A comparison of expatriate-local manager communication patterns in multinational corporations in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China

This paper compares and contrasts the communication process between expatriates and local personnel in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China (Guangdong Province). The comparisons were made within the framework of the Du-Babcock and Babcock model. Preliminary results from the new interview data and a comparison to the original model are that: (1) all forms of direct and indirect communication are observed in both Hong Kong and China, (2) communication difficulties followed the same patterns in the three societies, and (3) China expatriate-local communication mirrored a pattern found earlier in Taiwan whereas Hong Kong exhibited differing patterns.