Research On The Cross-Cultural Adaptation Of Multinational Companies’ Expatriates In China

In recent years,with the continuous development of globalization,more and more world-renowned enterprises have turned their focus to China to seek new business growth opportunities.China’s economic progress,talent cultivation,and technological level play important roles in attracting these multinational enterprises.In the process of entering the Chinese market,multinational enterprises tend to send senior employees from their headquarters to China to explore the market,which is particularly obvious at the initial stage of entering the new market.Such expatriates are familiar with the company’s operation processes,understand the company’s mission,convey the company’s spirit to the employees in the host country,and implement the development goals set by the company.Although these expatriate employees are highly valued talents with excellent working abilities,they need to adapt to the unique working styles of the host country while facing the challenges of unfamiliar environments in their livings.It is both an opportunity and a difficulty for expatriates to deal with people and things different from their home country alone.Therefore,the cross-cultural adaptation of expatriate employees has always been a key factor determining the success or failure of corporate expatriate tasks and an important research topic for scholars both domestically and internationally.From the enterprises’perspective,the high cost of expatriate operations will directly affect the strategic implementation and talent retention of multinational enterprises if they fail;For expatriates,the failure of an assignment will also affect their career development and damage their selfconfidence.At the same time,on the academic side,the impact of the pandemic has led to changes in global economic activities,which has brought new challenges to the cross-cultural adaptability of expatriates.Therefore,the research on the cross-cultural adaptation of expatriates needs to be explored and enriched accordingly.In this particular period,an indepth analysis of the specific dilemmas and strategic solutions expatriates face in crosscultural adaptation can provide better guidance for enterprises.Based on the theory of cultural conflict,cultural dimension model,and cultural adaptation model,this dissertation constructs the theoretical model basis of this thesis.It explores the effectiveness of the influencing factors of cross-cultural adaptation in the current market environment by distributing,collecting,and sorting out the final 200 valid questionnaires.According to the results of the questionnaire survey,among the three dimensions of cross-cultural adaptation(social dimension,psychological dimension,and work dimension),organizational support and social interaction have a positive impact on employees’ crosscultural adaptation,among which organizational support is divided into seven factors:salary level,compliance with company commitments,end-of-term planning,preappointment training satisfaction,in-office training satisfaction,timely communication,and support.Social interaction is divided into three factors:interaction with host country nationals outside of work,willingness to interact with host country nationals,and degree of cooperation with host country colleagues.At the same time,the control variables family support(spouse accompaniment,children’s accompaniment),Chinese level,and overseas experience(length of working in China,length of living in China)also positively impacted cross-cultural adaptation.Based on the information collected from the questionnaire analysis,this dissertation conducted in-depth interviews to understand the current cross-cultural adaptation of expatriates in China.It explored the positive and negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on expatriates.The results of the questionnaire section were corroborated by the expatriates,who were asked to specify how these factors influenced them.At the same time,the expats interviewed were also guided on how cross-cultural training is implemented and how companies can support expatriates as a new addition to the dissertation.Based on the conclusions of cross-cultural adaptation in this dissertation,the author proposes an optimal way for multinational companies to support expatriates from the business management perspective.By analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of multinational companies using agencies to provide relocation support services,this dissertation proposes new solutions for the human resource management of multinational enterprises.The contributions of the dissertation are mainly reflected in three aspects:first,a large number of first-hand data were obtained by the questionnaire survey method,which confirmed the previously established cross-cultural influencing factors retain their validity,and proposed the influencing factors of cross-cultural adaptation that many scholars had not studied.Second,though direct interviews with expatriate employees,the dissertation addresses the difficulties,needs and experiences faced by expatriates in cross-cultural adaptation,particular during the COVID-19 pandemic,enriching the research field.As an employee who works in a multinational company and provides relocation support for expatriates,the author has a more intuitive understanding of the cross-cultural challenges faced by expatriates.At the same time,because the author had contact with the interviewee before,it avoids the situation that interviewees often have distrust and reservations about the unfamiliar interviewers,and the conclusion was more authentic and reliable.Lastly,in view of the high cost of expatriation for multinational enterprises,the proposed use of agencies to reduce labor and economic costs is also worth considering for cost-effective expatriation tasks within multinational enterprises.