Ursula Schinzel

(University of Liverpool, UK)

 

 

Abstract: The purpose of this research is to investigate how expatriates, their spouses and family coming for work to Luxembourg, can cope with cultural and linguistic specificities. It further investigates, how, with increasing global mobility, the cultural and linguistic characteristics of Luxembourg may influence the tendency of human resource management (HRM) specialists in Luxembourg to utilise social networking technologies (SNT). Two hypotheses are offered. Regarding cultural dimensions and linguistic specificities, the author hypothesizes that the reluctance to use SNT is related to Luxembourg’s high score on ‘Uncertainty-Avoidance’ and that Luxembourgish language is used as an identifier. The originality of this research lies in its usefulness for expatriates, global managers, in their attempt of integration into Luxembourg. The methodology consists first of a profound literature review in global mobility, in HRM and SNT, second: interviews in 41 companies and case studies in 2 companies, and third: questionnaires in 1 company providing 134 filled-in questionnaires, evaluated in SPSS. Findings are: first: Luxembourg has a high level of “Uncertainty-Avoidance”, “Long-Term-Orientation” combined with “Happiness”, second: HR managers are reluctant to using SNT, keeping practices surprisingly mainly unchanged. Limitations are the comparatively small sample size, the data collected mainly in 2010, questionnaires collected only in one company, and the lack of a strong theory linking culture and happiness. Discussion, Implications, Future Research and References follow.

 

 

Key words: global mobility; expatriates; human resource management (HRM); social networking

technologies (SNT); cross-cultural management; Hofstede’s cultural dimensions

 

JEL code: F