The inpatriate experience in multinational corporations: an exploratory case study in Germany

Abstract

Despite inpatriates' growing importance for the scope of international business, research on this specific group of international assignees transferred to the corporate headquarters (HQ) of multinational corporations (MNCs) still remains in its infancy. Due to this research gap, a qualitative approach to the analysis of inpatriates' experiences was selected to uncover directions for subsequent research and derive factors that are relevant in the context of these cross-cultural assignments. This paper reports the results of exploratory interviews with 13 inpatriates assigned to the HQ of three German MNCs. The interviews explored the purpose of inpatriate assignments in MNCs and focused on identifying critical dimensions to assess their success. In addition, the relevance of individuals' cultural background and other factors that may impact on assignment outcomes were examined. The empirical results are instrumental in deriving two major research questions that may guide future research in the field of inpatriate assignments.

Keywords:

• Inpatriate assignments
• multinational corporations
• Germany
• case study research

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to express his appreciation for the valuable support provided by Anne-Wil Harzing and thank Tatiana Zalan and Mila Lazarova for their helpful comments. The feedback of an anonymous reviewer and reviewer comments on earlier drafts presented at the 8th Conference on International Human Resource Management, Cairns, and the 65th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Honolulu, are also gratefully acknowledged.

Notes

1 Translation: ‘It is important to learn the structures and get to know the people here.’

2 Translation: ‘We realized how safe the way of life is in Germany and then we decided not to return, because of the security and the bright future for our kids.’