Identifying employees to represent headquarters (HQ) effectively in overseas units is a management challenge faced by all multinational corporations (MNCs). To date, management of this type of expatriate employees has accorded a central role to culture, such as understanding cultural differences, facilitating cultural adaptation and adjustment, and cultivating cultural intelligence. Although culture is a critical factor in ex-plaining expatriates’ experiences, identity offers an alternative angle to reveal the challenges that occur when expatriates interact with host country employees. In this article, we introduce ethnically similar expatriates – a sub-category of expatriates who share an ethnicity with host country employees – to showcase the role of identity, especially the interpersonal dynamics associated with ethnic similarity.

中文翻译：

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外籍人士种族相似度的双刃剑

确定员工在海外单位有效代表总部 (HQ) 是所有跨国公司 (MNC) 面临的管理挑战。迄今为止，这类外派员工的管理已将文化置于核心地位，例如了解文化差异、促进文化适应和调整、培养文化智慧。虽然文化是解释外派人员经历的关键因素，但身份提供了另一种角度来揭示外派人员与东道国雇员互动时所面临的挑战。在本文中，我们介绍了种族相似的外派人员——与东道国雇员具有相同种族的外派人员的一个子类别——以展示身份的作用，尤其是与种族相似性相关的人际关系动态。