The acculturative stress of host country managers working at MNC subsidiaries: Determinants and effects

Khan-Pyo Lee, Jun-Young Bae, Byung Hee Lee and Jang-Ho Choi

Journal of World Business, 2019, vol. 54, issue 4, 387-398

Abstract: This paper introduces the concept of acculturative stress to indicate a distinct psychological difficulty faced by host country managers working at multinational corporation (MNC) subsidiaries. Drawing on the social identity and self-verification theories, we suggest that host country managers are exposed to acculturative stress due to the challenges they face in verifying their national cultural identity. We identify the perceived cultural incongruence and the lower relative standing of host country managers as proximal determinants of acculturative stress and examine its negative impact on their work engagement. The analysis results of a sample of 643 Korean managers working at 60 MNC subsidiaries in Korea support our hypotheses on the determinants and effects of acculturative stress.

Keywords: Acculturative stress; MNC subsidiaries; Host country managers; Cultural incongruence; Relative standing; Work engagement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:worbus:v:54:y:2019:i:4:p:387-398

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DOI: 10.1016/j.jwb.2019.04.001

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