Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the characteristics and willingness of the UAE National to help Expatriates at the workplace. To do so, we have chosen semi-government organization Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Ltd. (GASCO), one of the world’s largest gas processing company. In this group project, we will be mainly concentrating on the characteristics and willingness of UAE National towards expatriates in GASCO. Using the Survey & SPSS process, we aim at developing a profile of GASCO’s workforce – UAE national’s characteristics and willingness to help and support expatriates in GASCO.
In addition, resting on the outcome of our survey analysis, this paper aims at examining the concept of significant differences, if any between male and female GASCO national employees characteristic and willingness to help expatriates in GASCO. Moreover, we will be studying the relationship between the different variables like ethnocentric, collectivism, categorization, social support and last but not least the role of information. This analysis is mainly based on primary data obtained through a survey done in GASCO.
Findings
Overall, our study adds a lot of value to our understanding of cross-cultural differences and willingness of UAE Nationals to support and help expatriates at work. Moreover, it will help in improving HR practices that will help both UAE Nationals and expatriates to function most effectively. Resting on our research, we conclude that the role played by UAE Nationals in the adjustment of expatriates is one of the most important concepts for the healthy corporate environment and high level of productivity. Therefore, preparation of UAE nationals for the same conditions should obviously be the part of the strategic goals and objectives of GASCO.
Some of the implications would be creating a fair environment in GASCO, training expatriates with respect to UAE culture and UAE Nationals. The most common barrier is the lack of awareness and knowledge of the adopting sustainability concept, and another important factor is the high cost of the implementation of sustainability, and other barriers are like lack of Government & Top management’s commitment, community demand for low-cost services, etc. Our research has certain limitations, and the data is not very reliable to represent the larger population.
Additionally, it is cross-sectional which means that there is the snapshot of the views, opinions, etc. which may change over a period of time. For this reason, we suggest that this study should be done again in 6 months and the sample size should be larger in order to represent the total population of GASCO which is about 6500 employees.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of this research is its focus on only one organization GASCO. Additionally, there are only 50 respondents in the survey, 25 are male UAE nationals, and 25 are females, who could either contribute or not to the creation of a good picture of the overall population.
Introduction
Certainly, in today’s business world globalization, innovation and sustainability are the hot topics. Expatriate assignments play a critical role in multinational organizations, yet the factors that might help to determine the level of success on these assignments continue to baffle and bother practitioners and researchers. As a number of MNEs establishing and/or expanding their operations in other countries grows, the need for expatriate assignments will also continue to increase (Tung & Varma, 2008).
Recognizing the importance of the expatriate assignment for MNCs, it goes without saying that organizations need to make every effort to maximize the expatriate’s chances of success in the assignment. In this connection, several researchers have concerned themselves with trying to understand the factors that can help to determine whether an expatriate succeeds on the international assignment or not (Avcan, 1997 & 1980). There are few authors who have argued that HCNs play a major role in the expatriates adjustment. It is clear that by offering expatriates key information at work or outside work, HCNs help expatriates to succeed in their adjustment.
Abu Dhabi Gas Industries, GASCO, was the first among Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan’s ideas for the utilization of the United Arab Emirates’ vast gas resources. The company was incorporated in 1978 as a joint venture between ADNOC, Shell, Total and Partex. With constantly changing internal and external environment, especially the external environment which is very dynamic, and out of the control of an organization, it is important for management of any company to plan strategically. In 2014, GASCO grew into one of the largest gas processing companies in the world. As of today, GASCO has a total manpower of 6,500.
Among 6,500 employees, approximately 4,500 are expatriates from all over the world. This ratio of 30:70 gives us the indication of working environment in GASCO. It is very healthy in GASCO where 1000’s of expatriates and UAEs workers cooperate as a big family. In this competitive world, all organizations are working hard towards the creation of the competitive advantage in order to survive in the long run. For this reason, GASCO’s one of the great strengths is its Human Capital – people (The GASCO family, n.d).
