When Groups Consist of Multiple Nationalities: Towards a New Understanding of the Implications

1998/03/01 by Donald C. Hambrick, Sue Canney Davison, Scott A. Snell +1
Business, Management and Accounting · Social Sciences · #Family Business Performance and Succession #Gender Diversity and Inequality #International Student and Expatriate Challenges

paper · doi:10.1177/017084069801900202

openalex publication_date 1998/03/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

International companies are rapidly increasing their use of multinational groups (MNGs), sometimes with great success and sometimes severe frustration. The purpose of this paper is to establish a conceptual understanding of the implications of multinational composition for group functioning. Moving across units of analysis, we focus first on the individual group member's characteristics as a reflection of his or her nationality, then on the effects of multinational diversity on group functioning and performance, and finally on the association between corporate policies and the use of MNGs. We close the paper with a proposed research agenda on multinational groups.

Citations

• Social identity and intergroup behaviour
• The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts.
• Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation.
• Developmental sequence in small groups.
• Exploration and Exploitation in Organizational Learning
• The Influence of Top Management Team Heterogeneity on Firms' Competitive Moves

Related

• International business, multinational enterprises and nationality of the company: a constructive review of literature
• An integrative model of multinational team performance
• Multinational enterprises and their domestic counterparts. Past research, current issues and future directions.
• How Domestic and Foreign Firms Differ and Why Does It Matter?
• SUBSIDIARY STAFFING IN MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES: AGENCY, RESOURCES, AND PERFORMANCE.