The voice of the host country workforce: A key source for improving the effectiveness of expatriate training and performance

Past research in international management has generally failed to recognize the important contributions that can be made by members of a host country workforce (HCW) in achieving success in expatriate-managed operations. This study used exploratory field interviews with 47 host country human resource and middle managers in 45 different subsidiaries owned and operated by parent companies in six different countries to identify major forms of training design input from the HCW that could be beneficial for enhancing the validity of expatriate training. A taxonomy Was developed of 10 beneficial training design input categories across three HCW employee levels of operative, supervisory/middle management, and upper management for enhancing the validity of expatriate training and overall expatriate performance effectiveness. These taxonomy categories are described here with illustrations from the field interviews. (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.