Currently, GASCO is in the process of strategic transformation by enhancing the organizational structure and developing world-class talents through talent management capabilities and leadership programs to enable us to work on our four key pillars of profitability, efficiency, performance, and people. People being one the pillars are the most crucial elements of the success of the organization. In order to plan and manage the manpower efficiently, GASCO has set up the strategic objectives which are the integration of UAE Nationals, Leadership, and talent development. With this in mind, GASCO is focusing on various initiatives by investing in our people and our future leaders, to make the most of our resources and take GASCO to heights of excellence ensuring continuous growth.
Literature Review
Chinese Host Country Nationals’ Willingness to Support Expatriates – The Role of Collectivism, Interpersonal Affect and Guanxi
The main purpose of this article is to examine the concept of willingness of host country nationals (HCNs) to provide support to the expatriate. For the purpose of this study, the data was collected from 212 HCNs in China. The HCNs were students in graduate programs in business administration at two Chinese universities. Forty-eight percent of the participants were male and 52% were female. The participants’ average age was 31.7 years, and they had between 2 and 17 years of work experience. Moreover, it was designed as a between-subjects study, manipulating two factors – country of origin of expatriate (USA, India) and gender.
In recent years, multinational corporations (MNCs) have significantly increased their operations in Asian countries, specifically China can be attributed directly to the economic transition that the country has been undergoing for almost two decades. However, in terms of assignment difficulty, China is often viewed as the country where expatriates are faced with a rather challenging environment (Global Relocation Trends 2003/2004 Survey Report). This is mainly because of certain social traditions, such as collectivism and guanxi are still deep-rooted in the Chinese culture. Furthermore, high power distance, centralized decision-making, and the emphasis on harmony are much sanctified features of the Chinese system of management (Chew and Lim, 1995), making it critical for expatriates to adapt and modify their behaviors.
Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the social categorization of expatriates by Chinese HCNs, and the resultant willingness of Chinese HCNs to offer role information and social support to expatriates. Further, to investigate how factors such as Chinese HCNs’ collectivism, interpersonal affect, and guanxi (elements of guanxi are trust, favor, dependence and adaptation), impact their willingness to provide support to expatriates and how these perceptions and potential behaviors might vary according to expatriate nationality. In this study it was Indian versus American.
In this study, 6 hypotheses were developed as follows:
- Hypothesis 1: Collectivism will have a positive influence on Chinese HCNs’ interpersonal affect towards their expatriate co-workers.
- Hypothesis 2: The level of guanxi displayed by Chinese HCNs towards their expatriate coworkers will be positively determined by the HCNs’ level of collectivism.
- Hypothesis 3: Interpersonal affect, as perceived by the Chinese HCNs, will have a positive impact on their willingness to offer general support to expatriates.
- Hypothesis 4: Chinese HCNs’ guanxi towards expatriates will have a positive impact on their willingness to offer general support to expatriates.
- Hypothesis 3: Interpersonal affect, as perceived by the Chinese HCNs, will have a positive impact on their willingness to offer general support to expatriates.
- Hypothesis 4: Chinese HCNs’ guanxi towards expatriates will have a positive impact on their willingness to offer general support to expatriates
- Hypothesis 5: Chinese HCNs will be likely to display significantly higher levels of (a) guanxi, (b) interpersonal affect, and (c) general support towards Indian expatriates, compared to US expatriates.
- Hypothesis 6: Chinese HCNs would be likely to display significantly higher levels of (a) guanxi, (b) interpersonal affect, and (c) general support towards male expatriates from India than those from the USA – but that this difference would be less pronounced for women.
The different elements like Collectivism, Interpersonal effect, Guanxi and General support were measure on a scale of 7 indicating strongly agree and 1 as strongly disagree. In addition to this, mean, standard deviation and correlations were also used to study different variables. And the relationship between the variables was tested using regression analysis and structural equation modeling.
The key finding of the research were Chinese HCNs’ proclivity to categorize expatriates into in-groups and out-groups via affective behavior had a significant impact on their willingness to offer role information and social support to expatriates. The results also highlight that cultural values, collectivism and guanxi play a significant role in guiding HCNs’ behavior toward expatriates.
