Chinese expatriate employee perceptions of talent management
(English) In recent years, the global expansion of Chinese multinational corporations has led to an increasing reliance on expatriate assignments. Despite the growing strategic role of these assignees, little is known about how they perceive their status within talent management systems. This study...
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| Tipo de recurso: | tesis doctoral |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2025 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) |
| Repositorio: | UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/449618 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/2117/449618 https://dx.doi.org/10.5821/dissertation-2117-449618 |
| Access Level: | acceso embargado |
| Palabra clave: | talent management expatriation management talent identification organizational justice social comparison identity work 65 - Gestió i organització. Administració i direcció d'empreses. Publicitat. Relacions públiques. Mitjans de comunicació de masses Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Economia i organització d'empreses |
| Sumario: | (English) In recent years, the global expansion of Chinese multinational corporations has led to an increasing reliance on expatriate assignments. Despite the growing strategic role of these assignees, little is known about how they perceive their status within talent management systems. This study investigates how Chinese expatriate employees are identified by organizations and how they interpret their inclusion—or exclusion—in organizational TM initiatives based on their perceptions of organizational justice. Adopting a longitudinal, qualitative, and inductive research design, this study draws on initial in-depth interviews with 36 early-career developmental expatriates, followed by a second round of interviews with 19 selected participants within a 12-month period. Grounded in theories of identity construction, identity work, and social comparison, the study investigates how perceptions of TM evolve over time and how expatriates make sense of their talent status across global postings. The findings reveal inconsistencies in talent identification practices, including varied selection criteria across acquisition channels and a lack of alignment between organizational and individual definitions of talent. While headquarters’ classification of expatriates as “talent” serves a symbolic sensegiving function, employees perceive distributive justice primarily through the developmental resources they receive, rather than the talent label itself. Conversely, those excluded from talent pools engage in identity reconstruction and adopt adaptive coping strategies. Additional insights highlight the positive impact of inclusive TM practices and expose tensions arising from dual-track systems in host-country subsidiaries. The study also identifies several mechanisms that undermine expatriates’ talent identity construction and increase turnover risk, including excessive role ambiguity, superficial sensegiving, rigid hierarchical cultures, and insufficient intercultural capacity-building. By shifting the analytical focus from expatriate task performance to long-term identity construction and career development, this research offers novel insights into the global talent management practices of CMNCs. It contributes to the intersection of global talent management and organizational justice by contextualizing TM within Chinese organizational environments. The study calls for more transparent, inclusive, and development-oriented TM systems that account for the evolving identity and motivational needs of expatriates in international assignments. |
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