"Looking forward by looking back": a self/other perspective on intercultural expatriate research

Abstract

This chapter deploys a transdisciplinary critique, using Self/Other concepts from Sociology and Social Anthropology, to argue for moving beyond the mainstream Hofstedeian Cross-Cultural Management research paradigm within the business-school academe. It identifies tacit assumptions of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions and draws upon ethnographic field research of Norwegian expatriates in Hong Kong and South Korea, endeavouring to move the ontological focus towards conceptual boundary-construction and Self/Other constellations as the underlying process of identity-formation. Such sensemaking is essential for international business practitioners in the pursuit of interacting successfully across cultural boundaries in the increasingly challenging ‘new business landscape’. Future research avenues are proposed and managerial implications is discussed.