Introduction

Today’s dynamic business environment has increased the need for undertaking strategic international assignments. Each business at some point or other spreads its wings to grow (Rasmussen, Ladegård, & Korhonen-Sande, 2018). It has been viewed as a crucial tool for the companies to drive growth (Geneste & Weber, 2011). The purpose and means of establishing cross border businesses can be various. Whether gaining a competitive edge, access to new market, technology, customers or simply adding to a new line of goods, the role of international projects cannot be downplayed (Skarmeas, Saridakis, & Leonidou, 2018).

The modes of expanding business are myriad: international business expansion, mergers, acquisitions, takeovers, subsidiaries, demergers, diversification, etc. (Putzhammer, Puck & Lindner, 2020). Corporate restructuring involves rearrangement and reorganization of corporate dealings with the consent of the corporate executives to enhance the productivity and efficiency of the business (Lambert & Chan, 2018). Firms may do corporate restructuring via different modes for different reasons. Some of them include desire to reduce dependence and hence either backward or forward integration by way of investing in another function of the supply chain; increased brand exposure; increased footprint in the commerce world leading to business stability; a merger between competitors, produces a less competitive product market and cost savings from combining R&D facilities and sales forces; enhance the flexibility of the organization and reduction in bankruptcy risk (Nor & Yaacob, 2008).

The benefits derived due to business expansion can be many, however, at the same time there are several challenges such as technical challenges, cultural impact on employees, financial constraints, structural conflicts, power struggles, decision relating to retention and attrition of employees, etc. (Turnley & Feldman, 1998).

This study focuses on the cultural impact of restructuring on the employees of the organization. Employees are a valuable asset to the organization and a key to success. However, they are constantly faced with workload pressure and the uncertainty surrounding the events may lead to reduction in productivity and efficiency (Savitha & Ganseamurthi, 2020). During restructuring, the employees feel insecure about the changing priorities of the organization and the probability of losing their job and associated job features such as career progress, status or working hours. (Elman & O’Rand, 2002). The deficiency of trust between the management and employees, rumours in the organisation, disruptions and lack of effective communication on the part of the management may trigger employee turnover during the change process (Li & Scullion, 2006).

The purpose of the study is to analyse the cultural impact of restructuring process on the employees of the organization. The study examines if ethnocentrism and cultural intelligence among the employees have an impact on the employee outcome that is measured by job performance and employee well-being. It aims at understanding the essence of employee’s adaptability to foreign cultures and how can organizations encourage sensitivity among employees towards other cultures to ease the change process. Hence, through this study, the authors seek to find the answer for the following research question: how does ethnocentrism and cultural intelligence impact job performance and employee well-being?

The ever-changing business environment leaves a prolonged effect on the most valuable asset of the organization, i.e., employees. The literature gives the concept of cultural intelligence and how can it be encouraged among employees (Hu, Wu & Gu, 2019). However, a gap exists in determining the approach of an ethnocentric employee towards the cultural change. Also, the role of the corporate millennial generation in foreign culture adaptation is untapped.

Literature Review

As a company expands, employees may need to find new ways to organize themselves to unlock their true value. They may be faced with formidable challenges like adjusting to changing levels of authority, newer team members, demographics, work culture, etc. (Foster, Hassard, Morris, & Cox, 2019). The management may even try to build clarity and trust through continuous training and motivation. Despite all this, an employee may be required to adapt to the foreign culture and work style when the company expands (Conrad and Meyer-Ohle, 2019). If a company restructures in a way to involve newer members to their family, then an employee may find it difficult to acclimatize himself to a new set of ideology and style of working. This may even lead to conflicts and lack of commitment on the part of the employees. The employee’s level of ethnocentrism and cultural intelligence are taken as indicators of his foreign culture adaptability.

Ethnocentrism is the tendency to view one’s own culture as right and sometimes superior to other cultures (Stull & Till, 1994). Murdock (1931) observed that ethnocentrism is not only applicable to ‘tribes and nations’ but ‘reveals itself in all kinds of social groups, developing into family pride, sectionalism, religious prejudice, racial discrimination, and patriotism.’ People become programmed to act in particular ways that they have been trained in their cultures. The term was first introduced by American sociologist William Graham Sumner (1959) to describe the viewpoint that one’s own culture can be perceived to be central, while other cultures or traditions become less important. Ethnocentrism may lead to favouritism within the groups with regard to cooperation, and may be accompanied by hostility outside the group, sometimes even leading to intergroup conflict, violence, or support for discriminatory behaviour (Hooghe, 2008; Shankarmahesh, 2006; Onodugo, Adeleke, & Ike, 2017).

Cultural intelligence has recently been introduced as an individual’s capability to adapt effectively to new cultures (Earley, 2002; Earley & Ang, 2003; Thomas & Inkson, 2003). It has been described through various facets. Meta-cognition, cognition, motivation and behavioural capabilities are the common measures for cultural intelligence derived from literature (Earley, 2002).

