Betwixt and Between: National and Organizational Identification of Host Country Managers Working in MNE Subsidiaries

This study investigates the patterns of dual identities of host country managers working in multinational enterprise (MNE) subsidiaries and how these patterns relate to their feelings of identity-related stress within the foreign-owned firms. Drawing on the acculturation literature, we classify the patterns of dual identities based on membership in nation and organization into four identity profiles: (a) diffuse (weak national and organizational identification), (b) national (strong national and weak organizational identification), (c) organizational (weak national and strong organizational identification), and (d) integrated (strong national and organizational identification). We submit that perceived conflict between the dual identities renders MNEs' host country managers less likely to present the integrated and the organizational identity profiles and more likely to present the national identity profile than domestic firm managers. MNEs' host country managers also identify more strongly with their nation and less strongly with their organization than domestic firm managers do. The combination of strong national identification and weak organizational identification among MNEs' host country managers exposes them to greater acculturative stress within foreign organizations. The results of an analysis of a sample of 843 Korean managers working in 19 Korean firms and 60 MNE subsidiaries in Korea corroborate our hypotheses.