EXPATRIATE MANAGERS LOYALTY TO THE MNC - MYTH OR REALITY - AN EXPLORATORY-STUDY

This exploratory study examines five antecedent conditions of organiza tional commitment among groups of American, Dutch, Israeli and British managers in six multinational banking corporations. Role, nationality , age, seniority, and rank are tested as correlates of the organizatio nal commitment construct among three groups of managers: Headquarters (HQ) officials, expatriate managers, and host-country managers in fore ign subsidiaries. No support was found to the widespread belief that e xpatriate managers are more loyal to the company than host-country nat ionals. Age predicted organizational commitment more accurately than d id nationality or role. Further analysis of the organizational commitm ent construct found evidence for a two-factor model: Loyalty/identific ation and involvement. Age was then found to be predictive of organiza tional loyalty/identification and nationality predicted organizational involvement. Managers' nationality could therefore be used to compare and differentiate their organizational involvement.