Language and ethnicity in international management

Purpose – Managing people in a multinational corporation most often means, communicating across cultural as well as linguistic boundaries. Through the study of Danish expatriates in Saudi Arabia this paper sets out to investigate the use of language as related to ethnicity and group formation. Design/methodology/approach – Investigating the use of language in international settings, an ethnographic fieldwork methodology relying on longitudinal participant observations and semi‐structured interviews is applied. Findings – The relation between language usage and ethnicity is discussed with regard to cross‐cultural management. Based on a case of Danish expatriates, language can be identified as linked to social strategies of inclusion and exclusion. Practical implications – The analysis indicates that language use should be conceived as a dynamic process linked to social strategies facilitating categorization of groups in the struggle for resources and recognition. It is recommended that the character of language as linked to social strategies is taken into account in international business. Ignoring the important role of language in multinational corporations may lead to loss of resources and hindrances to organizational and managerial development due to the lack of communication and knowledge sharing. Originality/value – By applying a process‐oriented theoretical perspective combined with an iterative data collection, new insights into the social dynamics of language use in multinational corporations are provided.