In this study, collectivism was significantly related to Chinese HCNs’ guanxi towards expatriates. It was also noted that Chinese perceive Indians to be culturally closer to them as compared to expatriates from the USA and tend to like and provide more support to Indian expatriates. The research results supported these predictions that national origin of expatriate had a significant main effect on Chinese HCNs’ levels of interpersonal affect, guanxi, and willingness to offer support to expatriates, the gender of the expatriate did not have a significant effect. Overall, the study has offered new insights into the expatriate–HCN interaction, adding to the literature on expatriates.
Some of the limitations of this study are that firstly, participants had experience as executives in middle to senior management positions, and their opinions may not be reflective of all Chinese nationals. Second, it was paper-based survey questionnaires and given to only 212 participants.
The data was collected at the same point through a single instrument, it is important to discuss the possibility of common method variance. While this is a potential threat in terms of the measured variables, correlations in the.3 to.5 range do not seem surprising, and are indeed similar to correlations between similar variables reported in past research.
In this study, the author was interested in examining the factors that affect Chinese HCNs’ decision to offer support to American and Indian expatriates. They chose to study the attitudes and behaviors of Chinese HCNs toward expatriates, given the increasing number of expatriates being placed on assignment in China. In addition, to study and compare the HCNs’ attitudes and behaviors toward Indian expatriates given the relative cultural similarities between China and India, as well as the substantial increase in mutual trade between China and India. The study was to investigate critical variables such as collectivism and guanxi.
The finding that collectivism had a significant impact on both guanxi and affect-based categorization has implications for both further research and MNCs sending expatriates to China. Furthermore, the Chinese HCNs did differentiate between US and Indian expatriates in terms of guanxi is a crucial finding and worthy of further examination. It is clear that Chinese perceive Indians as culturally similar to themselves because of a common shared heritage in terms of Buddhist training and the fact that the nations are geographic neighbors. On the other hand, this suggests that US organizations could send Asian employees to China as expatriates rather than USA citizens. Another finding is that Chinese HCNs did not differentiate between female expatriates from India and the US in terms of inclusion into their guanxi.
Overall, the study has shed light on several new dimensions of the HCN expatriate interaction and this study will help organizations to make a better decision while sending people on assignments to other countries and specifically to China (Varma, Pcihler, Budhwar, & Biswas, 2009).
Host Country National Willingness to Help Expatriates: The Role of Social Categorization and Exchange
The focus of this paper is the article titled “Host Country National Willingness to Help Expatriates: The Role of Social Categorization and Exchange” by Arup Varma, Shaun Pichler, and Pawan Budhwar. The work was published in 2016 on the Research Gate database and is a part of Global Talent Management via Skilled Migration and Services Offshoring Project.
The article explores the phenomenon of a host country’s nationals’ (HCNs) willingness to assist expatriate workers with their needs by considering the roles of social categorization and exchange. In this study, 493 host country nationals in the United Kingdom are analyzed for the purpose of determining the relationship between expatriate gender, national origin, job level and HCN willingness to help expatriate workers (Varma, Pichler, & Budwar, 2016). In the introduction, Varma et al. (2016) state that “Clearly, HCNs can play a very important role in helping expatriates succeed on their assignments”.
The authors suggest that the HCNs categorize expatriate workers as individuals performing their work-related duties as parts of groups or as separate members relying on their perceived values, ethnocentrism, similarity, and collectivism. Categorization is an essential behavior helping the individuals understand different contexts and act accordingly (Hogg & Terry, 2001). Categorization is required for cooperation as the individuals are more inclined to cooperate when they identify as belonging to one group (Reynolds, Turner, & Haslam, 2000). Moreover, the findings of the study indicate that the HCNs’ likeliness to cooperate was also determined by their hierarchical relation to the other parties (Varma et al., 2016).
