Purpose – Functionalist models of intercultural interaction have serious limitations relying on static and decontextualized culture views. This paper sets out to outline newer developments in anthropological theory in order to provide inspirations to a more dynamic and contextual approach for...

Multinational corporations (MNCs) are highly dependent on a corporate language to control and coordinate their distributed operations. However, research on the impact of language differences on intra- and inter-unit communication is still underdeveloped. In this study, we focus on corporate...

Technological developments and internationalization have made virtual communication a central part of everyday life in many larger organizations. In recent years this trend has been intensified by travel-budget cuts imposed by the global financial crisis. Accordingly, the use of virtual media...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the interrelation between language differences, media choice and social categorization in global virtual teams (GVTs). Design/methodology/approach – An ethnographic field work was conducted in a Finnish multinational corporation (MNC). The...

In the shadow of various business scandals and societal crises, scholars and practitioners have developed a growing interest in authentic leadership. This approach to leadership assumes that leaders may access and leverage their "true selves" and "core values" and that the combination of these...

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....

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to contribute to the field of diversity studies with novel insights on how language diversity and communication frequency influence dissimilarity attitudes. Design/methodology/approach – The authors examine language diversity and communication frequency...

Purpose – As opposed to the predominant belief in the West, in Chinese dominated societies there may be a positive relationship between age and perceived possession of high quality personal resources. That attitude towards old age may carry over to expatriates in Chinese societies. This may...