Enhancing Expatriate Leadership in MNCs

Chapter 1

Research background

1.1.1 The importance of expatriation

My research question is how should multi-national companies (MNCs) improve cross-cultural expatriate leadership to increase expatriation success in the future? The reason for researching this topic is because expatriates have become increasingly important due to the rapid growth of overseas investment, expatriates are frequently sent by their Multinational companies to live and work for a year or more abroad in a branch of multinational enterprise (Kraimer et al. 2016; Banerjee et al, 2012). In May 2008, a GMAC Relocation Trends survey discovered that there are 68% of Multinational companies continually relocating expatriate employees overseas (Deresky, 2011). According to the statistics, in 2018, the US based MNCs had 14.4 million workers employed outside the country (Bureau of Economic Analysis, BEA, 2019) while, globally, there were approximately 900,000 expatriate in 2017 (Bonache et al., 2020; Finaccord, 2014).

1.1.2 Expatriate success

Expatriate success can be defined as the eventual completion of overseas assignments for which expatriates are sent to. Expatriates are required to effectively blend in the host country culture, meanwhile assimilate the required characteristics leading to the success of the mission (Ross, 2011). Expatriate success is achieved out of the mastery of five significant characteristics including cultural sensitivity of the host nation, flexibility, open-mindedness, adventure and curiosity as well as effective completion of set professional goals (Ross, 2011). Largely, expatriates and Mutil-national companies not only look to achieve business and professional success in host countries, but also look to achieve the understanding of the culture and customs of the host countries, which could potentially expand the business. This requires significant open mindedness on the part of the expatriates and accommodating the beliefs and social norms held within the host country. According to Goby (2002), a significant discrepancy exists between perception of expatriate success and its determinants between the expatriates themselves and the HR department of the multinational corporations. This ultimately impacts a wide scope of success factors for expatriate assignments, including personal factors such as language, personality, employee welfare and compensation, as well as support factors such as the support offered by the companies. These factors are further impacted by the current COVID-19 pandemic, which has had significant impact on the world economy and conventional business management and practices.

1.1.3 Negative impacts of failed expatriation

However, failed expatriate assignments occupied a high percentage within the companies (Tahir, 2018), which can have a wide-range negative impacts on both the companies and the employees. In terms of impacts on the companies, there are both direct and indirect costs to consider: Direct costs of expatriate failure contain primarily to the relocation costs of both the employees and their families, including airfares and shipping costs. A failed expatriate assignment can cost company from USD 250,000 to 1,000,000 (Peng, 2018). Indirect costs primarily include loss of productivity both in terms of underperformance whilst on overseas assignments and the days occupied with relocating. Much often, indirect costs associated with expatriate failure often exceed estimated direct costs (Ashamalla and Crocitto, 1997; Harvey, 1985). In terms of impacts on the employees, failed assignments can be damaging to the employee’s physical and mental well-being due to low self-esteem, loss of prestige and respect among colleagues, weakening of the psychological contract, family issues, damage to an employee’s career path including reduction of promotion opportunities (Cuzzo et al. 1994; Shaffer et al. 2006; Varner and Palmer, 2002). Expatriate failure generally is defined as “a premature return”. This could mean not finishing overseas assignments before the contract is completed. Kawai and Strange (2014) linked failure to homesickness where an employee fails to adjust adequately to the host traditions, beliefs, social norms, lifestyle, and general views. It could refer to problems adjusting to foreign working environments and poor performance like high absence (Guttormsen, et al., 2018).

1.1.4 The importance of cross-culture leadership

Nowadays, big MNCs are trying to establish the foreign-owned subdivision, and enter into the joint venture as well as strategic alliances. As a result, they are recruiting people from various cultural backgrounds. People are hired from different races and religions (LOW and K.C.P. 2020). Implement a cross-culture leadership, especially in the lead roles, will help leading staff from different culture background. As pointed by Bird and Mendenhall (2016), applying of cross-culture leadership will encourage more employees from different backgrounds to work in a particular organization. The workplace of the organization by implementing cross-culture also promotes positivity in the organization (Dollwet, and Reichard, 2014; Przytuła et al., 2014; Cameron, 2017). Many big MNCs like Tesco, Aston Martin, Sony, and Hitachi have taken up the cross-culture leadership and implemented it in their organizations. As a result, these big MNCs vision, mission and ethics are also different from other organizations, which certainly provide the competitive advantages for MNCs in the markets. The implementation of cross-culture has given a positive impact compared to the productivity analysis of different companies (Hamze and M.M., 2020). A divergent viewpoint of a leader from different cultures is crucial to create a productive environment (Srivastava et al. 2020). The multicultural advance environment provided by a well-defined leader can bring a lot of benefits towards the workflow. First benefit is due to the dissimilarity between different cultures, which brings an opportunity to enhance the chain of various thoughts, idea and perspectives (Yang et al. 2018). In essence, International business (IB) has always been increasing with the help of diversity in the work areas. The second benefit is that cross-culture leadership produce several of intercultural activities, which help to understand the different prospects in job sectors, thus result in the prosperity of the organization (Bird, and Mendenhall, 2016; Gelfand et al., 2017; Stephan, and Pathak, 2016; French, 2015). The third benefit is if the mutual understanding between leaders and subsidiaries has reached, culture differences can create innovative ideas, thus generate competitive benefit. Ruvio et al. (2014) and Lukeš &Stephan (2017) argued that diversity in the beliefs and traditions brews different point of views, opinions, and understanding of variables as well as problems, combination of these backgrounds and beliefs have a potential of taking a direction informed by a wider views and information. Woo et al. (2014) argued that openness to such elements as curiosity, intellectual efficiency, tolerance, ingenuity, and aesthetics held by others ultimately lead to increased experiences.

1.1.5 Expatriate leadership

Expatriates play a role as an agent in the overseas assignments, to deliver the knowledge from headquarters to subsidiaries or from subsidiaries to headquarters (Musasizi et al. 2016). There are certain management and leadership skills required for the expatriates, such as a good knowledge of the parent’s country culture, workforce environment, business trend and parent’s country government policies, due to the challenges they will be facing during their overseas assignments. In reality, the majority of MNCs have encountered high-failure rates of the expatriate foreign assignments caused by the unsuitable management strategies and inappropriate leadership styles (Kumarika Perera et al., 2017; Wang, and Varma, 2019; Cole, and Nesbeth, 2014). For example, ethnocentric management approach causes the conflicts during the introduction of the headquarter policies. Expatriates from the U.S always face difficulties when they apply the decisions made by the US headquarters, because the local staffs prefer to follow their own procedures (Gupta et al., 2012). Moreover, the local employees can be suspicious of the decisions from the US. According to AlMazrouei and Zacca (2015), expatriates have to be assertive and use dynamic leadership style based on different scenarios. To make the situation even more difficult, some local employees may feel belittled by following instructions from an “outsider”, which even generate the resentment from local employees toward expatriates (Bebenroth, and Froese, 2020; Peltokorpi, and Zhang, 2020). In this case, it is the expatriates’ responsibility to include local staff in the decision-making process, and make sure the local staff are valued and feel they are important for the company. Scholars have described leadership in a myriad ways ranging from simple a person in leading role to a more complex views that include combination of beliefs and views of an individual employee in making organization’s decision making while also drawing a roadmap to productivity at both individual and team levels (Obolensky, 2014; DeRue, D.S., 2011; Morgeson, DeRue, and Karam, 2010; Hallinger, 2018). However, there are still some terms that have been used to describe leadership, such as styles, characters, impact, communication patterns, roles, a job in an authorized position (Yukl, 2006). Broadly, leadership can be explained as a process where an influential role has been used by leaders in order to supervise, assist and manage relationships and projects in a team.

1.1.6 Culture and leadership

There is a certain relationship between cultures and leaderships. According to Bae et al. (1993) and Han et al. (1996), cultures make the styles of the leadership different. Expatriate leadership style can be flexible and depends on the circumstances, so there has not been a fixed expatriate leadership style that can be used under any circumstances (Yukl, 2006). In fact, different cultures in the host countries should be the key factor when expatriates apply the relevant leadership style. It is impossible to separate leadership style from the local culture, as it is constantly being influenced by the culture itself (Muenjohn and Armstrong, 2007a). For example, the rating and praise system is different from the US to Japan. American leaders tend to give comments based on individual performance, in comparison to Japanese leaders who prefer to give their comments to the group (Orsini, 2013). This is a perfect reflection of Hofstede culture dimension theory (1984). It is crucial to acknowledge different cultures, as this will enable them to understand the way people conduct business as well as their perspective towards to the world (Tucker et al., 2014; Shakir, and Lee, 2017). However, misconceptions towards business failures may occur as a result from different people’s beliefs, cultural backgrounds and idealism (Bass, 1990; Shakir, and Lee, 2017). On the contrary, building from the arguments held by Abdullah et al. (2014), if the mutual understanding has been reached, culture differences can create innovative ideas, thus generate competitive benefit. In order to be successful in the competitive international market, expatriates must adjust their leadership style according to the culture awareness, sufficient information about the host country and sensitivity.