Meta-cognition refers to the process individuals use to gain and understand knowledge. Cognition refers to the knowledge that the individual has gained from his education, practices, personal experience and cultures. Motivational intelligence reflects the capacity to direct the energy towards goal accomplishment and realising the importance of motivational capabilities in dealing with cultural differences. These are mental capabilities, while explicit actions are behavioural capabilities (Ang, Dyne, Koh, Ng, Templer, Tay, & Chandrasekar, 2007). It has also been observed that the higher an individual’s cultural quotient (CQ), the more culturally intelligent a person is likely to be (Earley, 2002).

High CQ would require high levels of reasoning skills, flexibility to self-concept, and inductive reasoning, etc. Cultural quotient has been identified as a key factor for success in cross-culture management. BCIQ (Business Cultural Intelligence Quotient) validated by Alon, Boulanger, Elston, Galanaki, Ibarreta, Meyers & Vélez-Calle (2016) was used by authors to test the CQ among five countries namely Austria, Columbia, Greece, Spain and United States. The most important factors for cultural intelligence have been identified as the number of countries an employee has lived in, the number of languages he/she spoke and their level of education. The elements of BCIQ have been defined as motivation, listening, communication and adaptation, cognitive preparation and global knowledge (Alon, et al., 2016; Caputo, Ayoko, Amoo, & Menke, 2019).

Model Development

The authors have conducted a thorough review of the literature and have done in-depth interviews. Based on this, the authors propose a model that assesses the relationship between ethnocentrism, cultural intelligence and employee outcome. Ethnocentrism and cultural intelligence are taken as the dependent variables and employee outcome (that is measured through job performance and employee well-being) is the dependent variable.

The ethnocentric behaviour was measured by studying the socio-psychological characteristics of individuals (Sharma, Shimp & Shin, 1995; Shimp and Sharma, 1987), ease of international mobility (Rawwas, Rajendran & Wuehrer, 1996) and demographics (Dornoff et al., 1974).

Socio-psychological characteristics of individuals were measured collectively by considering their belief system (Sharma et al., 1995), world mindedness (Rawwas et al., 1996), patriotism (Bannister & Saunders, 1978), conservatism (Balabanis, Mueller & Melewar, 2002; Sharma et al., 1995), collectivism (Ettenson, Wagner, & Gaeth, 1988) and social skills (Nishina, 1990). Belief system refers to the individual’s value system that indicates what values and beliefs are acceptable for the person (Sharma et al., 1995). It is based on a set of principles which are formed on the basis of religion, philosophy and his moral code of conduct. World mindedness indicates a person’s openness to people and cultures belonging to other countries (Rawwas et al., 1996). It reflects on the person’s capability to appreciate the cultural diversity. Patriotism refers to a person’s love and dedication for one’s home country (Bannister and Saunders, 1978). A patriotic person is devoted to one’s own country and provides vigorous support to it.

Conservative people are the ones who are narrow minded and deeply rooted in their traditions and culture (Balabanis et al., 2002). They resist and do not want to evolve with the modern times. Collectivism is when people work for social or community welfare more than their own personal gain (Ettenson, Wagner, & Gaeth, 1988). It believes in the principle of giving priority to a group rather each individual in it (Triandis, 2005). Social skills refer to inter-personal skills of people, essentially the skills that help them to establish a good rapport with others (Nishina, 1990). It includes effective communication, harmonious interaction with society and developing healthy relationship with others.

International mobility indicates the ease with which people can travel globally (Rawwas et al., 1996). It also refers to the exposure of foreign cultures and land acquired through travelling (Soderberg & Holden, 2002).

Demographic characteristics such as age, gender, educational qualification and income have been considered in the model to measure the impact of cultural change on employee outcome.

Cultural Intelligence as defined by Earley indicates a person’s ability to adapt to new foreign cultures. Cultural intelligence can be measured through three elements: cognitive, motivational and behavioural (Ang & Inkpen 2008; Earley, 2002; Earley & Ang, 2003). Cognitive element refers to the person’s ability to understand and comprehend the new culture (Earley, 2002). It is not just important to have the knowledge and understand the new culture, it is also vital to have the drive to pursue that knowledge and use it to one’s advantage. This is the motivational element in cultural intelligence (Earley, 2002). It is equally pertinent that the knowledge and intention to use it to one’s own advantage is reflected in the behaviour, and it is the behavioural component of the cultural intelligence (Earley, 2002).

Employee outcome is measured through job performance and employee well-being. Job Performance is an employee’s own perception about his efficiency and productivity in the organization. Employee well-being is studied through analysing the stress levels of employees and enquiring about their health.

