Self-initiated expatriates' cross-cultural training and adjustment: a closer look at norwegian engineers : what kind of cross cultural training does self-initiated expatriate engineers in Norway receive and does this affect their cross cultural adjustment? Are the theories related to company expatriates applicable?
Master thesis
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http://hdl.handle.net/11250/219230Utgivelsesdato
2014Metadata
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Sammendrag
Today many people move on their own initiative to foreign countries to work as a result of increased globalization and human mobility. At arrival in the new culture the self-initiated expatriate m meet a culture that might be different from what they are used too. Cross-cultural training can provide the expatriates with tools and information that can enable the self-initiated expatriates to more easily adjust.
This thesis aims to gain more knowledge on what kind of cross-cultural training self-initiated expatriate engineers get in Norway. Also we want to find out if this cross-cultural training has any effect on the self-initiated engineers’ cross-cultural adjustment. The theoretical foundation is based on past research which has been done on company expatriates since the 1960s.
In-depth interviews of self-initiated expatriate engineers were conducted to gain more information on the self-initiated expatriates and their cross-cultural training and adjustment. The interview sample consisted of eight self-initiated expatriates who worked as engineers in two international oil and gas companies in Kristiansand: National Oil Well and Aker Solutions. The self-initiated expatriates originated from Sweden, India Syria, Poland Portugal and Iran.
Through the study we found that the self-initiated expatriates received interaction training, language training, didactic training and experimental training. This was both provided by the company and the expatriates themselves. We also found that the cross-cultural training did not have a big effect on the self-initiated expatriates’ cross-cultural adjustment. But some of the expatriates said that cross-cultural adjustment could enable the expatriates to become cross-cultural adjusted a little faster. At the end we identified were the theory did not correspond with our findings.
Beskrivelse
Masteroppgave i økonomi og administrasjon – Universitetet i Agder 2014