1.1.7 Expatriates and COVID-19

The outbreak and spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted normal business activities in all the countries across the world including expatriate operations. While most expatriates who have settled within host countries and continue with their work due to the measures in place that minimized the spread of the diseases (Global Health, 2021), new challenges and disadvantages increasingly emerged, and have negative impact on most expatriate programs. According to Pardo (2020), MNCs with active international transfers of expatriates were the most significantly impacted from COVID-19 pandemic, with a significant increase in levels of stress and influence on day to day life. For example, the difficulties in planning and coordinating between the global mobility teams in MNCs, as a result of immigration and travel restrictions, as well as the impact of the government lockdown orders like staying/working at home. Given the COVID-19 lockdown and the restrictions in place in most countries globally to minimize and eventually combat the diseases’ spread, internet connections has provided a significant avenue and platform to enhance working capabilities and relationships. This is significant for the ultimate success of expatriates given that regardless of the inability to travel and being at work physically, individuals can still coordinate and organize their work and duties via online channels, which lead to significant eradication of the barriers as a result of the pandemic. Noman et al. (2020) advances that as a result of globalization and Internet connections, individuals are living and working globally in a diverse cultural environment from their homelands. The Internet connection and resources also enable expatriates to effectively and rapidly learn different languages used within their host countries, which can enhance a better understanding their local colleagues. This is in addition to exposing them to information on cultural differences and the various measures adopted by different areas of their host countries as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

1.2 Aims and objectives

Despite the high risk of failure and the large amount of consumptions caused by the failure, 68% of MNCs insist relocating their expatriate employees overseas according to GMAC Relocation Trends survey (Deresky, 2011). For some, upholding organisation culture informed by ‘the way the firm do things’, traditional, norms, and prescribed mission can be guaranteed by having some employee with direct and long-term experiences and insight of the company (Vlajčić et al., 2019; Plourde, Parker, and Schaan, 2014; McNulty, and Brewster, 2017). Mostly, what motivate the assigned expatriates who work in subsidiaries of their home country organizations overseas is both their career development and company’s development (Bolino, 2007; Andresen et al., 2012; Bonache et al., 2010). Research indicates that expatriates are able to get faster promotion than non-expatriates (Doherty and Dickmann, 2012). Once the expatriates successfully finished their overseas tasks and returned to the home country, the improved competencies they brought back to the host country are invaluable, the competencies include expatriate experiences, skills, and cultural intelligence (McNulty, and Brewster, 2017; Vlajčić et al., 2019). The home country companies will gain further financial benefits from them, meanwhile increase future expatriation successful rate. As for expatriates themselves, they gain opportunities of further experiences, career promotions and financial benefits. Despite these potential huge importances to an organisation, expatriation approach has received critics. In addition to having limited knowledge and insight of the traditional and beliefs of the immediate communities that include local employees and consumers, expatriate have to content with change in environment, social environment, lifestyle, and international working and travelling experience (Bonache et al., 2010; Mitrev, and Culpepper, 2012; AlMazrouei, and Pech, 2015). Lee and Sukoco (2010) argued on the concept of cultural effectiveness highlighting an expatriate ability to interact and communicate with host nationals, and cultural intelligence, outlines adapting across cultures as key areas that received little attention towards success of expatriation. Critics of the approach hold a view that an organisation ought to go beyond promising financial compensation and career development as motivating factors but rather incorporate psychological needs of the expatriate (van der Laken et al., 2016; Hemmasi et al., 2010; Ren et al., 2015). In addition, enabling expatriates to face less stress and to have a relative contented life overseas is crucial for expatriates to perform their overseas duties. Building from this, this research aims to investigate whether multinational companies should improve cross-cultural expatriate leadership in order to enhance the success rate of expatriate. It examines connections between host country cultures and expatriate leadership styles, then investigate the suitable leadership styles and develop effective leadership strategies for expatriates, in order to help them to overcome word-related difficulties, and to assist them to perform their overseas duties.

1.3 Research questions

What motivates a person to self-identify as an expatriate leader?

What expatriate leadership styles are required in the overseas work environment?

What expatriates leadership competencies/qualities/skills are needed when leading a multinational team?

How can culture impact leadership styles?

What adjustments are required for a domestic leader transferring into an expatriate leader?

1.4 Methodology

The aim of the research study is to develop new knowledge and to initiate new perspectives of thinking as well as reflecting on issues by using primary data (Ochsner et al, 2012). This section analyses research methodologies, approaches, strategies, and techniques, which are applied for conducting this research in a systematic way.

1.4.1 Research design

Kothari (2004) points out that the application of science in the various processes and activities concerned with research methodology, Salkind (2010) highlights that a research design dictates the direction of the actual study, as well as the manner by which the research is conducted. Saunders et al. (2009) further clarifies that a suitable research design needs to be selected based on research questions and objectives, existing knowledge on the subject area to be researched, the amount of resources and time available, and the philosophical leanings of the researcher. The research design reflects the types of strategies that a researcher can adopt for use in a study, some of which include survey, case study, experiment, action research, ethnography, archival research, grounded theory, cross-sectional studies, longitudinal studies and participative enquiry (Collis and Hussey, 2009; Saunders et al. 2009). According to Saunders et al. (2009), Research Onion Diagram (ROD), Figure 1, the first layer is about research philosophy, including epistemology and ontology. Research philosophy highlights the beliefs held by a researcher on the research variables prior to conducting the research, hence depicting the assumptions made about the problems and questions (Coplan, and Goldie, 2011; Biesta, 2010). It has an impact on further design, methods, approach, data collection, and data interpretation. The second layer illustrates research approaches, they can be inductive or deductive, which depend on the research purpose, restrictions and individual perspectives. The third layer explains research methods of the data collection. These methods range from survey, grounded theory, archival research, survey, ethnography, action research, and experiment. The fourth layer shows the concern of qualitative and quantitative methodologies. There are three methods to select from, they are Mono-method, mixed methods and multi-method. The fifth layer demonstrates the timeframe of the research, which consisted of cross-sectional and longitudinal. Cross-sectional is for a relatively shorter period, while longitudinal is for a relatively longer period. The last layer displays data collection and analysis.

1.4.2 Philosophical paradigm

The interpretivist paradigm works in dichotomy with the positivist model, which views the world as an embodiment of clarity, unambiguity, and verifiable reality that can be studied only with total objectivity (Cavana et al. 2001). Based on the provision of the Research Onion Diagram (Saunders et al. 2009) as shown in Figure 1, this research will apply a mixed methods research design, influenced by a pragmatist philosophy (Saunders et al, 2009). The approach embraces aspects of the interpretivist philosophy that treats the world as a conglomeration, which consists of social constructions, meanings in human engagements and lived experiences (Chowdhury, 2014; Gomm, 2008). It will combine the rationalist, empiricist approaches, and to encapsulates concepts, theories, frameworks in explicating different research concerns, including objectives, questions, phenomena, and behaviours (Abend, 2008; Swanson, 2013; Weick, 2014).

1.4.3 Research method

Using multiple allocable methodologies enables the researcher to gain both both qualitative and quantitative data. However, sometimes there is only one methodology applied to highlight the research outcomes effectively. Qualitative and quantitative data provides researchers with opposing perspectives in a research (Bernard, and Bernard, 2013; Goertz, and Mahoney, 2012). Qualitative data is a dynamic and negotiated reality that seeks a human behaviour perspective, while quantitative data is a fixed and measured approach to establish facts concerning perceived social phenomena (Goertz, and Mahoney, 2012; Khalid et al., 2012). Qualitative data collection is achieved through subjective and personal procedures, entailing observation and interviews, while its analysis includes descriptors, to identify and connect patterns and themes (Silverman, 2020; Hennink, Hutter, and Bailey, 2020). In contrast, quantitative research involves the measuring of phenomena through tools such as surveys to obtain data, which can be analysed for comparisons and inferences to establish statistics. Griffiths (2009) states that the qualitative research design involves detailed exploration, as well as analysis of particular themes and concerns within a topic. He further highlights the importance of using qualitative approaches as they are particularly beneficial to research topics that are complex, novel or under-researched. As this leaves the results open to the possibility of unexpected findings, rather than predicting an expected outcome, which is often the case for quantitative research. Table 1 illustrates the characters of qualitative and quantitative research method, and the similarity between them.

