Schemata, Acculturation, and Cognition: Expatriates in Japan’s Software Industry

Abstract

This multiple case based empirical study expands the knowledge around North American software and IT workers in Japan as well as the expatriate literature and discussion of cognitive schemata in cross cultural settings. The study includes eleven individuals, nine of them in software. Evidence of selection, rejection, and adjustment of cognitive schemata found in Japan's business world is presented. Changes in schemata drive cultural adjustment and acculturation. North American software and IT workers in Japan must maneuver through unfamiliar and often complex schemata to motivate, lead, manipulate, and communicate with coworkers and partners and thereby gain success.