The Political Skill and Will of Expatriates In Acculturating to the Politics of an Organization In a New Culture

Authors

Jeffrey R. Bentley, California State UniversityFollow
Jacob W. Breland, University of Southern MississippiFollow
Ning Xu, State University of New York, BuffaloFollow
Emily D. Campion, State University of New York, BuffaloFollow
Darren Treadway, State University of New York, BuffaloFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2015

School

Management

Abstract

This paper explores and conceptualizes the process through which expatriates acculturate to the politics of an organization in a new and dominant culture that differs from their origin culture. In addition to an overview of acculturation, we review research on the emergence and perception of political context in organizations, and on political skill and political will. We posit that politically-relevant situational characteristics in organizations and work interact with national culture to affect the intensity with which expatriates perceive politics in their organization. Based on their political skill (operationalized as high versus low) and their political will (operationalized in terms of concern for self versus concern for others), we describe the different political behavior expatriates will use as a means of acculturating to their political context and the effects those strategies have on their acculturative stress and individual effectiveness in the organization.

Publication Title

International Journal of Intercultural Relations

Volume

49

First Page

343

Last Page

353

Recommended Citation

Bentley, J. R., Breland, J. W., Xu, N., Campion, E. D., Treadway, D. (2015). The Political Skill and Will of Expatriates In Acculturating to the Politics of an Organization In a New Culture. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 49, 343-353.
Available at: https://aquila.usm.edu/fac_pubs/17264