China is a highly attractive destination for foreign direct investment, especially to Australia with which it has a strong complementary commercial relationship. Although the need for cross-cultural leadership effectiveness presents a major challenge to Australian businesses operating in China, most extant studies emphasize cultural dimensions and cultural influences on expatriate leadership effectiveness. In contrast, this study investigates the importance and implementation of transformational leadership (TL), emotional intelligence (EQ) and cultural intelligence (CQ) as key components of cross-cultural leadership capabilities within the context of Australian-Chinese cultural differences. Specifically, it answers one overarching question: What key factors contribute significantly to cross-cultural leadership effectiveness in Australian businesses operating in China? Following an interpretivist research philosophy, this inductive study employed qualitative individual and focus group interviews with a final sample of 32 expatriate managers and 19 local Chinese managers working in 30 Australian organizations. The individual participants were top- and middle-level executives of Australian businesses operating in China in different industry sectors, including minerals and energy, manufacturing, consulting, building and construction, banking, legal services and education. Participants based their responses on their own experiences and observations. These perspectives were supplemented with equally important input from the focus group interviewees, who were Chinese local managers that work closely with the expatriates. Based upon the findings of the study, the researcher developed a holistic pragmatic heuristic model of cross-cultural leadership effectiveness for Australian businesses operating in China, which emphasizes the developmental process underlying the emergence of effective expatriate leadership. This model defined and categorized three sets of cognitive, attitudinal and behavioural characteristics of effective cross-cultural leaders: personal (intrapersonal) competencies, social (interpersonal) competencies and cross-cultural competencies. Because the model is pragmatic as well as heuristic, its framework provides practitioners (e.g. Western and especially Australian expatriate leaders) with an informed understanding of the complexity of cross-cultural leadership issues in China, the importance of having theoretical knowledge on this topic, and the need to be flexible and pragmatic in applying this knowledge in daily practice. Thus, the model offers Australian firms currently investing or intending to invest in China a specific strategy to assist expatriate selection and leadership development in that the competencies it contains can be used to recruit and develop suitable candidates and training criteria. Likewise, the model provides business coaches or business consultants serving Western organizations in China a comprehensive fundamental framework for developing competent global leaders. Hence, future research should concentrate on developing and validating cross-cultural leadership effectiveness in China model using diverse approaches.

Since the expatriates in management level have profound influences on the overall operation of overseas subsidiaries, it is significant for multinational corporations to understand the predictors of expatriate¡¦s entrepreneurship in cross-cultural contexts. Hence, based on 230 effective samples from expatriates in management level, this research investigates the relationships among expatriate¡¦s personality, cultural intelligence (CQ), expatriate adjustment, and international entrepreneurship, and cultural distance as a moderator. The results are outlined as follows. 1. Expatriate-oriented personality consists of high conscientiousness, agreeableness, extraversion, emotional stability (i.e., low neuroticism), and flexibility and empathy; international entrepreneurship comprises local internal initiative, external market exploitation, and venture exploration. 2. Expatriate-oriented personality has positive influences on expatriate¡¦s CQ and international entrepreneurship. 3. CQ has positive influences on expatriate adjustment and international entrepreneurship. 4. Expatriate-oriented personality has positive influences on expatriate adjustment and international entrepreneurship through the mediating effect of CQ. 5. No matter how the cultural distance is, expatriate-oriented personality is able to enhance expatriate¡¦s international entrepreneurship; in median-high cultural distance, CQ¡¦s role in international entrepreneurship achieves its maximum effectiveness; in smaller cultural distance, expatriate adjustment better promotes the performance of international entrepreneurship.

Syfte: Det finns en växande trend med ökad kulturell mångfald i samhället, organisationer och inom individer. Bikulturalism innebär specifik kompetens som underlättar ett relationsbyggande inom kulturell mångfald. Arbete organiseras dock ofta virtuellt, vilket försvårar relationsbyggandet. Syftet är att skapa ökad förståelse om bikulturella ledare och deras ledarskap i globala virtuella grupper (GVG). Hur visar sig bikulturella ledares kulturella kompetens i GVG?    Metod: En kvalitativ fallstudie som görs i en global organisation, marknadsledare inom sin sektor. Organisationen värdesätter mångfald och erbjuder en intressant kontext för studien. Studien antar ett abduktivt angreppssätt och semistrukturerade intervjuer gjordes med bikulturella ledare inom GVG. Teman identifierades från resultaten och presenteras under kategorier som kan härledas till teori om kulturell intelligens, CQ.  Resultat & slutsats: Studien bekräftar tidigare forskning (Hong, 2010) om att bikulturella ledare, tack vare sin kulturella kompetens, är bra på att bygga relationer inom kulturell mångfald. Studiens resultat visar att detta även gäller inom en virtuell kontext.  Examensarbetets bidrag: Resultaten visar att relationer byggs virtuellt genom strategier för informell interaktion. Vår studie bidrar med två nya insikter. För det första, hur mer spontana virtuella informella möten kan skapas i praktiken, vilket är relevant för organisationer som arbetar i virtuella kontexter. För det andra, en ny insikt som inte har uppmärksammats i tidigare forskning om att virtuella informella möten också har fördelar som bidrar positivt till gruppens sammanhållning.  Förslag till fortsatt forskning: Studiens resultat kan förstärkas genom studier inom andra typer av organisationer. Vidare kan kvantitativa metoder resultera i större generaliseringar av resultaten. / Aim: There is a growing trend of cultural diversity in the society, organizations and within individuals. Biculturalism means competence that facilitates relationship building in cultural diversity. Work is often organized virtually, which complicates the building of relations. The aim is to create more understanding about bicultural leaders and their leadership in global virtual teams (GVT). How does bicultural leaders’ cultural competence manifest in GVT?  Method: Qualitative case study in a global organization, a market leader in its sector. The organization values diversity and provides an interesting context. An abductive approach is used and semi-structured interviews were conducted with bicultural leaders in GVT. Recurrent themes were identified from the results and are presented under categories, derived from theory about cultural intelligence, CQ.  Result & Conclusions: This study confirms earlier research (Hong, 2010) that bicultural leaders, due to their cultural competence, are skillful in building relations within cultural diversity. The results show moreover, that this is also true in a virtual context.   Contribution of the thesis: The results reveal that relations are built virtually by using strategies for informal interaction. Our study contributes with two new insights. Firstly, how more spontaneous virtual informal meetings can be created in practice, which is relevant for organizations working in virtual contexts. Secondly, a new insight that has not been given attention in earlier research, that virtual informal meetings also have advantages that positively contributes to group cohesion.  Suggestions for future research: The results can be confirmed with studies in other types of organizations. Quantitative methods can result in larger generalizations.