Determinants of Expatriate Success: An Empirical Study of Singaporean Expatriates in The Peoples Republic of China

Abstract

ABSTRACT Globalization of business operations has assumed an increased significance in contemporary business strategy across the developed and developing world. Assignment of staff overseas is one of the most critical areas of the global business operations. While there have been numerous studies on various aspects of expatriate performance, such as selection, training, and compensation of expatriates, these studies have been mostly “americentric” in their scope and approach. Keeping in view the growing importance of China as a favored recipient of Foreign Direct Investment not only from the United States and Europe, but also from other Asian countries such as Japan and Singapore this study has examined factors that determine the success of Singapore expatriates in China. One of the significant findings of the study is that there is a discrepancy between perception of success factors between the expatriates themselves and the human resource directors (HRDs) of the multinational corporations who have an important role in the assignment of those expatriates. Thus this study argues that in addition to the knowledge of what constitutes success in overseas ventures it is important to achieve a common agreement on the factors determining such success.