1.4.4 Data collection methods

Data collection plays an important role in a research. In addition to providing systematic way of addressing research problem and answering the stipulated questions, its reliability and validity determine the success of the research. In order to map out the success rate of expatriate and capture a picture on influence of leadership styles on cultural-diverse working environment, as well as developing an insight understand interrelationship between leadership and employees culture in expatriation context, this will adopt a two-phase technique in data acquisition. Phase 1 will incorporate quantifying the research challenges faced by expatriates, cultural difference, effective leadership styles and strategies, and expatriate leadership styles in expatriation context by employing a questionnaire data collection technique. The information gathered from phase 1 will inform the second phase, which will be informal interviews. The use of the questionnaires highlights general aspects of expatriates leadership experience in the foreign country. While informal interview further emphasises on expatriates personal perspectives regarding leadership skills.

1.4.4.1 Questionnaires

According to Taherdoost (2016), questionnaires are efficient in research data collection due to their ability to capture not only an individual’s opinion, but also their attitudes and beliefs while mapping out the variables giving a picture of ways and extent to which the research variable are interrelated. In addition, they are flexible and easy to complete within a short time. The questionnaires will design with detailed questions mostly required Yes/No answer, only in specific limited instances offer ranking scale, also there are few open-ended questions for clarification of deep insight points. In that case, they are easily to complete in the sense that it is time and cost effective where a researcher can collect data from a larger participant group within a short period at a low cost (Groves et al., 2011; Lietz, 2010; Hassine, and Amyot, 2016).

1.4.4.2 Informal interviews

The use of informal interviews enables researchers to find much deeper and personal insights. It helps to cover the grey areas present in the questionnaires by offering detailed explanations from respondents, as well as ensure credibility and viability of the information provided by them (Englander, 2012; Alshenqeeti, 2014). The interview intents to explore in depth the themes developed from the phase 1, questionnaire findings, and have a deeper understanding by having closer look at experiences, opinions, beliefs, and perspectives on the research variables.

1.4.5 Target population

Target population can be defined as a group of people who are of interest to the research process (Taherdoost, 2016). These are the people with a specific attachment or closely relevant to the features and subjects of the research (Boddy, 2016; Taherdoost, 2017). The target population for phase 1 will be international expatriates who take international assignments in the UK. The sample size will be 150 expatriates working in the UK. The reason they were chosen were for the following: First of all, they have the first-hand leadership experiences in leading the multinational teams. Secondly, they are facing the adjustment issues due to their unique overseas experience. For the second phase, interview stage, the population target will be 2-3 leaders of 5 multinational organisation operating in the UK. The companies will be Arbonne International LLC, The Hertz Corporation, Mitsubishi Chemical Holding, Adidas, and Aldi Supermarket Company

1.4.6 Sampling

Sampling enables researchers to choose a group of individuals who are suitable for data collection and analysis. It is paramount that collection of data is relevant to the key themes of the research and the research design/strategies. The most basic sampling methods entail either probability or random sampling, which gives equal opportunity for selection to the entire sample population; as opposed to non-probability or non-random sampling, which requires a specific rationale for the inclusion or exclusion of sample groups of a population. Prior to the consideration of selecting appropriate methodologies and data collection techniques, the distinction between different sampling methods determined the selection results (Smith, 2015;Taherdoost, 2016). Sampling design identifies the nature and quality of the research, as well as the availability of secondary information sources (Reynolds et al. 2014; Gast and Ledford, 2014). The ideas behind a specific sampling approach vary significantly, and reflect the research objectives and questions in a certain degree (Palinkas et al. 2015). Whether probability sampling can be implemented will depend on the target population (Blaikie, 2010).

Techniques for probability sampling methodology options are set out in Table 2:

In the phase 1, the sampling approach will be randomised targeting individuals working for the international companies operating in the UK. The potential participants need to be employed and posted by an international company under consideration to work in the UK. For the phase 2, interview, this research employed opportunity probability sampling technique, due to the scarcity and inaccessibility of the target population. The sample will be carefully selected based on expatriates’ knowledge and experience in different relevant areas, such as human resources development, international business management, cross-cultural training, HR consultancy, global franchising, and international marketing.

1.4.7 Data analysis

The analysis of quantitative data will also include visualizations, such as frequency tables and charts, aim to emphasise different experience and perspectives of the respondents (Kent, 2015; Wetcher-Hendricks, 2011; Treiman, 2014). In addition, qualitative research methodology research involves analysing information from a subjective perspective, thereby relating different experiences to predetermined outcomes (Leech, and Onwuegbuzie, 2011). In this research, thematic analysis will be applied in order to conduct qualitative data. The findings from the questionnaire will be analysed to develop themes that then used to inform the second phase. The results from the informal interviews will be transcribed, organized, analysed, in order to discover the prevalence of important themes. The results will be triangulated with literature review and case study findings, in order to relate to the research issues and key questions. Frequency tables are designed for representing the frequency of individual research responses. Categorized responses enable the determination of the number or proportion of agree/disagree statements form the surveyed participants, meanwhile demonstrate the frequency percentages of each response. Afterwards thematic analysis will be employed to isolate and relate different patterns highlighted by the findings (Clarke, Braun, and Hayfield, 2015; Alhojailan, 2012). Thematic analysis, used as a form of analysis for qualitative research studies, provides a protocol for identifying, examining, compiling, describing, and reporting themes found within a data set (Braun and Clarke, 2006).

1.4.8 Justification of Analysis Methodology

In the data analysis of qualitative research studies, researcher used primary data which is fundamentally disorganized and manifests as singular opinions. It is essential to organize it, break it down, synthesize it, and search for specific patterns that highlights what is important, as well as what is to be noted, and decide how the information is presented in such a way that the reader will understand (Bailey, 2008; Lawrence, and Tar, 2013). Qualitative studies tend to produce large, often unstructured amounts of data, and analysis can sometimes be problematic (Timmermans, and Tavory, 2012) but they offer the researcher the opportunity to develop an idiographic understanding of participants, and what it means to them, within their social reality, to live with a particular condition or be in a particular situation (Fairbrother, 2014).

Chapter 2: Literature review

2.1 Leadership competencies

The performance of leaders are influenced by their leadership competencies as they show in their workplaces. Leadership is a key factor to determine marketplace success, covers every aspects of the company and play a critical support role within the organization (Chi and Pan, 2012; Leavy, 2016). Effective leaders are able to deal with all kinds of demands and perform multiple tasks apart from coping with clinging and complicated work place circumstances. They often work at intense levels for a longer period without showing negative performance and cognitive competence, they are also good at working under stress (Purwanto et al., 2019; Jones, and Nichols, 2013; Wong, and Laschinger, 2013). There are a number of listed competencies that are important to take into consideration if leaders want to successfully perform their duties (Wood and Vilkinas, 2007; Geier, 2016; McDermott et al., 2013). This includes having an achievement orientation attitude, a humanist method, keeping of positive perspective and an incline to comprehensiveness, honesty and self-awareness. Those elements play equal role in regard of how leaders perform within the organization. Emotional intelligence is another essential factor that define leader competence (Adler, 2008; Schlaerth et al. 2013). Researchers have discovered that successful leadership is influenced by emotional intelligence (Goleman et al. 2013; Batool, B.F., 2013; Schlaerth et al. 2013; McCleskey, 2014). Emotional intelligence also associates with the competence of managing conflict (Schlaerth et al., 2013). The study of emotional leadership has progressed to transformational leadership, particular in the work place (Goleman et al., 2013; Harms, and Credé, 2010). Aiming to manage self and staff’s emotions in order to achieve the tasks is an emotional method in leadership strategy (Schyns and Meindl, 2006). In other terms, emotional intelligence provide a platform establishing a good relationship between leaders and their staff as well as integrating a soft humanistic approach is pivotal as it not only motivates staff, but it also ensures that they will work to their full personal potential (Mathew, and Gupta, 2015; Lam, and O'Higgins, 2012). There are five elements that are used to illustrate emotional intelligence: self-control, self-awareness, social abilities, compassionate and motivation (Alferaih, 2017; Sosik et al., 2019; Pinos et al., 2013). All five elements are crucial for leadership skills (Goleman et al. 2013). How leaders interact with followers reflect the quality of the leaders in the emotional awareness aspect (Jordan, and Troth, 2011; Gooty et al., 2010). Leaders who are highly emotional intelligent can use their emotions to improve their decision and motivate staff during the interaction (Rockstuhl et al., 2011; Milhem et al., 2019; Miao, Humphrey, and Qian, 2016). According to Mumford et al (2007), there are four distinct leadership skills: cognitive skills, business skills, interpersonal skills and strategic skills. The cognitive skills are relevant to data collection, information processing and distribution (Mumford et al., 2017; Guzmán et al., 2020). Interpersonal skills do not only require interacting and being involved with staff, it also focuses on the leader playing a more influential role (Cheruvelil et al. 2014; Kalargyrou et al., 2012; Riggio, and Tan, 2013). The business skills can be seen as the ability to manage resources such as employees, facilities and finances (Agbim, 2013; Riggio, and Tan, 2013). The strategic skills are related to having the whole picture, recognizing issues and generating solutions (Dries, and Pepermans, 2012; Rice, 2018; Norzailan et al., 2016), while at the same time, having the ability to identify the causes and impacts of the problems (Smith et al., 2012; Schoemaker, Krupp, and Howland, 2013).