The proposed theoretical framework has been illustrated in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1
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Conceptual Model

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Hypothesis Development

The authors seek to study the impact of ethnocentrism and cultural intelligence on employee outcome.

Ethnocentrism, as previously discussed, is the propensity to view one’s own culture as superior to all other cultures (Stull & Till, 1994). Ethnocentrism may lead to biasness among the employees. There is an inherent prejudice to maintain more cordial relations with people belonging to one’s own culture and put in an extra effort to get to know this lot (Hooghe, 2008). However, on the other hand, ethnocentrism may also result in hostility against people belonging to other cultures Shankarmahesh, 2006). All this may lead to conflict and negative behaviour which has the potential to impact employee satisfaction and productivity negatively.

If employees are ethnocentric in nature, then it is more likely that when they work on international assignments or work in an organization that is undergoing the restructuring process, they will want to stick to their roots or to the original culture of the organization (Thomas & Hill, 1999). Restructuring process impacts an organization’s culture and alters it. The impact may be slight or significant depending upon the strategic decisions taken by the management. So, a person who is ethnocentric in nature might resist the new culture or the altered culture in the organization and may not be able to perform well.

Thus, the authors propose the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 1

Ethnocentrism decreases an employee’s outcome when organizations expand.

Socio-psychological characteristics of a person also influences his outlook on his job. If one has a positive outlook, he/she tends to perform better (Savitha & Ganseamurthi, 2020).

Value/belief system of individuals also play a major role. A belief system that encourages to embrace and respect diversity amongst people and cultures will enhance an employee’s outcome (Karman, 2020). The employee will be more open to the new culture and will be able to adapt to the changing environment with minimal negative impact on his job performance and well-being.

Patriotism and conservatism will tend to have a negative effect on employee outcome. Patriotic employees will have a deep-rooted attachment with their national culture. If exposed to an international assignment, it is likely that such employees may not be able to acclimatize themselves to the new culture.

Similarly, conservatives are traditionalists who do not appreciate when driven away from their roots. Such employees may have trouble with job performance and well-being if exposed to a culture that they do not believe in.

Good social skills are necessary to work peacefully and intelligently with colleagues. It helps to form strong social bonds within the organization. Employees with good social skills generally have a high quality social support system that helps to ease them into the new culture (Hoffman & Tadelis, 2021). It helps alleviates one’s anxiety and apprehension if one has a good social support system.

Hence, the authors propose the following set of hypotheses for socio-psychological belief system:

Hypothesis 2

Positive socio-psychological behavioural characteristics enhance employee outcome when organizations restructure (with respect to conservatism, people skills, world mindedness, positive belief and patriotic behaviour).

International mobility, as previously discussed refers to how easily a person can travel abroad (Rawwas et al., 1996). In general, it is said to be easier for people who do not have many personal commitments and do not mind frequent travelling (Soderberg & Holden, 2002).

Moreover, employees who travel frequently are more likely to appreciate the nuances in cultural differences. They are more mindful of their surroundings when they are interacting with foreigners. Such people would do their homework before visiting a foreign country and try to sensitize themselves about their culture, etiquettes and style of living. They would not do things which might be hurtful in the foreign culture but might be considered acceptable in their own culture. Such people will find it easier to adapt and work efficiently in a diversified work setting.

Hence, the authors propose the following hypothesis:

Hypothesis 3

International Mobility enhances employee outcome when organizations expand.

Demographic characteristics also influence a person’s adaptability to a foreign culture. A well-educated employee who has knowledge of foreign language will be able to work in a foreign land or culture smoothly as opposed to someone who is not as educated and is unfamiliar with the native language of the foreign land. In such circumstances, the less educated person may be hesitant or may have some apprehensions as to how to approach their foreign counterparts.

Millennials, the young workforce, are more flexible in their approach towards corporate work style (Ng, Schweitzer, & Lyons, 2010). They have been exposed to various new cultures through social media and the internet. This generation can anticipate the changes that could be brought by a foreign assignment or a restructuring process and consequently will be better able to adapt themselves.

A good income gives one the means to travel frequently and get exposure of living with diverse people belonging to dissimilar cultures. This makes an employee more receptive to the foreign culture.

Hypothesis 4

Employee outcome is affected by education level, organization expansion plan and income level.

Cultural intelligence, as previously discussed, is a person’s capability to adapt easily to new cultures (Earley, 2002). It is a very comprehensive concept and takes into account the cognitive, behavioural and motivational aspects (Ang et al., 2007). A person who is culturally intelligent will have the requisite skills to adapt himself better in a foreign culture. Such people know how to mould themselves in anew environment and seamlessly mix with the locals and work in harmony and coordination.

A culturally intelligent person will be able to better adapt himself to the environment around him. He/she will be aware of the new culture and use this awareness in an intelligent fashion to increase his chances of adjusting to the new work environment, thereby having a significantly less negative impact on his job performance and well-being.

