Expatriates in China: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

This paper reviews the literature on expatriate managers and expatriate management in China that has been published since 1990, examining the major findings. The literature is divided into three categories: first, papers which generally describe issues related to the deployment of expatriates in China, their circumstances there and the challenges they face; second, research which has examined the adaptation of individual managers and their families to living and working in China; and, third, studies which focus on strategic human resource management matters, such as localization. The paper critically assesses the contributions made by these studies, both to theory and to management practice. Several gaps are identified which might be addressed by future research. Show more