This chapter was divided into four parts: conclusions, implications, limitations, and suggestions for future studies. First, the conclusion for this research and main findings were stated. Second, the implications for Taiwanese SIEs in China and companies which had Taiwanese employees in China were provided. Third, limitation of the study was explained as followed. Last, suggestions for future studies were provided for other researchers.
Conclusions
To conclude, this research was a preliminary study on four different inquiries: (1) SIEs' motivation to migrate to China for work; (2) experiences in the integration process; (3) current integration status ; (4) influences between SIEs' expectations and motivation to migrate with their motivation to integrate and integration status.
Motivation to Migrate
With regard to the motivation to migrate of the participants in this study, it was categorized into gain framing and loss framing. The participants exhibited five kinds of factors that influenced their decision to migrate: career development, financial incentives, self-exploration, family bond and quality of life in Taiwan. The SIEs considered the expatriation as beneficial and helpful due to their expectations on better future career development, financial incentives and self-exploration. They hoped to obtain or gain some improvement on their career or other aspects from going to China. Meanwhile, they also took the losses from leaving Taiwan into consideration. Family bond and quality of life were the two main factors that attributed to their loss framing. They expressed their concerns about the family in
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Taiwan, but they could not make the decision to take the family to China due to the economic and educational concerns. The findings also showed that most of them held low expectations about the living environment in China and perceived quality of life in Taiwan as one of their main losses.
Experiences in the Integration Process
Positive and negative experiences were influential to the participants' motivation to integrate during the integration process. Positive job-related experiences such as individual growth, high income growth and open corporate culture intrigued the participants' motivation to integrate into the working environment and had better job performance. Due to their higher motivation to integrate, their skills were also cultivated and improved simultaneously. As for positive life-related experiences which were divided into three section such as travel, social gathering and extracurricular activities, those experiences were helpful in bringing the participants' broader views of the life in China. Thus, it was easier for them to integrate into the society through observations, communications and interactions with the locals via social, travelling or extracurricular activities. Beside positive experiences, negative experiences also had a great impact during the integration process. Negative job-related experiences such as individualistic culture, competitive working environment, and characteristics of Chinese led to the decrease of SIEs' motivation to integrate into the working environment. Especially when they perceived their pre-arrival expectations on career or job as more important, those three job-related factors were very influential in their integration process and should be carefully handled and solved. While living in China, there were some differences and misunderstandings that contributed to their negative living experiences. The findings showed that they were influenced by some situations such as culture shock, homesick,
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loneliness, and frustration, which decreased their motivation to integrate into the society in China. They found the values and cultures were quite different from Taiwan which made some of them stop to integrate into the society and prefer to stay in their comfort zones.
Current Integration Status
The findings revealed that their current integration status could be divided into work and life context. In the work context, they perceived their integration status as career achievement, high mobility, improvement in communicating with co-workers or subordinates and familiarization with corporate culture. After the integration process, all of them had more positive integration in the working field. While in the life context, they became more familiar with local cultures and had their local social zones. However, in the life context, some participants tended to have negative integration such as staying in their own comfort zones and avoiding interactions with the outside environment due to their disappointment and frustration after the integration process.
Influences of SIEs' Expectations and Motivation to Migrate with their Motivation to Integrate and Current Integration Status
The main findings also showed the connections and influences of SIEs' expectations and motivation to migrate with their motivation to integrate and integration status. Their pre-arrival expectations were met or not influenced their motivation to integrate into the environment. As mentioned before, during the integration process, there were positive or negative incidents that could happen, and those incidents could also influence their motivation to integrate. With regard to the influence between motivation to integrate with integration status, their integration was
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mainly dependent on the positive or negative experiences which happened during the integration process. If they possessed more positive experiences and higher motivation to integrate, they achieved better integration at the same time.
According to Table 4. 13, the findings revealed that life satisfaction was lower than job satisfaction, which could refer to worse life integration. From their negative life integration, it could also be assumed as something negative which happened during the integration process that caused them to become less interested into integrating.
Moreover, from Figure 4.2, the integration process showed that their stages of adaptation was not the same as U-curved shape. The process of their perceived motivation to integrate was linear shaped and stayed at the same level, which could be helpful for us to assume what their integration would be after two years based on the level at the first month.