Hypothesis 5

Cultural intelligence positively impacts employee’s job performance when organizations expand.

Research Methodology

The study provides a theoretical framework for organizations on the impact of ethnocentrism and cultural intelligence when a business undergoes restructuring. It proposes and tests a model based on the responses of the interviewees and literature review. To grasp a better insight, a sample of 122 employees in Northern Indian were interviewed. Some of the employees were a part of long-term international assignments and some were transferred to foreign countries as a part of the change process and the rest were a part of corporates that have undergone restructuring. Convenience sampling followed by snowball sampling technique was used for the study. Majority of the population interviewed were millennials, i.e., people born between 1991 and 1996 (De Hauw & De Vos, 2010). Even though some of the participants were multilingual, the interviews were strictly conducted in English since all the participants as well as the researchers were well versed with the language.

Throughout the process of qualitative research, the authors were engaged in writing memos and preparing notes that served as an aide to learn and collate the transcripts. These memos and notes were then used to develop codes and categorize information in order to test the hypotheses. The interviews were spread over a period of two years (2019 and 2020).

As discussed, the study uses a mix of convenience and snowball sampling method. The researchers first approached employees who were a part of long-term international assignments and were transferred to foreign countries as a part of the change process and the rest were a part of corporates that have undergone restructuring. Then the researchers asked these people to refer more people who have may have faced similar circumstances.

The sample was collected keeping in mind two important perspectives-.

  • Employees who were a part of long-term international assignments either transferred to foreign countries as a part of the change process.

  • Employees who were a part of corporates that have undergone restructuring.

Convenience sampling is also referred to as grab sampling, incidental sampling, or opportunity sampling. It is a non-probability sampling technique used by researchers to gather market research data from a pool of respondents who are conveniently accessible. The researchers first used convenience sampling and approached those employees who they know and have been a part of long term international assignments or have been part of organizations that have undergone restructuring. From this sample, more references of employees who have faced similar circumstances were obtained and hence the data sampling method transitioned to snowball sampling.

Snowball sampling is also referred to as chain-referral sampling. It is a non-probability sampling method that uses recommendations from current participants to find the sample populations needed for the study. This sampling technique is generally used for cases in which the samples contain characteristics that are very specific and hard to come by.

122 employees working across 27 different organizations and 5 different sectors were interviewed across a span of two years, i.e., 2019 and 2020. A larger and diverse sample was collected to get a fair idea without any biases of the impact of ethnocentrism and cultural intelligence. Employees belonging to companies that have a presence in Northern India were sampled.

The study aimed at assessing three important perspectives -Impact of ethnocentrism based on socio psychological, International Mobility and cultural intelligence along with assessing its impact on employee outcome. Thus, the nature and scope of study was broad and was required to be in depth to avoid any biasness and inaccuracy by taking small sample. The study included collecting information from two different set of employees -those who went for the assignments and those to whom they reported to understand the outcome.

Since the nature of sectors represented and nature of organization were different, limiting sample size would have led to biasness and narrow understanding. A commonly stated principle for determining sample size in a qualitative study is that N should be sufficiently large and varied to elucidate the aims of the study (Kuzel, 1999; Marshall, 1996; Patton, 2015). A sample size should be large enough to sufficiently describe the phenomenon of interest and address the research question at hand. The goal of qualitative research should thus be the attainment of saturation.

Further along, since topical saturation was not satisfied a sequential larger sample was needed, as it had to be congruent with the conceptual framework. Moreover, two different groups of respondents who equally were affecting the study, meaning what the research wanted to know, purpose of inquiry, what was at stake like impact of ethnocentrisms and cultural intelligence on employee outcome which is significant for all organization undergoing restructuring was important in this case to be useful both for managers and employees (Patton 1990, cited in Sobal, 2001). Thus the rationale for selection of a larger sample, it was necessary to fulfil all the stated reasons (Curtis, Gesler, Smith & Washburn, 2000; Tuckett, 2004; Walsh & Downe, 2006).

With 20% of sample, the understanding on the three important constructs of the study did not achieve saturation. All the concepts were not repeated, and new themes were emerging even after 20% of sample had been interviewed, thus redundancy was not observed (Trotter, 2012). After analysing the interview with 20% of sample there was no conceptual drying and the ideas /views and response shared by respondents did not reiterate each other’s views (Trotter, 2012).

In qualitative research using saturation as salience after understanding relation between salience and the themes along with nature of respondents starts right from choosing a small sample size to larger size if the range of ideas is broader as in the current study (Weller, Vickers, Bernard, Blackburn, Borgatti, Gravlee, & Johnson, 2018). Thus, no harder rules could be applied though logic of appropriateness needs to be considered meticulously and no universally specific sample size determinants are there (Lichtman, 2010; Kindsiko & Poltimäe, 2019), and thus it also depends on the researcher “matter of judgement” based on fields retained and further need (Sandelowski, 1995).

