Cross-cultural adjustment of Hongkong and Singaporean expatriates in China: a comparative study

There has been increasing demand for ethnic Chinese expatriates in international enterprises in China. Hongkong and Singaporean expatriates are an important source of expatriate labour due to their perceived ability to bridge and integrate Western and Chinese cultures, as well as their higher degree of cross-cultural adjustment in China. The expatriate talent market in China is discussed in detail. An online survey of the members of Hong Kong and Singapore chambers of commerce in China was conducted, resulting in a sample size of 146 (71 Hongkongers and 75 Singaporeans) for this study. Quantitative techniques including t-Test, ANOVAs and Pearson’s correlations were employed. Findings of this study demonstrate that both Hongkong and Singaporean expatriate groups perceived their home cultures somewhat similar with that of mainland China, despite the fact that the cultural distance between Singaporean expatriates’ home culture and the Chinese culture is relatively larger than the cultural distance between Hongkong expatriates’ home culture and the mainland’s culture. Besides, both expatriate groups reported ‘somewhat’ successful in all four facets of cross-cultural adjustments, i.e., general adjustment, interaction adjustment, work adjustment, and psychological adjustment. These results show that the ‘Overseas Chinese Staffing Strategy’ of many multi-national enterprises in China has some truth in it. Implications are drawn for theory and practice.