Factors Influencing Chinese Female Expatriates’ Performance
Today, globalization requires managers to be able to work abroad. But for that you must have the necessary skills. (Sinangil and One 2003). There are several hypotheses in this literature review. The first one is about family problems. In fact, the authors said that “the extent of family problems is negatively related to female expatriate performance”. They have demonstrated that a lot of females prefer not to go on an international assignment to be there for their families. It is true that it can be hard for an entire family to go live abroad for a certain period. Many women are worried about the type of education their children will have in an unknown country (Dupuis and Haines 2008). Besides, their companion can be unenthusiastic to move out of the country because they may have more job opportunities in the home country (Harvey 1998).
The second hypothesis that have been discussed in this paper is the fact that “expatriate-efficacy is positively related to female expatriate performance” (Jie Shen and Fuming Jiang 2015). To be competent and operative in an international assignment the expatriate needs to have an ability to adjust to his new environment, he needs to be capable to transmit his managerial methods to the host country (Tung 1987; Caligiuri and Santo 2001).
The third hypothesis is about Host Country National’s (HCN) prejudice against women. The authors said that “HCNs’ prejudice against women is negatively related to female expatriate performance”. Men’s attitudes in front of a woman can easily change from one country to another. Some countries have a lot of stereotypes about women and this can affect their performance in their international assignments. HCNs’ prejudice against women should be stopped. Women can do the same job as men with the same level of performance. Gender equality must be a priority for the home country national and the host county national.
The last hypothesis talk about the POS (Perceived Organizational Support). POS is the way employees see that the company cares about their satisfaction and well-being (Eisenberger, Huntington, Huntington and Sowa 1986).
The authors made three hypotheses: - “POS moderates the relationship between family problems and female expatriate performance such that when POS is low the effect family problems on female expatriate performance is stronger and when POS is high the effect is weaker.” (Jie Shen and Fuming Jiang 2015).- “POS moderates the relationship between expatriate-efficacy and female expatriate performance such that when POS is low the effect of expatriate-efficacy on female expatriate performance is weaker and when POS is high the effect is stronger”. (Jie Shen and Fuming Jiang 2015). - “POS moderates the relationship between HCNs’ prejudice against women and female expatriate performance such that when POS is low the effect of HCNs’ prejudice on female expatriate performance is stronger and when POS is high the effect is weaker”. (Jie Shen and Fuming Jiang 2015).
The data collection and analysis methods
Women who were selected for this study are women who went abroad at least 6 months for an international assignment. The authors obtained the names of the people with whom they did their MBA in the cities of Shanghai, Nanchang and Fuzhou in China. To get their email addresses, they contacted their supervisors as well as the HR department of their company. A total of 198 expatriates’ women and 187 supervisors answered the questionnaires sent by email. At the end only 184 questionnaires were usable. “Surveys for repatriates focused on family issues, HCNs’ prejudice against women and POS, and for supervisors on expatriate-efficacy and expatriate performance” (Jie Shen and Fuming Jiang 2015).“Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted on the established POS scale and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) were undertaken on non-established scale (expatriate performance, family problems, expatriate-efficacy and HCNs’ prejudice against women).” (Jie Shen and Fuming Jiang 2015).
The people who were solicited for this study are women who went abroad for an international assignment. Their age group is between 30 and 40 years old. They have a bachelor’s degree. They are middle managers and come from the following countries/cities: Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Laos, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Sudan and the USA. List and describe the research findings: (Paraphrase – i.e., use your own words)The first finding about this article is that the level of education, the age or position in the company do not explain the performance of expatriate’s women. Here are the impacts of women's performance: family problems, expatriate-efficacy, and the effects of against women. All these criteria impact the performance of expatriate women only if they are collected together. But for example, family problems is not related to Chinese female expatriate performance.The second hypothesis said that “expatriate-efficacy is positively related to female expatriate performance” (Jie Shen and Fuming Jiang 2015).
After studying all the cases, it turned out that this hypothesis is true.The third hypothesis about HCNs’ prejudice against women is negatively related to female expatriate performance is also true. Is has a violent impact on their performance.And finally for the last hypothesis the authors had found that “when POS was low the relationship between HCNs’ prejudice against women and Chinese female expatriate performance was stronger and when POS was high the relationship was weaker.” How has this research study contributed to knowledge of your chosen topic? (Paraphrase – i.e., use your own words)
This study helped me a lot to understand and deepen my subject. Indeed, recruiting employees for international assignments is something very complex nowadays. Many criteria must be considered so that the person and his / her family (if they have one) feel ready and that once they are there they are completely fulfilled to get their job done. What suggestions/recommendations are made for future research: (Paraphrase – i.e., use your own words)For the future, it is therefore important to give the same opportunities to men as to women in international tasks. And specially to pay attention to where to send women internationally.
