Expatriate Manager’s Adaption and Knowledge Acquisition Personal Development in Multi-National Companies in China

This book is among the first to theoretically and empirically examine what and how Western expatriate managers learn and develop from their international assignments in China. The book draws on literature associated with expatriate studies, experiential learning theory, and knowledge acquisition to develop an expatriate learning process model. Following on from this, the study then examines expatriate learning outcomes from four perspectives: learning style transition, adaptive flexibility, global mind-sets and managerial tacit knowledge. It enhances understanding of the cultural differences between Western countries and China as well as the kinds of learning strategies successful expatriates adopt in order to quickly adapt to intercultural business contexts. This book will appeal to international business practitioners and research fellows who are interested in international human resource management.

Yan Li is an assistant professor at School of Management, Xiamen University, China. She received her PhD. from the University of Hull. Her research interests are international human resource management, management education and emerging economies.