Thus in the study, it was aimed that the selected participants should generate rich and focussed information based on the research questions to understand the phenomenon systematically (Curtis et al. 2000; Walsh & Downe, 2006).

The details of the sectors, companies and number of employees has been given in Tables 1, 2 and 3.

Table 1 Details of Nature of companies and respondents selected
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Table 2 Demographic statistics of Sample
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Table 3 Data collection (Activity Chart-Data collection)
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In order to analyse the interviews in-depth, the authors first gave a cursory reading to all the interviews to comprehend the general sentiment. Thereafter, they went through each interview in detail, and wrote memos. During this process, the authors started analysing transcripts. Then the process of coding was initiated. Initially, it resulted in data explosion; but that helped in extracting themes and make different bins to organize the data. This led to data reduction which helped segment, classify, and interpret the information content.

The process that the authors adopted for coding included the open coding followed by axial coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). During open coding (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), the authors initially labelled and classified concepts based on memos. This led to development of axial coding through which data was easily extracted and analysed.

As previously stated, the sampling and data collection was quite time consuming and took about two years (2019-20). Each interview lasted for about 30–45 min. The most time-consuming task during the whole process was collating, coding, and analyzing the transcripts. Interviews themselves also lasted for 8 months. The details are elaborated below:

Some of the sample questions asked are listed below:

  • Have you travelled internationally?

  • How often do you travel internationally?

  • How many foreign countries have you visited?

  • How many languages do you know?

  • What are your views on different cultures?

  • How adaptable you are to a foreign culture?

  • Do you miss your country when you are placed internationally for an offshore assignment?

  • How sensitive are you of a foreign culture when dealing with foreigners?

  • Does being culturally sensitive impact your job performance?

Coding method in detail- Priori coding scheme-.

As explained in the paper, the authors have done open coding followed by axial coding. Open coding is the first step. Herein, the researcher goes through the collected transcripts with a fine-toothed comb and develops primary labels for data chunks that are recurring. This is followed by axial coding wherein the researcher finds connections between the open codes. The researcher tries to find the links between the codes (Strauss & Corbin, 1998).

The authors have followed the same process.

A few examples of codes are elaborated in Table 4.

Table 4 Examples of Codes
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Findings

Ethnocentric employees tend to be very attached to the organizational culture. They get used to the culture that they are working in. When there is a change, either due to corporate restructuring or organization expansion, such employees face difficulty to adjust to their new culture. The interviewees believed such employees still try to cling to the old organizational culture and resist the modified culture. Such employees also remain stressed and are not able to perform well. Thus, the proposition based on findings is that ethnocentrism decreases an employee’s outcome when organizations expand.

Ethnocentrism thus based on socio psychological factors affects the sense of cultural adjustment largely. Oberg’s Acculturation model (1960) which states cultural shock is like an occupational disease and all have different symptoms, causes and cures. The article elaborates four different stages of culture shock ranging from behavior, etiquette, personal and familial adjustment, communication style, rejecting environment to psychological cues and symptoms of missing home culture, people, events and expecting equity in reward irrespective of differences in culture.

If the adjustments made by the individual from other country not according to expectations, there comes gap in understanding leading to ‘not understanding ‘making feel mutually insensible to each other. The nature of cultural shock difficulties may range from physical difficulties to psychological response even in learning and adjustment in multiple aspects. The solution lies in understanding each other gradually by understanding language, interest, desires, values, and concern, participating in different activities, and mutually understanding expectations, interest, and differences (Oberg, 1960).

The results of the study for socio-psychological factors are discussed below.

The belief system of individuals interviewed was observed to be in favour of equality of cultures. The use of terms ‘superiority’ or ‘inferiority’ was restrained by interviewees. Majority believed that a person, irrespective of his cultures should be respected for his contributions towards his work rather than his culture.

One of the respondents during the interview said that “I strongly believe that discriminating between cultures is sacrilegious. All cultures are equal and should be equally revered. This attitude makes your life easier in any foreign land.”

A positive inclination of belief system helped the individuals to be better at their job. Thus, it supports hypothesis 2, i.e., having a positive belief system enhances employee outcome when organizations expand.

World mindedness was relatively high among professionals. They understood the implications of foreign culture adaptability and recognized that it was required as a part of their work. They recognized that different cultures around the world have some peculiarities and they appreciated them by some meaningful gestures. Thus, it supports hypothesis 2 which aimed at identifying if positive socio-psychological behavioural characteristics enhance employee outcome during organizations restructuring.

One of the respondents during the interview stated “I travel a lot internationally and know that certain gestures are considered rude in other countries which are acceptable in our culture. For instance, a thumbs up is considered rude in Italy and as a conscious traveller I will never use that gesture there”.