In particular, the authors point out that the information was provided with a higher level of willingness from coworkers to coworkers or from the superiors to the subordinates than the other way around. According to social exchange theory, the individuals in the workplace tend to share information and resources when reciprocity is present (Gouldner, 1960; Blau, 1964). Also, the authors emphasize that the help of the HCNs is more effective for the adaptation of the expatriate workers and the success of expatriate assignment than any training and development (Varma et al., 2016). Developing quality relations with the subordinates is a factor that helps the supervisors be more inclined to provide them with role-related information (Caplan et al., 1980).
In that way, one can note that the culture of the receiving organization and expatriate control tend to affect the expatriate workers’ professional performance because they formulate the overall environment that surrounds an expatriate during their period of integration in the new workplace. In that way, for the expatriates to assimilate faster and in stress-free conditions, an organization is required to accomplish a series of tasks, such as pre-assignment planning, selection, and training, in order to match the assignments with the expatriate workers appropriately.
The concepts explored in the study refer to the formation of the workplace attitudes and the impact produced by the individual values and perceptions of the employees on the organizational culture and performance. To be more precise, the authors of the article notice that an organization is basically a community with its own internal climate and relationships. In that way, when the new individuals are added to this community, it is likely that the existing members may go into a clash with them or become reluctant to accept the new people and cooperate with them (Varma et al., 2016). Even in the most accepting organizational environments, the process of the assimilation of the expatriates takes time and effort, especially knowing the fact that the expatriates come from cultures that differ from those of the HCNs.
The major focus of this business paper is to determine the role played by the host country nationals in the process of the expatriate workers’ adjustment to a new country. In particular, the attitudes and behavior of the HCNs are rather important factors to explore in this regard because they are deeply connected to the conditions that the expatriates would face one they arrive at the new workplaces. This issue is especially relevant today because the number of expatriates assigned all around the world is increasing. In that way, many multinational organizations are interested in finding ways to help their expatriate projects run smoother and demonstrate a higher level of performance.
Accordingly, the primary objective of this article is to establish a clear and accessible framework for the leaders and managers of the multinational organizations working with expatriates to prepare for the newcomers and help them integrate and begin to generate positive results as soon as possible. The host country nationals impact the expatriate workers’ adjustment process by providing (or withholding) work-related information as well as facilitation of their social assimilation to the new environment (Louis, 1980). The objective of this article is to find and categorize the HCNs’ relationships with the expatriate workers, their level of assistance and cooperation, and the degree to which they are prepared to help the expatriate workers.
The study concentrated on two countries – the United States and India (the expatriate country with long ties and a continuous exchange of people with the United Kingdom). As a result of the purchase of different groups by Tata Corporation in the United Kingdom, the outflow of the expatriate workers to the country has increased. The business focus of this article is the establishment of understanding of the host country nationals’ influence on the social, cultural and business-related adjustment of the expatriate worker in the United Kingdom.
The results of the study imply that multinational corporations, where expatriate assignments play a very significant role, would be provided with a framework to ensure successful assimilation of their expatriates (Varma et al., 2016). With the operational expansion of multinational organizations all around the globe, the need for expatriate projects is likely to grow, and the results of this study would enable more corporations to reassess their planning and preparation of the expatriate assignments. The authors identified an important aspect of expatriate assignment success by determining the role of HCN. In that way, this article contributes to the existing literature that covers the organizational and individual factors of the expatriate success investigated by previous research.
The study has explored such factors as the perceived values, collectivism, ethnocentrism, and similarity and the role they play in the HCNs’ categorization and their willingness to provide role information and social support to expatriates (Varma et al., 2016). Organizations can use the results of this article for formulating the framework of sending their expatriate workers to the UK.
Namely, it helps the organizations to educate the traveling workers about culture, history, language, and social features of the host countries, and plan successful the pre-departure trainings accordingly. In addition, the results of this study can be utilized by the modern organizations in order to prepare their HCNs for dealing with the expatriates of diverse backgrounds and help them socialize for successful work (Fisher, 1985).
It is suggested by the findings of this article that future research could explore the issues related to working with expatriate subordinates and the impact of the internal relationships between the latter and the HCNs on the success of the expatriate assignment. The limitations of this study include the collection of data at the same point in time. The casual reference ability of the research is limited.
