From an organizational perspective, Harzing and Pudelko (2014), for instance, claimed that English as a business lingua franca helps shorten the language distance within an MNC. Several studies (e.g., Piekkari et al., 2005) have illustrated the importance of functional language for MNCs and their employees. (2018) highlighted the contextual and practical use of functional language.
Therefore, most MNCs introduce a single functional language policy, aiming to overcome the possible problems associated with interorganizational languages and the facilitation of communication within organizations.Īccording to Luo and Shenkar (2006), functional language can be defined as “the language formally designated for verbal and written use by an MNC’s focal unit (headquarters or overseas subunit) within this unit and with the rest of the MNC network.” As Bialystok (1981) suggested, functional language focuses on the use of language for conversations, information, etc. Moreover, the lack of a common language may result in a misunderstanding between top management and general employees ( Barner-Rasmussen and Aarnio, 2011), as well as in the segregation of employees who speak different first languages. For instance, the use of multiple languages leads to tension between headquarters and subsidiaries ( Vaara et al., 2005 Fredriksson et al., 2006). The use of multiple languages can be the origin of many communication problems that occur at different organizational levels. Language, as the basis of communication, is essential to the understanding of organizational processes. When headquarters and subsidiaries are situated in different linguistic zones, multiple languages are often used by MNC employees ( Cohen and Kassis-Henderson, 2017 Vigier and Spencer-Oatey, 2017). With the development of international business, an increasing number of multinational corporations (MNCs) have established subunits around the world. The findings make contributions to both international management and language literature and organizational moral behavior literature. We tested our predictions using the data collected from 309 full-time host country employees through an online survey, and the results generally supported our hypotheses. Guided by the Social Identity Theory, this manuscript shows that host country employees’ functional language proficiency (i.e., English) enhances their unethical pro-organizational behavior through their linguistic group identification and moral disengagement. Yet, how functional language shapes host country employees’ moral cognition and behavior is insufficiently researched. The existing literature has explored the importance, adoption, and effectiveness of functional language. 2Institute of Facility Agriculture, Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Guangzhou, Chinaįunctional language has been used in many multinational corporations (MNCs) as a way to overcome the problems caused by the coexistence of multiple languages in the workplace.1Business School, Hunan University, