Culture impact on Finnish Expatriates' work performance and leadership in China

Abstract

Expatriates as a response to the call of economic and business globalization, their work performance closely related to local branch success and headquarter investment payoff. Expatriate assigned in China encounters specific difficulties due to the uniqueness of Chinese culture. This study explores the cultural impact on Finnish expatriates’ work performance in China based on practical experience and close observation.

In this study, the existing culture theories are reviewed, and its connection to Chinese culture is exhibited. Organizational culture and leadership behavior in Chinese culture context which highly connected to expatriate work performance has been main concern in this research. Particularly, special Chinese cultural issues are explained in order to deepen the understanding on importance of Chinese cultural influence to social life and business culture. The expatriate respondents are interviewed for qualitative data collection.

Based on the data analysis, conclusion is made that understanding and possession of Chinese cultural knowledge does contribute positively to expatriates’ work performance by impacting their leadership behavior and managerial skill directly and improving their intercultural social skill which advances their work performance indirectly.