2.2 Transactional and transformational leadership theories

Leadership style is the method applied to generate strategies and encourage people to achieve the expected results. If the managers give the full authority to the employees, without disturbing goals and assisting them to make decisions, then this kind of management is not sufficient, job satisfaction and productivity decline, employees are easily to get frustrated (Mikkelson et al., 2015; Liu et al., 2013). Leaders are usually seen as autocratic or democratic. The circumstances, the type of the tasks and the skill level of the employees play important part in determining which leadership style should be used (Nawaz, and Khan 2016; Solomon, and Steyn, 2017). Different leadership style can lead to frustration and conflict in multinational organization (Gabrielsson et al. 2009). The early development of leadership style is transactional, when managers settle a certain agreements with the employees. Transactional leadership is about the exchanges between the managers and their subordinates, the punishments and rewards are aim for the control (Sundi, 2013; Ma, and Jiang, 2018). De Vries (2001, p. 252) calls transactional leadership a ‘mundane contractual exchange based on self interest’. In many situations, transactional leadership is the reflection of moderate (Denti, and Hemlin, 2012). Transactional behaviours are important to keep the organization functioning by satisfying people’s requirements, but is not effective for motivating staff (Antonakis, and House, 2014; Chaudhry, and Javed, 2012). In other word, this type of leadership can only keep the organizations operate in normal situation (Kark et al., 2018). However, as indicated by Faraz et al. (2018) and Putra et al. (2020), transactional leadership cannot encourage innovation, thus in the times of change and in the circumstances are unstable, it is unsuitable to use. Theorists in the past have already come to a conclusion that transactional leadership is not sufficient in the fast-changed dynamic world. They realised that leaders should be outstanding in order to provide the competitive advantage to their organization (Odumeru, and Ogbonna, 2013; Khan, 2017; McCleskey, 2014; Antonakis, and House, 2014). Therefore, the imminent leadership style should help the organization to have an extraordinary performance, and charismatic leaders should help the organization achieve this goal. In the early twentieth century, Weber suggested attributes of ideal charismatic leadership. Weber sees charismatic leaders are talented people with high esteem and have special influence towards their followers (Breuilly, 2011; Joosse, 2014; Milosevic, and Bass, 2014). Charisma is a character that enable a person to stand out from the crowd (Grabo et al., 2017; Harding et al., 2011; Antonakis, 2017). A charismatic leader is described as someone who can resonate with their followers and form a give and take relationship by showing respect, giving trust and credibility (Gebert et al., 2018; Sy et al., 2018; Nisbett, and Walmsley, 2016). Charisma leaders are able to be the role model to employees, not only encourage them to reach their biggest potential, but also help them to build self-esteem, therefore, employees feel that they are valued by the company, and can stay positive and always sense the hope (Sy et al., 2018; Nisbett, and Walmsley, 2016). As a result, they can transform into loyal and conscientious team of followers (Sy et al., 2018; Kempster, and Parry, 2013). Charismatic leaders are suitable in the time of radical change (Conger, 2015; Levay, 2010). The purpose of charismatic leaders is to influence people to do whatever they are required to do. However, there are disadvantages of this type of leader: for instance, they tend to neglect how much tasks are actually completed, so the productivity of the employees are relatively low (Wilderom et al., 2012; Banks et al., 2017; Edwards, 2012). In addition, if the leaders are unethical, they can bring the organization into downfall. Recently, a new leadership style called transformational leadership style has occurred, firstly advocated in 1973 by Downton (Hoon Song et al., 2012; Mhatre, and Riggio, 2014). The aim of this type of leadership is to emphasis what is accomplished instead of the personal charm of the leaders (Sadeghi, and Pihie, 2012; Ghasabeh et al., 2015). Transformational leadership is suitable for the time of change (Hechanova, and Cementina-Olpoc, 2013; Ghasabeh et al., 2015) where leaders have the whole picture of voluntarily devote themselves to promote equality and authorization. Meanwhile, they encourage staff to have a new perspective toward their works. By comparison to charismatic leadership style, the charismatic is only just one small aspect of this type of leadership style (Van Knippenberg, and Sitkin, 2013; Avolio, and Yammarino, 2013). They also focus on managing and generating change. Similar with charismatic leaders, transformational leaders are also seen as charismatic, they are good at motivating people (Avolio, and Yammarino, 2013). Followers with this kind of leaders are feeling understood and normally inspired to exceed their potential. To conclude, transformational leaders are the leaders who can make the employees realize the need for change and evaluate the benefits of the change. For a long run, transformational leaders motivate workers to give priority to the organisation’s profit, pursue self-fulfiment and make them to work effective under a sense of urgency (Faupel, and Süß, 2019; Deschamps et al., 2016). Leadership study for the past 100 years has given the impression that leaders are born but not made. In fact, good leaders can definitely be trained. Leaders are responsible for the organizations and the subordinates transformations in this competitive era.

2.3 Successful leadership behaviours

There are five elements of successful leadership behaviours: “Modelling the way’’, ‘‘Inspiring a shared vision’’, ‘‘Challenging the process’’, ‘‘Enabling others to act’’ and ‘‘Encouraging the heart’’ (Day. and Sammons, 2013; Nixon et al., 2012; Larsson, and Vinberg, 2010). “Modeling the way’’ means leaders should be a role model to their followers. “Inspiring a shared vision’’ suggests that leaders have to set a future goal for their followers, in order to gain mutual interest within the organisation as well as with their followers (Abrell-Vogel, and Rowold, 2014). This in turn will encourage the followers to contribute to the organisation. ‘‘Challenging the process’’ shows leaders are able to challenge organizational rules and take risks. ‘‘Enabling others to act’’ is about giving authorization and building trust among followers. ‘‘Encouraging the heart’’ is related to offering good feedback in regard of followers’ achievements.

2.4 Leadership innovation

Ravichandran (2000) states that there are two main types of innovation: one is relevant to the product and the market, while the other one is related to the organisation itself (Laforet, 2011; Standing et al., 2016). The first type of innovation contains several of activities: launching new product design, developing new markets or initiating new programs. While the second type of innovation involves projects such as changing structures of the organization, planning and training (Brown, and Osborne, 2012; Tidd, and Bessant, 2020). In purview of expatriation, as argued by Muenjohn and Armstrong (2015), expatriate mangers are responsible for processing both innovation type. Because their duties involve introducing headquarters’ products, policies and services to a brand new market in the foreign country, meanwhile participate in the innovation process. Leaders can encourage innovation by different influential strategies (Rosing et al., 2011; Elrehail, 2018). There are few categories of strategies can be practiced: one is about leading employees, another one is leading work. Leading employees means leaders can encourage creativity of employees, and employees creativity is crucial for the further market and organization innovation (Hughes et al., 2018; Tung, and Yu, 2016). Černe et al. (2013) held that leading employees can be completed by encouraging employees to value innovation, inspiring them to learn from the mistakes they made caused during the initial innovation process, motivating them to participating the innovation projects. In the second category of strategy, leaders can innovate organisation’s structure. In a study of 66 cases in expatiate adjustment for over more than two decades, Bhaskar-Srinivas et al. (2005) obtained evident support for the Black-Mendenhall-Oddou model. According to Bird and Mendenhall (2016), expatriate efficiency is a close aspect to expatriate adjustment, it is a difficult aspect to define, due to the complicity of various stakeholders, competing requirements, cooperation over time, and the inexplicitly to work in unfamiliar and uncertain surroundings. Haslberger et al. (2014) suggested there are two aspects of expatriate performance, one is managing interpersonal relations, and another one is managing the given tasks from headquarters.

