Intercultural knowledge management

The scope of intercultural knowledge is the study of the differences between the national and foreign cultures. This paper's main objectives are to understand how employees assigned internationally perceive the cultural differences they are faced with, the factors which influence intercultural adjustment during an international assignment and with what type of support they are provided in their home companies. Admittedly, cultural differences between home and host countries could negatively impact the success of international assignments inasmuch as the former may create a set of barriers which expatriates need to overcome. Thus, this study also examines how organisations could develop their employees' cross-cultural competencies by means of their intercultural knowledge management practices. A total of fortyfive semi-structured interviews with Portuguese international assignees (26 in Angola; 19 in United Arab Emirates), who were immersed in the host country culture for at least six months, allowed for a qualitative approach to data collection. Results from collected data suggest the process of intercultural adaptation of Portuguese assignees to the Angolan and United Arab Emirates context is not standard. On the one hand, the results emphasize the fact that there are (1) contextual factors; (2) idiosyncratic factors and; (3) factors of an organisational nature. These are the main types of factors which help explaining why international assignees find intercultural adjustment difficult. On the other hand, the study suggests that organisations should take heed of intercultural knowledge management practices which facilitate their future international assignees' intercultural adjustment. Most assignees consider the organisational support insufficient. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of the intercultural management process, and explore avenues for future research.