Host country nationals’ domestic cross-cultural work experiences: A new construct and linkage to socializing behaviors toward expatriates

There has been a growing consensus about the importance of host country nationals (HCNs) to the effectiveness of expatriates. This study adds to the knowledge base in the literature by introducing HCNs’ domestic cross-cultural work experiences (DCCWEs; i.e., experiences acquired in the home country, without leaving the country) as a construct worthy of attention and examining their relationships with HCN socializing behaviors toward expatriates. Based on two-wave survey data from 226 HCN participants who were working with at least one expatriate in his or her organization in Taiwan, this study finds that HCNs’ work assistance to expatriates increases their social support to expatriates. HCNs’ DCCWEs increase motivational cultural intelligence and work assistance to expatriates. Motivational cultural intelligence mediated the relationships between HCNs’ DCCWEs and both work assistance and social support to expatriates. More specifically, an additional analysis found that HCNs’ motivational cultural intelligence and work assistance to expatriates sequentially mediated the relationship between DCCWEs and social support to expatriates.