Implications
The integration for Taiwanese SIEs were crucial for both SIEs themselves and companies to take into consideration during the expatriation. From SIEs' perspective, before they made the decision to move to China for work, they had already been through a long process of analyzing the pros and cons. During the integration process, whatever they encountered, negative or positive, those experiences influenced their motivation to integrate, and even led to the integration in the end. Thus, their experiences and pre- arrival expectations were very important factors to look at. The researcher would suggest those who want to be a SIE to investigate more about the working and living conditions in the place they are going. Then they will have a more detailed blueprint about how the life can be and they will not possess too much or too less expectations because they have done the full research on the place they are heading to. During the integration process, the researcher recommends SIEs to try
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their best to broaden their social circle and meet more people. Although sometimes bad things can happen, it will not be so difficult to adjust if you have your local friends there to help you. According to the analysis, those who have their local social circles or local spouse or partner are usually those who can accommodate to the environment better. After those SIEs come back to Taiwan, their overseas experiences can be very beneficial for the companies. They can be the trainer for those who are going to China for work. It will be helpful for them to know how to accommodate to the working and living environments. In addition, SIEs' expatriate experience is a plus for their future career if they intend to work in multinational companies or companies in other countries.
From corporations' perspective, the researcher would suggest companies to have training before their arrival and make them prepare for the life in China. More importantly, assigning an employee to accompany SIEs during the integration process, and help them when they encountered some negative experiences. If the companies could lower the tendency of negative experiences, their motivation to integrate would be higher and so the integration. Thus, they could succeed in their expatriation and achieve better performance in work. After those SIEs come back from China, companies can assign them to be a trainer for those who are going to go to China for work. Thus, they can provide the suggestions for them and give them a more detailed idea about how the life is going to be like.
Limitations
This study adopted qualitative methods with short questionnaire for exploring the SIEs' motivation to migrate, motivation to integrate, and integration during their integration process. However, there were some limitations which were addressed as follows. First, most of the participants were working in Shanghai, thus the
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information may not be able to represent the whole Taiwanese SIE population in China. Secondly, the researcher relied on one participant to introduce other possible participants for the study. It was possible that they possessed similar opinions and points of views. Thus, the result of this research should be context-specific. Lastly, varying duration of expatriation period could possibly influence the findings.
Therefore, the results of this study should not generalize to all SIEs.
Suggestions for Future Studies
For future studies, the researcher would suggest other researchers to design a more structured and detailed scale to examine SIEs' integration process. Thus, it can provide a more informative analysis about how their integration process is. In addition, the researcher also recommends to compare between people who work in different provinces of China. The characteristics and culture varied from different provinces, and they could be influential for the integration of SIEs. Lastly, it would be important to explore more on the SIEs who have relationship or marry with the locals as the integration process and results between those who have relationships with locals and those who do not may be different.
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APPENDIX A. QUESTIONNARIE Section Ⅰ
1. Gender: □ Male □ Female 2. Age: ___________ Years Old
3. Marital Status: □ Married □ Single
4. Your working experience in the current job position:
_______ Year ________Month
5. Location of your current job (e.g. Shanghai, Beijing):_______________
6.Current job position is: __________________
7. The industry you are working in is:
□ Health/ Education
□ Information technology
□ Wholesale
□ Manufacturing
□ Retail
□ Agriculture/ Forestry/ Fisheries
□ Mass Media
□ Construction
□ Human services
□ Finance
□ Freight services
□ Other:________________
8. How long have you been in China? _______ Year ________Month
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Section Ⅱ
Questions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 I thought I had nothing to lose from leaving Taiwan before I decided to migrate to China for work.
2 I thought I would acquire a lot of things in China before I decided to migrate to China for work.
3 I have high motivation to migrate to China.
4 During the first month in China, I have high motivation to integrate into the society in terms of life and
working environment.
5 During the first 6 months in China, I have high motivation to integrate into the society in terms of life and
working environment.
6 During the first year in China, I have high motivation to integrate into the society in terms of life and working environment.
7 During the first 1.5 years in China, I have high motivation to integrate into the society in terms of life and
working environment.
8 During the second year in China, I have high motivation to integrate into
Please choose the answer that best describes your opinion.
1= Strongly disagree 2= Disagree 3= Disagree somewhat 4= Undecided 5= Agree somewhat 6= Agree
7= Strongly Agree
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the society in terms of life and working environment.
9 I am satisfied with my life in China 10 I am satisfied with my job in China 11 I achieve success in my career in
China
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Motivation to migrate
Motivation to integrate(1st
month)
6th month First year First year 6th month
Second year
Perceived Motivation to Migrate and Integrate
Perceived Motivation to migrate and integrate
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APPENDIX B. INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
1. When did you decide to relocate overseas to China?
2. In your opinion, what are the main factors affecting your decision to expatriate?
3. Please introduce your job content in China.
4. How is your working experience in China?
5. Did the company provide any support or set up any integration policies for foreign employees like you?
6. Have the working environment met your expectation?
7. How is your living experience in China?
8. Have the living environment met your expectation?
9. What played an important role in helping you to function well at work and life in
9. What played an important role in helping you to function well at work and life in