Managing Multiple Embeddedness and Expatriate Staffing Strategies: A Multilevel Investigation of Korean Multinationals

How do multinational enterprises (MNEs) organize their expatriate staffing strategies in response to varying degree of multiple embeddedness? This study investigates how MNEs configure a crucial managerial resource, i.e., expatriates, across a subsidiary portfolio embedded in diverse locations with differing scale and scope. I conduct a multilevel analysis using a dataset of 130 Korean MNEs and their 2,119 overseas subsidiaries operating 77 countries. The results show that MNEs with high multinationality and a strong home-region orientation utilize lower levels of expatriate staffing in their subsidiary portfolio, suggesting that MNEs adjust expatriate utilization based on the degrees of national and regional dispersion. In contrast to conventional wisdom, this study finds that the level of expatriate deployment has a U-curve relationship with subsidiary age. Drawing on resource dependence and organizational learning perspectives, this study reveals that MNEs utilize higher levels of expatriate staffing in their younger and older subsidiaries while maintaining lower expatriation levels in their adolescent subsidiaries. This suggests that MNEs seek to achieve differentiated fit with their multiple subsidiaries by utilizing expatriates, who play a crucial role as a regulating mechanism for headquarters and a knowledge conduit for MNEs, acting as boundary spanners.