An Examination of the Effects of Family Training on Expatriate Marketing Managers’ Performance

Abstract

According to a recent survey by GMAC, American corporations are increasingly assigning their employees to foreign markets to establish or sustain their relationships. Various reasons are cited for the increase in expatriate population such as market growth in China, globalization, knowledge and experience accumulation, and the Sarbanes-Qxley Act of 2002. Often times, these international assignments involve spouses and children. In fact, 83% of expatriates are accompanied by their spouse and 51% have children with them during a foreign assignment. Consequently, the degree and speed of family adjustment very much affects the outcome of the assignment. The present paper attempts to address an important gap in the literature by presenting a conceptual model of the relationships between family training and job performance of expatriate marketing managers. In addition, the following questions are raised in the paper: 1.Do the family members of marketing managers receive formal training prior to a foreign assignment? If yes, what types of training do they receive?2.How does family members’ training affect expatriate job performance?3.What are the manager’s perceptions of family training?4.Do the foreign counterparts of U.S. international firms differ in cultural training provided? Are U.S. firms competitive enough in preparing their expatriate employees and their families for an international assignment?