2.5 Expatriate adjustment research

Expatriate adjustment is the primary area in expatriate research. Early research in the 1960s and 1970s only focused on military crew, Peace Corps volunteers, and other governmental workforce, however, this changed in the 1980s where the research focus shifted to business expatriate, where a noticeable growth was seen from 1990 until now. Black et al. (1991) famous research framework consisted of three categories of adjustments: interaction adjustment, work adjustment and general adjustment (Strubler et al., 2011). They believe that there is a period called ‘‘anticipatory adjustment’’ before expiration, ‘‘anticipatory adjustment’’ is not always the same, it depends on what kind of employees and companies expatriates work with, and it is also influenced by the following variables: occupation sectors, individual conditions, organization network (Montenegro et al., 2015; Haslberger et al., 2014). Each of these categories can directly impact the three categories of adjustment. The first model about expatriates adjustment would be Adler’s model (1975), the model is regarded as the first one mentioned leadership transformation. The model suggested five steps: contact with the other culture, disintegration, reintegration, autonomy, and independence (Pusch, 2009; Bird, and Mendenhall, 2016). However, in 1995, Osland recognised four categories of changes that American expatiates have experienced. Positive changes include culture sensitivity, tolerance, assertiveness, independence and flexibility (Osland, 2013; Mao and Shen, 2015; Selmer, and Lauring, 2012). However, research took a precautionary purview toward changes of attitude entails increased respect of different cultures, appreciation of life in general, broadened horizons toward the world. Largely it argued on progressed work skills are in interpersonal relations as well as communication skills as well as highlighting the flexibility in different managerial style (Templer, 2010; Froese, and Peltokorpi, 2011). Gonzalez and Chakraborty (2014) contended that enriched knowledge include not only business but also encompassed political, economic, and social purview.

2.6 Cross-cultural leadership adjustment theory

Recent studies focus on the importance of leadership adjustment (Tsai et al. 2019). One of these theories is situational leadership theory (SLT), which suggests that leaders should apply their leadership style according to the tasks given, which is referred to as ‘task-relevant maturity’ (Salehzadeh et al., 2015; Festing, and Maletzky, 2011). For instance, the leader should use instructive method in the situation when subordinates in a lower level of maturity, while use more delegating style to deal with followers with high maturity (Tsai et al. 2019). This theory combined both path and contingency leadership theories, which added additional elements like relationships between leaders and followers, task structures, and the level of motivation (McCleskey, 2014; Thompson, and Glasø, 2018; McLaurin, 2013). The second theory emphasises the culture influence on leadership adjustment issue (CLTs) (House et al. 2004). CLTs covered cross-cultural leadership issues which have not been mentioned in SLT. The theories stressed that the perceptions of leadership are relevant to the leaders’ cultural background (Javidan et al. 2006; Oc, 2017; Snaebjornsson et al., 2015). The theory points out that the adjustments of leadership strategies should follow the expectation of their subordinates’ culture. According to Pellegrini et al., (2010), in cross-cultural adjustment, requires that expatriate managers to alter their leadership style in order to match their subordinates’ culture. However, these studies neglected to mention the role of subordinates within these changes when interacting with managers who are from a different culture to them. Furthermore, strategies need to be considered when dealing with cross-culture working environments. There are some significant findings in regard of leadership effectiveness in the cross-cultural settings. The finding developed by Scandura and Dorfman (2004), Barkema et al. (2015), and Dickson et al. (2012) who state that the effective leadership approach in Western cultures is often ineffective in Eastern cultures, that is because of the contradictories between individualism and collectivism belief between Western culture and Eastern culture. As held by Lakshman (2013) and Caligiuri & Tarique (2012), cross-cultural competence conflict can also be found in the scenario when a manger is expected to listen carefully to the subordinates. This behaviour is generally advocated in the West, In Malaysia, leadership traits such as modesty and humility are important, which is opposite to the confidence and individual personality in the United States (Subramaniam et al., 2011; Jogulu, and Ferkins, 2012; Hassan, and Diallo, 2013). Work role transition theory (WRT) (Nicholson, 1984) is a crucial mode in explaining and predicting the way in which leaders change their behavioural approach in a new position or career status (Ibarra, and Barbulescu, 2010; Sussman, 2011; Zhu et al. 2016). The findings on expatriate adjustment, Takeuchi (2010) based the argument on wo types of adjustment for the managers, one is “active adjustment”, which managers adapt in the process of environment change; another one is “reactive adjustments”, which managers change themselves in order to meet their environmental conditions. According to Nicholson Peltokorpi and Zhang (2020), there are two dimension for leaders to adjust into their new roles. The two dimensional changes are relevant to both personal development and occupational development in the workplace. As pointed by Lazarova and Thomas (2012), the active dimension explains the potential improvement in personal development when getting a new role or environment, including components like individual belief, behaviours, skills and leadership. In contrary, the passive dimensions illustrate the changes as a consequence of role change, which contains attributes such as interpersonal relationship and work approaches (Tsai et al. 2019). People tend to adopt to new roles in the following approaches: replication, absorption, determination, and exploration (Rao‐Nicholson et al., 2020; Malek, and Budhwar, 2013; Feitosa et al., 2014). Replication is when leaders’ adjustments are minimal due to the similarity between their former role and their current role (Cole, and McNulty, 2011). Absorption happens when the leaders recognized the necessity to change their behaviour in order to fit the new role they have been given Hippler et al. (2017). Determination is the complete opposite to absorption, as the leaders prefer the role adapts to them whereas exploration occurred when both sides adjust to the new role. In adjusting, according to Lazarova and Thomas (2012), work demand determines the dimension choice. The first one is related to individual’s ability in adjusting task content (such as interpersonal relationship, leadership practices and work targets) (Feitosa et al., 2014). If individual have sufficient chance/ability to modify those task content, they would choose exploration or determination modes of adjustment, while limited opportunity/ability in modifying the task content for individual would cause absorption or replication adjustment modes. On the other hand, role similarity related to prior knowledge, practiced skills and established habits have direct correlation to the adjustment where the more similarities prior role had with current role, the less pressure individuals are facing (Haslberger et al., 2013; Feitosa et al., 2014; Takeuchi, 2010). The high similarity lead to exploration or absorption modes of adjustment, while the low similarity cause determination and replication modes of adjustment. How to turn cultural divergent from a challenge to an opportunity is the biggest difficulty faced by the global leader (Zhang, 2013; Nunes et al., 2017). They believed in doing so is essential to maximize the possibility of the alliances between borders, as it gives the flexibility to cope with the fast-changing and dynamic global economy. According to Froese et al. (2013), the correct management of cultural difference is very likely to achieve the competitive advantage and increase the wholesome level of the company. Largely, studies on cross-cultural leadership highlight the impact of cultural background on leadership style. The research of expatriates are able to give the ideas on how leadership behaviour can change to meet the requirements of different cultures (Zimmerman and Sparrow, 2007; AlMazrouei, and Zacca, 2015; Festing, and Maletzky, 2011; Zhang, 2013). Study conducted by Tsai et al. (2019) applied Nicholson’s theory WRT, to examine how different leadership adjustment modes influence expatriates’ decisions on choosing their leadership strategies. The research applied a thorough study on expatriate managers who are from twenty five countries in Thailand, and they found the most popular mode is exploration mode among the managers, as 79 per cent of expatriates chose this mode, which means they are constantly adjusting their leadership styles in order to meet the local culture, the research also discovered that expatriates managers are not the only side that has changed, their subordinates had changed their behaviours as well. This finding underpinned the projection from WRT theory that leadership adjust around the culture is inevitable, because the cultural background between new leaders and subordinates is different.

2.7 Hofstede culture dimension theory

Culture has become more and more important in both research and practice in the last two decades. The most prominent theory is Hofstede (1980a, 1991) culture framework.

2.7.1 Individualism vs. collectivism (IDV)

Proposed by Hofstede in 1980s, Individualism and collectivism dimensions signify a considerable factor in the study of national culture. Individualism represents a loosely knit social framework, people in individualism society are supposed to look after themselves and their close families, and to some extent, individuals think themselves are more important than the collective (Hofstede, 2011). In comparison, collectivism is distinguished with a tight social framework, people categorised by groups. Although significantly varies with culture dimensions, findings by Meng (2010) and LeFebvre &Franke (2013) argued that the benefit of groups is generally more important than that of individuals. Individuals societies are characterised with separateness and explicitness (Becker et al., 2012; Watling et al., 2013), also featured with structure, order and precision. In an individualistic society, as indicated by An et al. (2017), the upbringing of individualism is related to rationality and positivism, and seeking orders via controlling and clarifying. Individualism generated the perspective of free will, which authorised managers to have a relatively big influence towards the organizations. As a result, most of the organizational science is built upon the prediction that managers’ behaviours can make a difference within the organizations (Oumlil, and Balloun, 2017). On the other hand, according to Zhang et al. (2013) and Shulruf et al. (2011), collectivism has the preference of analysing environment, and controlling the situation within the organization. Consequently, managers have to analyse the situation before strategically planning. In organizations, individuals from individualism societies are more motivated oriented. They are more eager to get feedback regarding their success and care about their performance results. On the other hand, collectivists are keener towards seeking feedback regarding their failures. In different cultures, it has been seen that moral reasoning is not easily molded as behaviors or attitudes (SINGH and WAGNER, 2017). In different cultures, the conflict has been seen or handled in different manners or attitudes. In 1997, Chikudate conducted research between U.S. and Japan banks in order to understand the work life in both organizations. He questioned both the leaders as well as the subordinates. Both the parties were asked to list down certain words that define their life in each bank (Chikudate, 2015). As the results were gathered, it was eventually analysed, and the results were quite impressive. Using the multidimensional scaling analysis, the participants were instructed to rank the two words. The result shows in Japan, power and authority are two different terms (Rana and Morgan, 2019). A superior from the Japanese side was asked to play the role of a parent or big cousin. Research shows that the Japanese showed a lot of hierarchical position of authority compared to the Americans Chikudate, 2013). Surprisingly, both the parties - Americans and Japanese showed harmony as well as happiness in their organizational workplace. The research shows that differences can be attributed with respect to cultures, and similarities can arise as a result of intrinsic human desire for achievement, morality and autonomy.

