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Forms of cross-border mobility and social capital in multinational enterprises
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 11:39 authored by Odul BozkurtOdul Bozkurt, Alexander T MohrThis paper discusses how different forms of cross-border employee mobility all contribute to establishing social ties across different units of multinational enterprises (MNEs). Despite the growing recognition of the significance of employees' cross-unit social ties in MNEs for both individuals and the organisation, the mechanisms for creating such ties remain underspecified. We contribute to closing this gap by identifying the role that an array of forms of international mobility can play in promoting employees' (cross-unit) social ties inside MNEs. We draw upon empirical accounts of the job-related international mobility experiences of 72 high-skilled employees in three leading MNEs in the mobile telecommunications sector. Guided by a framework that utilizes some of the key concepts of the debate on social ties and social capital, we discuss traditional expatriation, short-term assignments, localised transfers and business travel in terms of the structure and strength of the cross-unit ties they engender, as well as their accessibility. We find (1) that it is not only traditional long-term assignments in the form of expatriation that enable individuals to create cross-unit social ties; and, (2) that different forms of international mobility promote cross-unit social ties in variable ways and to different extents.
History
Publication status
- Published
Journal
Human Resource Management JournalISSN
0954-5395Publisher
Blackwell PublishingExternal DOI
Issue
2Volume
21Page range
138-155Department affiliated with
- Business and Management Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2012-05-21Usage metrics
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