The article used the tried and tested paper-person model that limits the transferability and generalizability of the study results. Future studies focusing on this issue could rely on video material as a source of data and study the actual experiences and problems that expatriate workers tend to face at work. In addition, the future research could also determine the degree of help provided by HCNs for the transition of an expatriate worker.
Research Methodology
Research Design
Research Design is the blueprint or a plan for fulfilling research objectives. This project is an exploratory study done to explore different characteristics of UAE nationals and their willingness to help and support expatriates. The broader objective of this study is to emphasize the significant differences, if any, between male and female host country nations characteristics and willingness to help expatriates in the workplace.
Sample Size
Study was restricted specifically to GASCO. The sample size is too small, and we have conducted the survey only for 50 respondents from GASCO. There were 25 males and 25 females. These respondents were chosen from the middle and lower management personnel with most of them working in GASCO HQ for different Divisions like Technical Engineering, Supply Chain Management, IT, Strategic Planning, Projects Division, etc.
Sample Type
The method used to select the sample is nonprobability sampling. Additionally, we also explore the Judgmental method which is based on certain criteria. The criteria were to do the research by taking 25 males and 25 females respondents with minimum experience of 2 years in the organization.
Data Collection Method
Here we used communication approach. It is the most efficient method in terms of time and cost. For our research, we used the survey design because of many reasons. First, we could have got almost 100% responses. Therefore, rapid data collection and multiple sampling were also possible.
Data Type – Qualitative
It was a questionnaire that considered a precise count of behavior, knowledge, or an opinion. In this regard, it is a qualitative study. This type of research is done to understand and to get the perceptions or different point of views. The questionnaire had 35 questions, out of which 6 questions were related to personal information and the rest to study the perception of different variables. The survey questions were based on the 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1strongly disagree to 7 strongly agree.
Population Element
Data collection was performed using a single source GASCO. There were only middle and lower management. However, it would have been better to use data from multiple resources that was collected to get a better and in-depth understanding of the subject. The response rate was 100% as there was a small group of 50 respondents.
Time Dimension – Cross – sectional
We adhere to the Cross – sectional time dimension which means that it is the snapshot taken at that point of time. The answers to the questionnaire may change according to the performance of the organization or people might simply change their responses and the default the answers to the questionnaire will be different. For example, if the study is repeated after 6 months or in a year, it would be more accurate, and it is called longitudinal.
Data Analysis
The analysis is done by using the data collected from the 50 respondents. It could be considered the primary data. The secondary data comes from the literature review of different articles. The statistical analysis is done using SPSS to consider the information collected from the primary source. Arithmetic Mean and Standard Deviation were used to represent the characteristics and willingness of UAE nationals to help expatriates in the workplace. Moreover, employees accomplished T-Test to find out the significant differences between male and female UAE national characteristics and willingness to help expatriates in the workplace.
Analysis & Discussion
There are several organizational and individual factors that contribute to the expatriate success that are investigated. Besides, one of the important aspects of the expatriate assignment process, namely, the role played by HCNs, has been mostly explored these days as there is the increase in the international assignments. As mentioned above, the majority of researches on expatriate issues seem to have been based on the belief that the home organization and the expatriate control almost all factors affecting the expatriate’s experience on assignment.
While there is no doubt that better pre-assignment planning, selection, and training can help organizations to find individuals who are better suited to expatriate assignments. Nevertheless, there is another rather important variable that needs to be studied which is the role of HCNs.
This study was designed to examine the factors that have been identified as likely to impact HCN decision to offer support to expatriates. Drawing from the published literature, we explored the role of perceived values similarity, ethnocentrism, collectivism, HCN categorization of expatriates, and the willingness of the UAE National to help expatriates in the workplace. In addition, our investigation included an aspect of the HCN–expatriate working relationship. In other words, we also investigated if HCNs’ decision to help expatriates was impacted by or not; whether the HCNs’ was a male or a female, and the relationship between the different variables.
