Comparing the success of male and female expatriates from a US-based multinational company

Abstract

This paper examines the differences between male and female expatriate employees along three criteria of global assignments: (1) cross-cultural adjustment, (2) desire to terminate the assignment and (3) supervisor-rated performance. Participants were ninety-eight expatriate employees from a US-based multinational organization. The countries to which these expatriates were assigned varied along the four work values proposed by Hofstede (1980). These dimensions were used first to determine which of the underlying cultural work values are associated with the number of women in managerial positions. The results suggest that all of the dimensions, except masculinity, were related to the participation of women in managerial roles. Second, these dimensions were used to examine whether these work values differentially affect male and female expatriates' success. Two work-values (power distance and masculinity) negatively affect the cross-cultural adjustment of expatriate women (compared to their male counterparts). These results suggest there are no significant differences between men and women in either supervisor-rated performance or desire to terminate the assignment, regardless of cultural values. The implications for why certain work values may negatively affect women's cross-cultural adjustment are discussed.