Global mobility’s forgotten partner: The case for supporting host country nationals

Purpose: This conceptual article outlines a strategic and moral case for why multinational enterprises should more seriously recognize the challenges experienced by host-country nationals (HCNs), the local staff who work with expatriates in these enterprises’ local subsidiaries.
Design/methodology/approach: Using Job Demands-Resources theory (JD-R) and drawing on the limited studies of HCNs, we classify the major job demands and job resources influencing HCNs in their workplaces. From this mapping, we establish the case for getting HCN out of the ‘forgotten partner’ category. We identify pressing future research avenues and considerations for practitioners wishing to better understand and support HCN employees.
Findings: We distill three main job demands that HCNs face when working with expatriates – extra-role behaviors, productivity losses, and psychological burdens – and posit different forms of job resources that HCNs might use to effectively manage these. From this, we lay out directions for future research on HCNs, framed by JD-R, and suggest individual- and organizational-level interventions to recalibrate HCNs’ demands-resources ratio.
Originality/value: HCNs are important yet under-studied partners in global mobility. Research on them remains sparse. We infer that HCNs’ job demands are substantial and overlooked. HCNs’ personal and organizational resources to manage these are inadequately supported. This is unjustified and needs addressing. This article offers a voice that does that.