2.7.2 Power distance index (PDI) and Uncertainty avoidance (UAI)

Hierarchical (power distance) evaluates how people’s attitudes in the society differ toward inequality (Hofstede, 2013; Xiumei, and Jinying, 2011). High degree of hierarchical differentiation means people are more tolerate to social inequality compared to people in low level of hierarchical differentiation (Hofstede, 2013). Whether the public accept social inequality, is greatly related to social status, which reflects that social power is unfairly allocated within the society. People who obtained high social power enjoy the privileged and convenient life, and have control over the people with less social power. Observationally, high degree hierarchical differentiation is relatively more tolerate towards the control form high status and has more tolerate attitude towards unequal power distribution within the society (Kim and Fan, 2018; Sabri, 2011; Çakar, and Ertürk, 2010). Contrarily, explicit contracting (uncertainty avoidance) reflects the preference of formal or informal communication (Kong, 2013; Kim and Fan, 2018). In certain cultures, information tends to be delivered through explicit codes, whereas in other cultures, less information have to be transmitted by coded messages. Studies have discovered this dimension illustrated culture divergence in conflict management (Koc, 2013; Huang et al., 2017).

2.8 The history of expatriate leadership research

During the period of 1960 and 1980, the research about cross-cultural management concentrate on organization systems and employee behaviour. Because the research mainly based in the US, other countries outside America are regarded as foreign and other cultures in comparison to America culture (Bonache et al., 2010; McNulty, and Selmer, 2017; Nazir et al., 2014). After the World War II, more and more firms were seeking oversea opportunities to enhance career development. During this period, research began to cover how cultures, policies, law and business were operated in other countries. International division and subsidiary in other countries had gradually appeared, expatriates started to emerge (Howe-Walsh, and Schyns, 2010; Bonache et al., 2010), there were large number of them sent from headquarters to oversea subsidiaries, in order to instruct and inspect local workers. Cross culture research during this time was mainly focused on the culture difference, and how to assist expatriates adapting into the host country culture. However, research on how to support local employees cooperating with expatriates had been overlooked. In the world, two shifts took place. First, the US companies had lost their competitive advantages in International markets, resulting in the loss of confidence (Richter et al., 2020; Gallon et al., 2014). In comparison to the disadvantaged US companies, Japanese management techniques had become the center of interest. As a result, studies shifted focusing on Japanese models about management strategies. Following this, international companies started doing business with more than one country, meanwhile the progress of computer technology and telecommunications provided the opportunities to link headquarters and subsidiaries. The technology evolution put culture in a significant position. During the period of 1980 and 2000, with the progression of the organisational systems such as “matrix” and “regional”, the job requirements for expatriates had increased dramatically, as a result, enhancing skills in order to cooperate successfully with local staff became necessary (McNulty, and Brewster, 2017; Dabic et al. 2015; Bonache et al., 2010; Dorsch et al., 2012). Detached leadership style had become old-fashioned, engaged leadership style started to become prominent. There are plenty of research had developed according to this change in leadership style. In the 1990s, the structure of the organisation remained mostly same in the research paper, but around the world, it had been globalised, which revealed in the late 1990s publications about transnational organization (McNulty, and Brewster, 2017; Piekkari et al., 2014). Although the designs of the transnational organization structure had not appeared on paper, for the majority of global managers, the nature of their work had become transnational. The characters of globalisation like complexity, multiplicity, interdependency and flux (Luo, Y. and Shenkar, O., 2011; Verbeke, 2013; Casson, 2013) required expatriates to adapt new global leadership strategies. Under these circumstances, it is vital for expatriate managers to give up control and incorporate shared values. As a result, cultural awareness had become increasingly important. Before 1980, research focus was very much the same in nature, but can be vary from culture to culture (Hall, 1966; Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, 1961). However, noticeably, the appearance of Hofstede’s (1984) culture dimension theory, lead to the major focus on management/organisational behaviour research, particularly in the region of leadership. A large amount of research within this particular field continued to develop between 1980-2000. There is a transformation not only in cross-culture research, but also in some sub-fields of international business, from implicitly to much more explicitly research context in the globalisation direction. From the beginning of 21st century, global teams in MNCs are normal phenomenon for leaders (Zander et al. 2012), due to global scheme and global enterprise, managers who located in the home country are also facing multicultural teams, which is the similar situation with expatriates who work abroad. The work demanding of expatriates is to lead the staff from any culture background, at any time needed, in any locations around world. Moreover, the skills required of them are not only represented in the cross-culture leadership research, a wider range of skill sets are demanded from them. Take culture awareness as an example, is in need of extended interpretation of culture system, and how to manage relevant culture in the right multicultural contexts(Ferraro, 2021; Rugman 2011). Adler(1983) suggests there are three categories of cross-cultural management research: intercultural, comparative and unicultrual. Intercultural research concentrates the communication between two or more countries (Newman, and Wolfgang, 2017; Rugman et al., 2011; De Mooij, and Hofstede, 2011). For instance, how to communicate effectively for British expatriates, with the employees in India. Comparative research focuses on enterprise management in two or more countries, and what are the similarities between them. For instance, how to manage conflicts in Denmark, Peru, and Japan. Whereas uni-cultrual examines enterprise management in one country, for instance, management in a Polish company. Overall, unicultrual research were the most popular among three type of research, as it occupied 48 per cent among all the relevant research articles Adler discovered.

2.9 Selection criteria for expatriate leaders

In the past, companies concentrated on technical skills, experience and whether expatriates themselves wanted to work abroad (Anderson, 2005; Holtbrügge, and Ambrosius, 2015; Gonzalez, and Chakraborty, 2014; Jackson, and Manderscheid, 2015). However, research demonstrate that although some expatriates have prior leadership experience in their home countries, this does not predict that they will have an advantage to work in the host countries (Bhatti et al., 2014; Takeuchi et al., 2019; Feitosa et al., 2014). However, there is a set of personality traits that can predict good performance, which including driven, confidence, willingness of taking risk. Moreover, the personal preference of working abroad is also very important (Tung and Varma, 2008), but it cannot guarantee the success of the assignment. Although technical competence is essential, it is not enough to guarantee the successful assignment either (Erogul, and Rahman, A., 2017; Sousa et al., 2017). Research discovered that personality traits are closely related to high performance. For instance, The Five Factor Model of personality (McCrae, 2017) found o that agreeableness, extraversion and emotional stability are the elements contributing to successful adjustment and performance (Shaffer et al. 2006; Sutin et al., 2016; Barańczuk, 2019). Ethnocentrism can create an obstacle for successful adjustment and performance (Young et al., 2017). Study conducted by Mol et al. (2005) used 30 examples to evaluate expatriate overseas performance, then discovered that four out of five from the Five Factor Model with culture awareness and language ability were predicting factors of good expatriate overseas performance. Furuya et al. (2009) found that personality traits are relevant to intercultural ability were predictive factors of expatriate performance and post-repatriation performance.

