'Do I trust you more if I think you are culturally intelligent?' : an investigation on trust-building between expatriate leaders and host country nationals and the role cultural intelligence plays in the trust-building process
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(Published version)
Date
2012
Authors
Ang, Fenny
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thesis
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Abstract
This thesis investigates the trust-building process between expatriate leaders and host country nationals (HCNs) and the role of cultural intelligence (CQ) in the trust-building process. The investigation is set in China where trust-formation at the workplace remains a „black box‟ to many and navigating successfully with the locals to build sustained relationships may require special skills. China is an economy where trust-building through emotions-based relationships and personal connections is the dominant strategy used by locals to build relationships, and expatriate leaders are expected to learn how to similarly engender trust with their HCNs. They face the challenge of unlocking the psyche of these increasingly independent HCN leaders, frequently positioned as their local successors in the near future. This study explores how behaviours arising from this emerging power dynamic contribute to the trust-building process.
The results of this study provide some guidance to improving the selection and matching of expatriate leaders and HCNs by emphasising competence, an individual's inner motivation and role clarity for both parties at the start of the assignment. The results suggest a more relevant cross-cultural training model that is capable of leveraging both HCNs and expatriate leaders‟ perceptions. The findings of this study are exploratory in nature and may not be generalisable as they may be specific only to MNCs operating in China. Nonetheless, they call for future research to better understand the phenomenon of trust-building and the potency of CQ in dyadic relationships across both additional geographies and alternative populations.
School/Discipline
Graduate School of Business
Dissertation Note
Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2012.
Provenance
Copyright 2012 Ang Fenny. This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Australia 3.0 licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/)
Description
x, 314 leaves
col. ill.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 274-289)
col. ill.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 274-289)
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