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ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

The hero's adventure: The overseas experience of expatriate business people

Osland, Joyce Sautters
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1054660024

Abstract Details

1990, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Psychology.
The sojourn literature on expatriate business people has seldom focused on expatriate's subjective experiences of the paradoxes that confront them. The qualitative exploratory portion of this study investigated two questions: (1) Do expatriate stories reflect the transformational nature of the "hero's adventure" myth (Campbell, 1968)? and (2) Do expatriates experience one or more of nine paradoxes derived from the author's own expatriate experiences? Both questions were answered affirmatively with extensive anecdotal data. The quantitative section of the study was a retrospective correlational analysis focusing on the relationship between awareness of paradoxes and a variety of cultural involvement, competence, acculturation, and effectiveness variables. The cultural variables dealt with the nature of the work, the host culture, and the expatriate's personal situation. The competencies measured were identity integration (Loevinger's ego development), incongruity tolerance (Driver and Streufert's GIAL), and social acuity (Snyder's self-monitoring scale). Ego development and self-monitoring correlated positively with awareness of one or more of the nine paradoxes. Effectiveness, measured through self-reports, was positively correlated with awareness of the powe rful/powerless paradox (feeling powerful as headquarters representative and powerless as a neophyte in understanding the host culture's norms) and negatively correlated with awareness of conflicting demands between headquarters and the host country situation.
Eric Neilsen (Advisor)
430 p.
expatriate business

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Osland, J. S. (1990). The hero's adventure: The overseas experience of expatriate business people [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1054660024

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Osland, Joyce. The hero's adventure: The overseas experience of expatriate business people. 1990. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1054660024.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Osland, Joyce. "The hero's adventure: The overseas experience of expatriate business people." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 1990. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1054660024

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1054660024
982
© 1990, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.