There was inherent respect and a feeling of patriotism among the interviewees but not to an aggressive extent. It can be viewed as a part of their upbringing, so they could appreciate the cultural diversity, while maintaining their own identity. Thus, it does not support the hypothesis that as Patriotic behaviour decreases employee outcome when organizations expand.

For instance, one of the respondents said “No doubt, I am patriotic. I am a proud Indian. However, this does not inhibit me from accepting other cultures. Wherever in the world I am, I am a proud Indian, but very respectful and mindful of other cultures too.”

The participants were sceptical of calling themselves conservative. On the other hand, they liked to participate in inter-cultural activities and share their own experiences with others as well. However, the interviewees did share their encounters of people & their conservative behaviour which was one of the factors for their low employee outcome. In generic sense also, conservatism has a negative effect on the adaptability of a person. Thus, it supports hypothesis 2 that Conservatism decreases employee outcome when organizations expand.

For instance, one of the respondents stated that “Some of my colleagues (though few in number) are traditionalists and a bit orthodox in their thinking. I have observed that such people are unable to seamlessly adapt in a new environment since it is difficult for them to let go of certain things which they think are unacceptable but are very much a part of a foreign culture.”

A sense of collectivism was observed in three-fourths of the participants. They believed in team building and taking views of each team member into consideration. However, it had less to do with an employee’s outcome according to them. Thus, it negates hypothesis 2 and that Collectivism enhances employee outcome when organizations expand.

One of the respondents said that “It becomes essential to take collective decisions, specially involving your foreign counterparts. This way we get a diversified opinion, and we encapsulate the sentiment of both the countries”.

Efficient social skills were observed among 65.5 per cent of the sample. They also stressed on the cordial relationships between team members of different cultures which helped them to perform better on the job. Effective verbal and healthy relationship with team members created a positive workspace, which in turn enhanced their outcome. Thus, it supports hypothesis 2 d that aimed at identifying if People Skills enhance employee outcome when organizations expands.

For instance, one of the respondent stated that “Generally when I travel abroad for an assignment, I try my level best to get to know my fellow foreign colleagues. It is great to establish an informal relationship with them. This leads to a better team spirit and more cordial relations.”

Social skills dimensions are found to improve with increased cultural intelligence. Cognitive, motivational, and behavioral skills of cultural intelligence are related with emotionally expressing one’s ideas, sensitivity towards emotions, and even social control. Thus, with strong cultural intelligence social skills increase. Thus, conducting training and workshops on building cross cultural intelligence will being significant improvement in social skills for better cultural adjustment (Koç, Kenan & Turan, Mehmet, 2018).

The importance of international mobility cannot be downplayed. It was observed that global exposure increases an individual’s sensitivity towards different cultures and encourages ethno-relativism, i.e., the ability to appreciate and respect the differences in various cultures. The increased exposure to varied cultures enhanced the cultural sensitivity of the interviewees. It also helped them to be more pro-active in their areas of operations, thus supporting hypothesis 3 and it can be stated that International Mobility enhances employee outcome when organizations expand.

High global orientation and exposure was found to be balancing ethnocentrisms. Intercultural sensitivity is an important element for employees to be competent in intercultural communication. The effect of intercultural sensitivity affects ethnocentric behavior and helps in effective engagement of employees in different cultural settings. It also boosts intercultural adaptations and respect for intercultural enjoyment and interaction this also lessens psychological stress and helps in avoiding any mis adjustment. For effective team building a certain level of ethnocentrism is important but if it increases largely, it may affect perception and the criteria of judgement and perception as well.

The demographic factors like age, gender, educational background, income, knowledge of different languages, etc. have also been analysed. It was observed that a good educational background and multilinguistic ability enhanced an individual’s efficiency in work and better relationships with colleagues resulted in a stress-free work environment.

Therefore, it supports hypothesis 4, It was conveyed by the participants that the millennial generation was more flexible and involved in adapting the foreign culture as compared to the older generations. The corporate millennials represented a more ethno-relativistic approach as against ethnocentric. Thus, it is understood that as good education and knowledge of foreign language enhance employee outcome when organizations expand.

Thus, it supports the hypothesis 4. The income background of an individual had less to do with his resistance of foreign cultures, thus as stated in the hypothesis Millennials have enhanced employee outcome when organizations expand.

Job performance of employees was not impacted by his income status. Thus, partially the hypothesis was achieved but for income status it was not found to be true. Although, for informal interactions with the peer groups, a good financial support system was required. In overall perspective the hypothesis supported by review of literature a presented by model in hypothesis 4 is supported and it can be interpreted that with higher income the outcome of employees also increases when organization expands.