2.10 Expatriate leadership qualities

Many expatriate leadership qualities involve communicating between differences, as a result, intercultural communication has become one of the aspects in expatriate research. The research of intercultural communication focuses on effective behaviours within ability to communicate effectively and appropriately in a culturally diverse environment (Penbek et al., 2012; Jackson, 2014; Liu et al., 2014). The skill requirements for intercultural competence include tolerance of ambiguity, cross-cultural empathy, flexibility, and mindfulness (Ferri, 2018). Mindfulness is one of the expatriate leadership quality, which is the ability to open to new experience and divergent perspectives (AlMazrouei, and Zacca, 2015; Ang et al., 2015). According to Guang & Charoensukmongkol (2020) and Lorenz et al. (2018), expatriate leaders need being mindful is to value emotions of the person who you are communicating with, more so, be flexible as an expatriate leadership quality includes both cognitive and behavioural flexibility. Cognitive flexibility is the ability to consider various of opinions in order to acknowledge of the situation. Behavioural flexibility is the ability to choose sensible decision and suitable actions (Bird, 2013). However, Sharma and Hussain (2017) perceived tolerance of ambiguity is another expatriate leadership ability to accept ambiguity, inexplicitly. As for expatriate leaders, they are expected to be intercultural tolerant, which is to value diversity, cope with changes, deal with unfamiliar environments, manage contradictory perspectives (Herman et al. 2010). Building from Hofstede Cultural dimensions, the comparative leadership research have discovered a serious of divergence in leadership behaviour under different culture circumstances. For instance, leaders and companies are more likely been identified by their followers in collectivist cultures rather than individualistic cultures (Shi, and Wang, 2014; Matsumoto, and Hwang, 2013). Leaders are more likely to be dictatorial in the culture that has high power distance rather than the culture that has low power distance. In addition, comparative leadership research also tried to acknowledge of the suitability about some particular research in diverse culture context, by using theoretical based research methods. For example, participative leadership style was less potent in cultures which has high power distance (Aycan et al., 2013; Benoliel, and Barth, 2017). However, some characters of transformational as well as charismatic leadership, like encouraging, trustworthy, dynamic, positive, confidence, motivational, worked in most cultures (Mittal, 2015; Lvina, 2015; Santamaría, and Jean-Marie, 2014), Which indicates some leadership styles are generally effective. GLOBE study made a great contribution to present several of different leadership style applied under dynamic cultures (Benoliel, and Barth, 2017). Because business conducting, technical methods as well as education levels are become more and more similar, there is also a rising convergence in preferred leadership style. There is a shift from comparative leadership to global leadership from GLOBE researchers. As mentioned in the chapter above about expatriate leadership qualities, tolerance of ambiguity, flexibility and mindfulness are necessary qualities for effective expatriates leadership (House et al. 2006). More recent research has focused more on a broader acknowledgment of global leadership (Dorfman et al. 2012). The comparative leadership research is not only covered leadership styles in individual countries, but also focused on how leadership style differ from convergent or divergent cultures in other countries. Especially GLOBE research, it has recognised the general acceptable and unacceptable features. These findings are particular useful for multinational companies to select expatriates, as they provided the preferences and expectations of host country. In fact, expatriates who work in dynamic culture environments have a better understanding in terms of what kind of adjustments are needed. Building on Mintzberg’s managerial roles suggesting seven managerial roles: liaison, leader, spokesperson, monitor, decision maker, negotiator, innovator, Chew et al. (2019) and Altamony & Gharaibeh (2017) pointed on how managers conduct the roles was controlled by circumstances, people and occupation sectors. The reason why there are more job requirements for expatriates leaders than that for domestic leaders, is because there are more skill requirements for expatriates. For instance, expatriates are required to be emotional stable and driven. In addition, they need to have more flexibility and adaptability towards cultures, and to have more capability to accept various of perspectives. Moreover, due to their special working environments, their role requirements involves a larger percentage of innovation, negotiation, decision- making and pressure management (Vlajčić et aal., 2019; Korzilius et al., 2017). Rui et al. (2017) pointed out that searching and applying feedback, openness to learning, being insightful, accept criticism and being flexible are important characters for expatriates leaders to be successful. Fundamentally, global leadership competencies covered a wide range of qualities. From personality perceptive, inquisitiveness and optimism are advocated. From orientation perspective, results orientation is preferred. As for cognitive ability, intellectual intelligence and cognitive complexity are recommended. From motivational inclination aspect, motivation to learn and determination are advised. As for knowledge bases, global business knowledge as well as technical skills are required. Bird‘s (2013) review during 1993 and 2012 on global leadership competencies, he documented 160 competencies, which introduced within organizational framework (Bird and Osland, 2004), and are separated equitably within three main categories: 55 are Business and organisational category, 47 are people and Relations category, 58 are self-management category. Caligiuri (2006) on global leadership competency research analysed the job requirements of leaders, then identify what competencies, knowledge and skills are necessary based on the job requirements. The findings suggested there are ten global leadership engagement, which include cooperate colleagues from foreign countries, communicate with overseas customers, the ability to speak foreign language at work, supervise staff from different countries, develop plans with precise world-wide scope, mange budgets, negotiations, manage overseas suppliers and vendors, risk management. After Caligiuri et al. (2009) discovered that leadership effectiveness was presented in leadership activities like expatriate assignments, international meetings and working with multinational teams. Subsequently, Caligiuri and Tarique (2012) discovered that cross culture competence has positive impact on global leadership effectiveness, which was supported by characters such as openness, low neuroticism and extrovert.

References

Abdullah, N.H., Shamsuddin, A., Wahab, E. and Hamid, N.A.A., 2014. The relationship between organizational culture and product innovativeness. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 129, pp.140-147.

Abrell-Vogel, C. and Rowold, J., 2014. Leaders’ commitment to change and their effectiveness in change–a multilevel investigation. Journal of organizational change management.

Alferaih, A., 2017. Conceptual model for measuring Saudi banking managers’ job performance based on their emotional intelligence (EI). International Journal of Organizational Analysis.

AlMazrouei, H. and Zacca, R., 2015. Expatriate leadership competencies and performance: a qualitative study. International Journal of Organizational Analysis.

Altamony, H. and Gharaibeh, A., 2017. The role of academic researcher to Mintzberg’s managerial roles. International Journal of Business Management and Economic Research, 8(2), pp.920-925.

Andresen, M., Al Ariss, A. and Walther, M. eds., 2012. Self-initiated expatriation: Individual, organizational, and national perspectives. Routledge.

Antonakis, J. and House, R.J., 2014. Instrumental leadership: Measurement and extension of transformational–transactional leadership theory. The Leadership Quarterly, 25(4), pp.746-771.

Agbim, K.C., 2013. The relative contribution of management skills to entrepreneurial success: A survey of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the trade sector. International Organization of Scientific Research Journal of Business and Management, 7(1), pp.08-16.

Aycan, Z., Schyns, B., Sun, J.M., Felfe, J. and Saher, N., 2013. Convergence and divergence of paternalistic leadership: A cross-cultural investigation of prototypes. Journal of International Business Studies, 44(9), pp.962-969.

Banerjee, P. Gaur, J. and Gupta, R. (2012) , Exploring the role of the spouse in expatriate failure: A grounded theory-based investigation of expatriate spouse adjustment issues from India, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23(17) , pp. 3559-3577.

Banks, G.C., Engemann, K.N., Williams, C.E., Gooty, J., McCauley, K.D. and Medaugh, M.R., 2017. A meta-analytic review and future research agenda of charismatic leadership. The Leadership Quarterly, 28(4), pp.508-529.

Baruch, Y., 2011. The positive wellbeing aspects of workaholism in cross cultural perspective. Career Development International.

Becker, M., Vignoles, V.L., Owe, E., Brown, R., Smith, P.B., Easterbrook, M., Herman, G., De Sauvage, I., Bourguignon, D., Torres, A. and Camino, L., 2012. Culture and the distinctiveness motive: Constructing identity in individualistic and collectivistic contexts. Journal of personality and social psychology, 102(4), p.833.

Benoliel, P. and Barth, A., 2017. The implications of the school’s cultural attributes in the relationships between participative leadership and teacher job satisfaction and burnout. Journal of Educational Administration.

Bhatti, M.A., Battour, M.M., Ismail, A.R. and Sundram, V.P., 2014. Effects of personality traits (big five) on expatriates adjustment and job performance. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal.

Bird, A. (2013), Mapping the content domain of global leadership competencies. In M. E. Mendenhall, J. S. Osland, A. Bird, G. R. Oddou, and M. L. Maznevski (Eds.), Global leadership: Research, practice, and development (2008) (pp. 80–96), London/New York: Routledge.

Bolino, M, C. (2007), Expatriate assignments and intra-organizational career success: implications for individuals and organizations, Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan, Academy of International Business, 38(5) , pp. 819-835.

Bonache, J., Brewster, C., Suutari, V. and De Saá, P., 2010. Expatriation: Traditional criticisms and international careers: Introducing the special issue.

Brown, K. and Osborne, S.P., 2012. Managing change and innovation in public service organizations. Routledge.

Çakar, N.D. and Ertürk, A., 2010. Comparing innovation capability of small and medium‐sized enterprises: examining the effects of organizational culture and empowerment. Journal of small business management, 48(3), pp.325-359.

Caligiuri, P. and Tarique, I. (2009), Predicting effectiveness in global leadership activities, Journal of World Business, 44(3), pp: 336–346.

Cameron, K., 2017. Cross-cultural research and positive organizational scholarship. Cross Cultural & Strategic Management.

Chang, Y.Y., Gong, Y. and Peng, M.W., 2012. Expatriate knowledge transfer, subsidiary absorptive capacity, and subsidiary performance. Academy of Management journal, 55(4), pp.927-948.

Cheruvelil, K. Soranno, P. Weathers, K. Hanson, P. Goring, S. Filstrup, C. and Read, E. (2014), Creating and maintaining high-performing collaborative research teams: the importance of diversity and interpersonal skills, Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 12(1), pp. 31-38.

