Bizcuits | Forms of expat capital

Leanda Lee

For those move to Macau from somewhere else, those first few weeks bring an incredible array of responses – excitement and awe but also frustration and bewilderment. Most telling are the often hilarious emails and letters back home or to friends, describing the new experiences and emotions – both incredulity and incredulation.
Recently, I have been receiving post-cards from a close friend who is having difficulty experiencing expatriate life for the first time. In her previous role she had become very adept at travelling to oft-times dangerous, exotic, and also familiar destinations as part of her responsibilities running global projects and managing diverse teams. She did not expect the assignment to be much different from an extended business trip. Living semi-permanently overseas is however very different from a temporary stay.
Adapting to a new working environment or organisation, even in the same country, is tough enough: it takes time to navigate the work systems, ways to interact and the organisation chart, let alone the new work responsibilities. Learning that accepted norms in a previous workplace might build resentments in the new one is a hard lesson. It takes time to stake one’s claim to hierarchical space and build credibility.
Many expatriates are selected for key positions overseas precisely because of their success in previous roles. They might anticipate that their credibility and career reputation will easily make the transfer and that they will have the support of management. For those without much experience transferring to new jobs or organisations, the realisation that the expatriate needs to be self-reliant in the new environment can come as a huge shock. Not able to hit the ground running at the same level of productivity as having been used to can cause enormous self-doubt and anxiety. For very senior people, this can be a terribly uncomfortable time.
Human Resource decisions like hiring a high-flying outsider are based upon earlier career successes. It is about merit and the human capital calculation. Similarly, the heretofore highly successful new expatriate also believes in their own personal intellectual capital and their capacity to bring their abilities, knowledge and skills into play.
Beyond these attributes, however, there are cultural, social and organisational reasons behind success in expatriate relocations which serve to navigate constraints and obstacles that get in the way of doing a good job. Not being aware of these other forms of capital, failing to use them, and sensing inexplicable failure can risk hasty decisions such as pulling out and repatriating back to the familiar.
Expatriate role success is not just about the human capital – the “merit” side of the equation. Sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu proposed other forms of capital that are crucial. Economic capital, social capital, cultural capital and symbolic capital require concerted effort and opportunity to build in a new environment. Social capital accrues from our relationships. Economic capital can include the ability to buy trappings that are appropriate to aspirational status. Cultural capital includes appreciating local preferences for art, food, entertainment, and forms of etiquette. The power and reputation that come from applying all these is symbolic capital.
Developing these forms of capital in a place like Macau for someone new tends to detract from the work at hand for a while.
A foreign assignment can make us realise that part of earlier job success was these other forms of capital, built throughout a career and often subconsciously. They do not transfer as easily as personal intellect. However, all these are needed to succeed in a role, especially a senior one. Being good at using skills is not enough; especially not for an expatriate.