K., Maznevski, M. L., Voigt, A., & Jonsen, K. (2010). Unraveling the effects of cultural diversity in teams: A meta-analysis of research on multicultural work groups. Journal of International Business Studies, 41(4), pp. 690-709. 

Supervisor:

Perceived organizational support (POS) refers to beliefs held by employees regarding the extent to which their organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being. These beliefs are founded in perceptions of the organization’s readiness to reward increased work effort and satisfy socio-emotional needs. POS motivates employees to show care for the organization’s welfare. Additionally, organizational support theory suggests that POS is a valued resource because it assures employees that help will be available from the organization when it is needed to carry out one’s job effectively and to deal with stressful situations. 

Studies have pointed out that POS plays also a role in predicting expatriate success. Furthermore, organizational stress scholars have argued that POS may be an important determinant of expatriates’ adjustment to the host country and their job performance. 

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the concept of POS, relate it to the literature of expatriation and discuss how POS may influence expatriate success. 

References:

Farh, J. L., Hackett, R. D., & Liang, J. 2007. Individual-level cultural values as moderators of the perceived organizational support-employee outcome relationships in China: Comparing the effects of power distance and traditionality. Academy of Management Journal, 50(3), pp. 715–729. 

Kraimer, M.L., & Wayne, S.J. 2004. An examination of perceived organizational support as a multidimensional construct in the context of an expatriate assignment. Journal of Management, 30(2), pp. 209–237. 

Takeuchi, R., Wang, M., Marinova, S. V., & Yao, X. 2009. The role of domain-specific perceived organizational support during expatriation and their implications for performance. Organization Science, 20(3), pp. 621-634. 

Supervisor:

In recent years, multinational companies have an increasing demand for international assignees, while the supply of qualified candidates appears not to grow to the same extent. 

The insufficient supply of suitable candidates may be connected to dual career issues, the limited participation of women in international assignments, issues around repatriation, and deficiencies of talent management systems at an international level. 

In the light of these developments, organizations are frequently re-evaluating their international assignment policies. As a result, we are witnessing the emergence of a portfolio of new international assignment forms such as short-term assignments, international business travellers, rotational assignments, international commuter assignments, or virtual assignments. 

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the advantages and drawbacks of the various emerging forms of international assignments and formulate recommendations for global staffing policies. 

References:

Collings, D. G., & Scullion, H. 2009. Global staffing. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 20(6), pp. 1249–1252. 

Duvivier, F., Peeters, C., & Harzing, A-W. 2019. Not all international assignments are created equal: HQ- subsidiary knowledge transfer patterns across types of assignments and types of knowledge. Journal of World Business, 54(3), pp. 181–190. 

Tahvanainen, M., Welch, D., & Worm, V. 2005. Implications of short-term international assignments. European Management Journal, 23(6), pp. 663-673. 

Welch, D.E., & Worm, V. 2006. International business travellers: a challenge for IHRM. In: G. Stahl and I. Björkman (eds), Handbook of Research in International Human Resource Management, pp. 283-301. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. 

Supervisor: 

The process of globalization has led to increased cross-border interactions, creating a growing need for effective communication and understanding across diverse cultural contexts. 

This is particularly the case for ethical concepts. Expatriates, i.e., individuals being sent from headquarters for a specified time period to a foreign country, often serve as vital conduits for bridging cultural gaps and facilitating the mutual understanding of ethical concepts between different cultures. Expatriates bring with them their home country's values and professional ethical concepts from their parent organization. This enables them to serve as ethical role models, promoting behaviors that align with the organization's values, while also considering the cultural sensitivities of their host country.

Expatriates should promote intercultural dialogue and ethical alignment. To achieve this, expatriates should have cultural sensitivity, ethical frameworks and intercultural competence. allowing them to act as bridge agents in the face of misunderstandings, conflicts, and difficulties in aligning ethical behaviors and expectations due to differences in cultural norms, values, and ethical frameworks between their home country and the host culture. 

This Bachelor thesis should critically review the literature on how differences in ethical concepts and resulting differing behavior can be bridged by expatriates. Key challenges and problems during this process should be discussed.

References:

Lee, L.-Y., & Sukoco, B. M. (2010). The effects of cultural intelligence on expatriate performance: the moderating effects of international experience. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 21(7), 963–981. 

Moon, C. J., & Woolliams, P. (2000). Managing cross cultural business ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 27(1), 105-115.

Tolga, U., & Fang, X. (2022). How do expatriate managers draw the boundaries of moral free space in the case of guanxi? Journal of Business Ethics, 176(2), 311-324.