Chew, E.Y., Ghurburn, A., Terspstra-Tong, J.L. and Perera, H.K., 2019. Multiple intelligence and expatriate effectiveness: the mediating roles of cross-cultural adjustment. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, pp.1-33.

Chikudate, N., 2013. Cultural Interpreters for Organizational Adaptation in Japan-Europe Business. Management and International Review: Euro-Asian Management and Business II—Issues in Foreign Subsidiary and National Management, p.27.

Cole, N. and McNulty, Y., 2011. Why do female expatriates “fit‐in” better than males? An analysis of self‐transcendence and socio‐cultural adjustment. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal.

Dabic, M., González-Loureiro, M. and Harvey, M., 2015. Evolving research on expatriates: what is ‘known’after four decades (1970–2012). The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(3), pp.316-337.

Denti, L. and Hemlin, S., 2012. Leadership and innovation in organizations: A systematic review of factors that mediate or moderate the relationship. International Journal of Innovation Management, 16(03), p.1240007.

Deschamps, C., Rinfret, N., Lagacé, M.C. and Privé, C., 2016. Transformational leadership and change: How leaders influence their followers’ motivation through organizational justice. Journal of Healthcare Management, 61(3), pp.194-213.

Doherty, N. and Dickmann, M. (2012) , Self-initiated expatriation: drivers, employment experience and career outcomes, In Andresen, M. Ariss, A. A. Walther , M. and Wolff , K. (eds) Self-Initiated Expatriation: Mastering the Dynamics, London: Routledge, pp. 122–142.

Dollwet, M. and Reichard, R., 2014. Assessing cross-cultural skills: validation of a new measure of cross-cultural psychological capital. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(12), pp.1669-1696.

Dorfman, P. Javidan, M. Hanges, P. Dastmalchian, A.and House, R. (2012), GLOBE: Atwenty year journey into the intriguing world of culture and leadership, Journal of World Business, 47(1), pp: 504–518.

Erogul, M.S. and Rahman, A., 2017. The impact of family adjustment in expatriate success. Journal of International Business and Economy, 18(1), pp.1-23.

Faraz, N.A., Yanxia, C., Ahmed, F., Estifo, Z.G. and Raza, A., 2018. The influence of transactional leadership on innovative work behavior—a mediation model. European Journal of Business and Social Sciences, 7(01), pp.51-62.

Festing, M. and Maletzky, M., 2011. Cross-cultural leadership adjustment—A multilevel framework based on the theory of structuration. Human Resource Management Review, 21(3), pp.186-200.

Froese, F.J., Jommersbach, S. and Klautzsch, E., 2013. Cosmopolitan career choices: a cross-cultural study of job candidates' expatriation willingness. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(17), pp.3247-3261.

Furuya, N. Stevens, M. Bird, A. Oddou, G. and Mendenhall, M. (2009), Managing the learning and transfer of global management competence: Antecedents and outcomes of Japanese repatriation effectiveness, Journal of International Business Studies, 40(1), pp: 200–215.

Gebert, D., Heinitz, K. and Buengeler, C., 2016. Leaders' charismatic leadership and followers' commitment—The moderating dynamics of value erosion at the societal level. The Leadership Quarterly, 27(1), pp.98-108.

Gelfand, M.J., Aycan, Z., Erez, M. and Leung, K., 2017. Cross-cultural industrial organizational psychology and organizational behavior: A hundred-year journey. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102(3), p.514.

Gomm(2008), Social Research Methodology: A Critical Introduction, Macmillan International Higher Education, 2th ed, Hampshire: PALGRAVE MACMILLAN.

Gonzalez, J.A. and Chakraborty, S., 2014. Expatriate knowledge utilization and MNE performance: A multilevel framework. Human Resource Management Review, 24(4), pp.299-312.

Guang, X. and Charoensukmongkol, P., 2020. The effects of cultural intelligence on leadership performance among Chinese expatriates working in Thailand. Asian Business & Management, pp.1-23.

Guttormsen, D.S., Francesco, A.M. and Chapman, M.K., 2018. Revisiting the expatriate failure concept: A qualitative study of Scandinavian expatriates in Hong Kong. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 34(2), pp.117-128.

Guzmán, V.E., Muschard, B., Gerolamo, M., Kohl, H. and Rozenfeld, H., 2020. Characteristics and Skills of Leadership in the Context of Industry 4.0. Procedia Manufacturing, 43, pp.543-550.

Harms, P.D. and Credé, M., 2010. Emotional intelligence and transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analysis. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 17(1), pp.5-17.

Hechanova, R.M. and Cementina-Olpoc, R., 2013. Transformational leadership, change management, and commitment to change: A comparison of academic and business organizations. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 22(1), pp.11-19.

Hemmasi, M., Downes, M. and Varner, I.I., 2010. An empirically-derived multidimensional measure of expatriate success: reconciling the discord. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 21(7), pp.982-998.

Hofstede, G., 2011. Dimensionalizing cultures: The Hofstede model in context. Online readings in psychology and culture, 2(1), pp.2307-0919.

Hofstede, G., Garibaldi de Hilal, A.V., Malvezzi, S., Tanure, B. and Vinken, H., 2010. Comparing regional cultures within a country: Lessons from Brazil. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 41(3), pp.336-352.

Huang, Z., Zhu, H. and Brass, D.J., 2017. Cross‐border acquisitions and the asymmetric effect of power distance value difference on long‐term post‐acquisition performance. Strategic Management Journal, 38(4), pp.972-991.

Jogulu, U. and Ferkins, L., 2012. Leadership and culture in Asia: The case of Malaysia. Asia Pacific Business Review, 18(4), pp.531-549.

Kark, R., Van Dijk, D. and Vashdi, D.R., 2018. Motivated or demotivated to be creative: The role of self‐regulatory focus in transformational and transactional leadership processes. Applied Psychology, 67(1), pp.186-224.

Kawai, N. and Strange, R., 2014. Perceived organizational support and expatriate performance: Understanding a mediated model. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 25(17), pp.2438-2462.

Kim, J. and Fan, Z., 2018. Influences of power distance and uncertainty avoidance on innovative work behavior: Mediation effects of self-leadership. Korean Journal of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 31(3), pp.669-694.

Korzilius, H., Bücker, J.J. and Beerlage, S., 2017. Multiculturalism and innovative work behavior: The mediating role of cultural intelligence. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 56, pp.13-24.

Lam, C.S. and O'Higgins, E.R., 2012. Enhancing employee outcomes: The interrelated influences of managers' emotional intelligence and leadership style. Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 33(2), pp.149-174.

Lazarova, M.B. and Thomas, D.C., 2012. Expatriate Adjustment and Performance Revisted. In Handbook of Research in International Human Resource Management, Second Edition. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Lorenz, M.P., Ramsey, J.R. and Richey Jr, R.G., 2018. Expatriates’ international opportunity recognition and innovativeness: The role of metacognitive and cognitive cultural intelligence. Journal of World Business, 53(2), pp.222-236.

Lukeš, M. and Stephan, U., 2017. Measuring employee innovation: A review of existing scales and the development of the innovative behaviour and innovation support inventories across cultures. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behavior & Research, 23(1), pp.136-158.

Ma, X. and Jiang, W., 2018. Transformational leadership, transactional leadership, and employee creativity in entrepreneurial firms. The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 54(3), pp.302-324.

McCleskey, J., 2014. Emotional intelligence and leadership. International Journal of Organizational Analysis.

McNulty, Y. and Brewster, C., 2017. Theorizing the meaning (s) of ‘expatriate’: establishing boundary conditions for business expatriates. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(1), pp.27-61.

Miao, C., Humphrey, R.H. and Qian, S., 2016. Leader emotional intelligence and subordinate job satisfaction: A meta-analysis of main, mediator, and moderator effects. Personality and Individual Differences, 102, pp.13-24.

Mikkelson, A.C., York, J.A. and Arritola, J., 2015. Communication competence, leadership behaviors, and employee outcomes in supervisor-employee relationships. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 78(3), pp.336-354.

Milhem, M., Muda, H. and Khalil, A., 2019. The effect of perceived transformational leadership style on employee engagement: The mediating effect of Leader’s emotional intelligence. Foundations of Management, 11(1), pp.33-42.

Montenegro, M.B., do Nascimento, M.A. and de Melo Neto, O.C., 2015. Expatriation and the framework for anticipatory adjustment: An empirical study. CONNEXIO-ISSN 2236-8760, 4(2), pp.177-194.

Musasizi, Y. Aarakit, S. and Mwesigwa, R. (2016), Expatriate capabilities, knowledge transfer and competitive advantage of the foreign direct investments in Uganda’s service sector, International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 4 (2), pp. 130-143.