Table 1: Mean, SD, Reliability Coefficient and t-Vale (n=50)
This study was designed to examine the factors that have been identified as likely to impact the UAE National decision to help Expatriates in the workplace. Drawing from the published literature, we explored the role of perceived values similarity, ethnocentrism, collectivism, HCN categorization of expatriates, and their willingness to provide help and support to expatriates.
In terms of this study, our results revealed some interesting findings. Firstly, Reliability Coefficient is the instrument used to explore and reflect the reliability of the study. The rule of thumb says that if the reliable coefficient is more than 0.7 it gives an overall idea that the data of the questionnaire can be relied upon. This means that if 7 out of 10 times the answer given by the respondent are the same, the instrument used could be considered reliable. The reliability coefficient calculated for all 6 variables for both male and female are 0.7 and above except for collectivism and categorization which was 0.625 and 0.426 respectively which means that the data collected through the survey / questionnaire for 6 variables except for collectivism and categorization can be relied upon.
In our research, we tried to develop the profile of UAE nationals based on the 6 variables using 29 questions, 5 questions in each category of five variables (perceived value similarity, ethnocentrism, and collectivism, categorization and role information), while there are also 4 points in social support category. Resting on this model, the midpoint of the mean for all 5 variables/parameters for both male and female for perceived value similarity, ethnocentrism, collectivism, categorization, role information will be (5+35) /2= 20, whereas for social support midpoint will be (4+28)/2 =16.
The mean value for the five different parameters of our research for both male and female are 20 and above except for perceived value similarity is below 20. Thus, any data which falls to the left or right of the midpoint of the mean indicates that the UAE national employee has an average perception or high perception or below perception toward expatriate on those five variables depending on the distance from the midpoint.
The results in the above-mentioned table 1 indicate that the male and female UAE national’s employees have more and less average perception with respect to ethnocentrism, collectivism, categorization, role information. However, they have lower perception toward the perceived value similarity and above average perception for social support towards helping expatriate in the workplace.
Male and female UAE national employees perceived that the expatriate had very little knowledge / awareness of local personal values, family values, social values or cultural values. On the other hand, with respect to the social support, the UAE national are very helping and supporting towards the expatriate. For example, if an expatriate needs some kind of social support, they help the expatriate out when things get tough, without being asked or listen to the expatriate’s personal problems. Thus, in general, HCNs are more likely to offer role information and social support to expatriates.
In order to study the fact whether this sample is reliable to represent the perception of the larger population or not, we look at the perception of UAE national’s employee with respect to all six variables, if it is normally distributed or not. The rule of thumb says that we should look on the standard deviation in comparison with the correspondence of the mean value. If the standard deviation is between 1/3 to 1/4 of its mean value, then we can assure that the sample represents the perception of the larger population.
Resting on this concept, if we look at the data presented in our findings, we notice that the standard deviation of the six variables is not between the 1/3 and 1/4 of its corresponding mean except for the perceived value similarity, which is a bit closer to the range. Therefore, we can only take this perception of the UAE national in the study which represents the larger population in the attribute. For the results which are beyond the range of 1/3 and 1/4 of its mean, it is apparent that it does not reflect the population of the UAE national’s perception.
Another objective of our research was to find out significant differences, if any, between male and female host country nationals characteristics and willingness to help expatriates in the workplace. In order to explore and validate, we use the t-value parameter. T-value is used to evaluate and analyze if the differences between two values or a value and hypothesis are significant or not. Looking at t-values in table 1, we notice that the male and female they behave and think same from perceived value similarity up to categorization.
But in role information and social support dimensions, the UAE Nationals male & females behave and think differently, and by looking at mean values to the corresponding t-values for the role information and social support variables, we notice that male have more tendency to support expatriate with respect to role information than female and in social support we will find that the correlation is significant at 0.05 level for Social Support and 0.01 level for Role Information.