Discussion

Education is found to have an impact on ethnocentric behavior, with higher academic qualifications the adjustment, team behavior, productivity and commitment towards organization is found to enhance (Cecil, Thomas, & Marc, 2013).

According to Social Identity Theory the higher individuals are associated with their own individual identity and with their group and hold less favorable attitude towards the dissimilar groups as well. If talked in sense to multi-cultural theory affirmation towards self-group especially talked in context to ethnicity there are better, chances for acceptance to dissimilar groups. (Negy, Shreve, Jensen & Uddin, 2003).

Based on the Universal Research question for the study followed by the hypothesis of the study the findings of the research find application in generic population too based on previous studies. Study conducted by (Stephan, 2016) found that ethnocentric expatriates experience greater anxiety when entering a new culture and try avoiding cross cultural interactions so that they can reduce their anxiety and improve their performance as they found it deceasing their performance.

Similarly high ethnocentric expatriates have greater difficulty in getting support and feedback as they perceive host nationals to be inferior or less competent and sometimes even less credible. And thus, rejection affects team behaviour, people skills and shows a conservative attitude towards other nationals as team members. Ethnocentrism is also found affecting intercultural communication, as people high on ethnocentric behaviour judge other people based on their culture and doctrine their own perspective to assess people which in turn creates communication issues. Neuliep, Hintz, & McCroskey, 2005).

There are some fascinating observations by a report that paves way for future direction for research along with supporting the findings based on generic population. A study conducted by Deloitte on international mobility highlights one out of five international assignments are women with very modest gains in past. In terms of employee diversity LGBT employees are either not out at work or are fearful that opportunity will not be offered. Family is amongst the strongest reason of both genders for refusing international assignments. A very meagre percentage of leaders promote or encourage it as they all face difficulty in finding the right candidate.

Based on observations of three months of data it was found that both personal barriers (family issues) and sometimes fear of unknown or lack of preparation, employees don’t take up the role. Interventions suggested include - inclusive mobility training programs, inclusive leadership and bias mitigation, flexible policy, developing culture inclusivity and accountability, role modelling etc. (Report ,Deloitte- accessed from https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/Tax/us-tax-inclusive-mobility-mobilize-diverse-workforce-drive-business-performance.pdf).

Demographic factors are differently displayed when it comes to expatriate behaviour. Young members are found to be less active on problem solving in comparison to older ones that use social support. Female expatriates were found to use social and emotional support more than their male counterparts. Thus, research indicates and supports the fact that demographic factors play a significant role in expatriate management (Wurtz, 2022).

Ethnocentrism and its impact are largely dependent on culture and communication that largely decides the ways in which organization can strategically circumvent the demerits caused by it and can prepare a culture based on effectual communication model to ensure long term success. There are various theories ranging from assimilation theory which provides a foundation toa accommodate people irrespective of their differences, separation theory which focuses on situation where there is less hope on social identities and group formation and accordingly culture needs to be retuned, assimilation theory that focuses on four important attributes namely inevitability, full incorporation, lack of a positive ethnic group role and focussing on factors that lead to objectionable ethnocentrism. Thus the study conducted by (Washington, 2013) supports the finding that by understanding that cultural intelligence plays a pivitol role in employee outcome with respect to culture as well when organization expands. It is the responsibility of management to take diligent approach in shaping and building a culture that suits to organization new requirements.

Culture being a broad determinant and construct for any organization shapes the outcome of employee performance whether during organization restructuring or for maintaining an ethical work culture to ensure effective employee outcome. Study conducted by Hogler, Raymond, Christine, & Michael (2013) indicates that regional differences in United states between culture trust and ethical behavior at the workplace can be worked on base don building an ethical trust based culture and culture cognition to understand the social factors too that affect employee performance and ethical decision making. The research found that a lack of generalized trust between employees and their employer either due to improperly defined legal system or discrimination of any kind affects trust and thus impacts culture.

Another important factor that supports the role cultural intelligence and impact on employee outcome is supported by study conducted by Manuti, Spinellu, & Giancaspr, 2016) discusses how psychological contract and socialization process can be are related and factors guiding its success. The study focuses on how E.U flexicurity strategy implemented in Italy to ensure adherence to reform of labor market regulation (2012-13) introduced for call center’s matched with well-defined socialization will help in reducing the vulnerability of the temporary newcomers.

Leadership of an organization decides how well employees, or the work groups behave and produce desired outcomes at workplace. Study conducted by Islam Idris & Furuoka (2022) established relationship between role of leadership in nurturing employee championing behaviour with the role of valence if it matters during organization change which can be a strategic macro level change or a routine operational change. Based on employees working in Bangladesh Banking sector the results indicated that leadership style (transformative), valence and employee championing behaviour all the three factors related to culture and the way they are developed amongst employees decide the extent of change management.

