While a positive relationship between the cross-cultural adaptation and job performance of business expatriates is widely assumed and intuitively plausible, empirical studies do not consistently confirm this relationship. The current quantitative study investigated expatriates sent to and from China, two hitherto neglected but increasingly important groups. The sample of more than 800 participants is considerably larger than in previous studies of other types of expatriates. The study, in the Chinabased contexts, confirms the existence of links between cross-cultural adaptation, job performance and other factors. It is also shown, among other relationships reported on here, that expatriates accompanied by their partners or family members display better cross-cultural adaptation and job performance. Length of assignment is shown -counter-intuitively -to be only weakly related to adaptation and performance, and, surprisingly, expatriation experience -often regarded as predictive of expatriate effectiveness -to be unrelated to cross-cultural adaptation and job performance. The implications of the findings for expatriate selection, training, and assignment management are discussed. Key points1 Relationship between business expatriates' cross-cultural adaptation and job performance is studied in China-based contexts. 2 The business expatriates' job performance is strongly correlated with their psychological adjustment and sociocultural adaptation. 3 Job performance and adaptation are strongly correlated with job position and presence of family. 4 They are weakly or not correlated with age, gender, length or times of assignment. 5 The findings have implications for selecting, training and managing business expatriates in cross-cultural contexts. 195presence/absence of family, length of assignment, and expatriation experience. Based on the discussion on each of these factors, the hypotheses of this research are put forward. Cross-cultural adaptationBefore reviewing the literature on cross-cultural adaptation, there is a need to clarify a number of terms. Spencer-Oatey and Franklin (2009,(51)(52)(53) point to the inconsistency in the use of the terms 'intercultural' and 'cross-cultural' in their discussion of intercultural interaction competence. They make clear that neither the conceptual nor the empirical literature here supplies a clear distinction between the two terms when used with respect to competence. The present study selects the term cross-cultural to describe the nature of the sociocultural and psychological changes expatriates undergo during their assignments in other countries because intercultural seems to suggest a greater integration into the host culture than the business expatriate may typically achieve. Cross-cultural seems on the other hand to capture better the contrast between the expatriate's own culture and the host culture. The second group of terms consists of 'adjustment' and 'adaptation' . In most cases, adjustment and adaptation are used interchangeably. As adaptation seems to be used with a...

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By looking into a group of 13 Chinese master's in business administration students’ study abroad experience in the United States, this study contends that being situated in the second language (L2) communicative context does not guarantee international students complete access to language and cultural resources in the host society. Due to limited communicative skills and cultural competence in the target language and culture, L2 learners are at a disadvantage to negotiate symbolic power in the host country, which may mediate their opportunities to gain learning resources and academic recognition. How the students negotiate in the academic contexts to balance and counterbalance unequal power relationships strongly influences their access to already limited host culture language resources. The study addresses the issues in communicative difficulties encountered by the international students, and proposes recommendations on what can be done to facilitate the students’ academic and sociocultural adjustment.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate Chinese and American financial companies’ distinct brand personality indicators shown through culturally based linguistic features online. The potential correlation between culturally oriented brand personalities and companies’ financial performance is also examined. Design/methodology/approach This study employs computerized content analyses to examine the cross-cultural differences among 28 American and Chinese financial companies’ online communication based on Aaker’s brand personality framework. Findings The findings reveal that despite some similarities, there are significant differences between the frequencies and patterns of brand personality indicators on American and Chinese websites, which demonstrate the connection between the companies’ linguistic preferences with their different cultural backgrounds. It also proves that there could be significant relationship between financial companies’ corporate brand (CB) personality expressions and their financial performance, and US financial companies’ revenues are more closely correlated with brand personality dimensions than Chinese companies’. Practical implications The necessity for cross-cultural adaptation of CB personality is verified in this study. Chinese international companies may have a big room to improve their online corporate communication. Similarly, foreign companies who intend to enter into Chinese market may think about laying emphasis on their personality indicators of competence in their online corporate communication. Originality/value This research is among the first to utilize a corpus-based analytical tool to conduct content analyses of financial companies’ online brand personalities, in addition to empirically validate the correlations between companies’ brand personality indicators and financial performance. The study enriches the literature on online marketing communication, draws attention to the connection between cultural differences and linguistic preferences in CB personality construction and emphasizes the importance of making appropriate cross-cultural adaptation in online corporate communication.

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