Additionally, Table 1 provides us with the reliable information related to the distribution and adherence to such notions as perceived value, ethnocentrism, collectivism, categorization, role information, and social support. Besides, it indicates that both men and women have almost the same showings related to these phenomena. This very data helps us admit the absence of a certain gender gap of differences that rest on sex (The GASCO family, n.d). Males and females adhere to the similar behavioral patterns when working with foreigners or providing them with the assistance needed to overcome cultural difficulties and become the part of the collective.
The absence of significant convergences between representatives of the opposite sex could also be considered as the evidence of strong bonds between the members of the collective and good corporative culture that contributes to the better understanding of the core values appreciated in a team or in the collective.
Table 2: Correlations amongst Host Country National Characteristics and Willingness to Help Expatriates (N=50).
The above Table 2, provides descriptive statistics and correlations for all the six study variables. Ethnocentrism was positively related to social support with a significant correlation at the level of 0.05. On the other hand, collectivism was not significantly related to categorization. As predicted, perceived values similarity was not positively related to role information and social support, and negatively related to categorization. The main significant relationship and correlation were between social support and role information. In particular, it seems that in GASCO UAE Nationals are willing to provide role information to expatriates at work and at the same time they are willing to provide voluntary social support outside of work.
Furthermore, the data provided by Table 2 also shows that the above-mentioned support that is provided to expatriates also comes from the peculiarities of the mentality of people belonging to GASCO and who are considered UAE Nationals. The fact is that ethnocentrism is one of the key elements of the successful cooperation between members of any international team which is comprised of the representatives of various nationalities and bearers of different cultures. For this reason, expatriates who join the new collective should be considered a would be team-members and the necessity of support becomes obvious. Under these conditions, the high showings of ethnocentrism and the readiness to provide support at any time could be considered logical results of the unique companys image and culture that comes from its international character.
Implications & Conclusion
Our study has important implication for GASCO, as by examining how UAE Nationals can play a role in expatriate adjustment, our study can potentially help GASCO in developing practical ways to increase the likelihood of expatriate success. Our paper points out the importance of considering the perceptions, attitudes, and behavior of UAE Nationals in GASCO because they can influence the success of the expatriate, as well as the organization.
Our model suggests that UAE Nationals preparation is important. Training UAE Nationals to be aware of the differences and similarities in cultural values, assumptions, communication styles, and attributions between the expatriate’s culture and the local culture could yield great dividends to the expatriate, the UAE Nationals, and GASCO in particular. The reason for the use of expatriates could also be more clearly articulated to GASCO to minimize possible ethnocentrism or resentment toward the expatriate. A culture of mutual support and caring should be encouraged where top managers set an example for the UAE Nationals who interact with expatriates.
Based on our research, GASCO should develop a supportive and fair environment to encourage UAE Nationals to act as good citizens toward expatriates and benefit the organization. This way, both expatriates and UAE Nationals can develop a meaningful working and social relations more effectively.
We also found that our participants were more likely to provide social support. It should be noted here that providing social support is more of a voluntary activity that is not usually directed by GASCO. These findings have important implications for GASCO. Firstly, GASCO should pay close attention to their expatriate training programs in order to emphasize the educating of the expatriate in the history, culture, language, and social characteristics of UAE. In addition, expatriates would be better equipped to deal with the realities if they are aware of the issues they might face in dealing with UAE Nationals. Finally, GASCO might also consider training the UAE Nationals, such that they are more open to dealing with expatriates with different backgrounds.
Overall, we believe that GASCO is a multicultural organization and employees working in GASCO are from more than 50 different countries and irrespective of the limitations, it is a good research, and that would help GASCO to understand the nature, attitude, perceptions and willingness of UAE Nationals to support expatriates at work, and to develop them further to benefit at the corporate level.
References
The GASCO family. (n.d.). Web.
Varma, A., Pichler, S., & Budwar, P. (2016). Host country national willingness to help expatriates: The role of social categorization and exchange. Global Talent Management via Skilled Migration and Services Offshoring, 1-29. Web.
Varma, A., Pcihler, S., Budhwar, P., & Biswas, S. (2009). Chinese host country nationals’ willingness to support expatriates. The role of collectivism, interpersonal affect and guanxi. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 9(2), 199-216. Web.