Ethnocentrism is also found to be impacted by demographic factors and is amongst a key factor that in marketing context affects purchase intention. With globalization and its impact across giving consumer open choices for many, it has become critical for marketers to work on factors affecting perception and attitude of customers. It is found that acceptance of domestic products and purchase is larger understanding the role of ethnocentrism and it varies as per education levels wherein with more global exposure and diversity awareness it varies. With higher education levels customers move ahead to purchase foreign products as well (Nadiri & Tümer, 2010).

The extent of cultural intelligence among three-fourths of the interviewees was understood to be relatively high. In this era of internet and globalisation, familiarising oneself with a foreign culture is not a constraint. Thus, it helps in reducing the cultural shock and resentment. However, using the cultural knowledge and imbibing it in one’s own behaviour to their advantage is what makes a person culturally intelligent. Thus, the evaluation of interviews indicates that Cultural intelligence positively impacts employee’s job performance when organizations expand.

Therefore, if a person is more ethnocentric in nature, he/she will find it difficult to adjust to the foreign culture adopted by his organization thereby affecting his job performance and wellbeing. Contrary to that, if a person exhibits traits of cultural intelligence, he/she would be able enjoy his work and create a healthy environment around himself. Even when studied in context to college students it was found that intercultural sensitivity has shown impact on various cultures. There is a negative relationship between intercultural sensitivity and intercultural communication and ethnocentrism. (Chen & Guo-Ming, 2010)

The role of ethnocentrisms in organization context is found to affect organization success. Ethnocentrisms was found to negatively affect perception and factors of perception like social attraction, competence and character and it influences managerial attraction, credibility and inter personal attraction and overall managerial effectiveness (James, Neuliep, Hintz, & McCroskey, 2005).

Ethnocentrism is also found to affect the team behaviour, job outcome and satisfaction of employees, thus a multi cultured and diversity management skill helps to potentially better also the financial performance of organization (Patrick & Kumar, 2012).

Conclusion and Implication

The paper studies the impact of ethnocentrism and cultural intelligence on the employee outcome when the organization expand or undergo restructuring. The authors have proposed a theoretical model of employee outcome based on intensive literature review. Thereafter, in-depth interviews were conducted to test the model proposed above.

It was found that ethnocentrism decreases the job performance during corporate restructuring or corporate expansion as it becomes difficult for such a person to adjust according to the new environment and culture. Such employees are always faced with dilemmas of cultural fitness which distracts them from work.

Ethnocentrism gets affected by factors like socio economic status and authoritarianism but whether these factors affect performance needs to be explored by researchers in multi sectoral perspective (Heydari, Teymoori, Ali, Haghish, & Behrang, 2014).

Future research may be conducted as to how in decision making involvement can help in maintaining continuous effectiveness as the culture shock, cultural risks, and disorientation along with stress experienced being in a foreign environment can pose should be worked on which should be amongst the priority agenda of Multinational enterprises (Vincent & Adeleke, Bamidele & Nneka, Ruby, 2017).

The reason of how ethnocentrism affects job performance is also explained and can be researched further based on culture, perception of individual towards openness, organization policy of training and orientation of employees towards directing ethnocentric behaviour by providing suitable workshops and seminars to help them accepting global opportunities and management philosophies along with working on their mindsets (Patrick & Kumar, 2012).

There can be number of factors that may affect ethnocentrism among employees amongst which language one speaks also affects, based on ethnolinguistic identity theory which suggests that linguistic ostracism was associated with existing low interpersonal citizenship behaviour and high deviance as well. Research further can be conducted country specific wise to understand how ostracism t workplace can be a challenge (Bhave, 2021).

Future research with a psychological perspective of how organizational and employee experience based factors at workplace ranging from any uncertainity, fear, insecurity or anxiousness can affect work performance as anxiety can lead to losing meaningful work purpose and thus affect employee turnover intention too (Houtz, Sanders, & Lane, 2022).

A person who can observe, gain knowledge, and adapt to the changing cultural work environment is deemed to be culturally intelligent. Culturally intelligent employees generally perform better during corporate restructuring since they can mould themselves according to the new surroundings.

The study has implications both for organizations and professionals. In this decade of globalisation, the employees must be ready to take on challenges including changing work culture. If the professional is hostile to foreign culture adaptation, one should try to acquaint oneself with different cultures and have an open mind about learning and absorbing new ways and work style. Employees should seek active help of the management to be resilient. In this process of adaptation, employees might become culturally intelligent.

As for the organizations, they should try to focus their efforts on training the employees for the change process. The decisions relating to tenure of training and participants for training should be dependent on the criticality of the project to be embarked by the corporate (Bennett, Aston & Colquhoun, 2000). Timely and continuous communication of advancements in the company’s decisions relating to global endeavours is also suggested by the researchers. Moreover, workshops and interactive seminars should be organised to promote ethno-relativism among the employees.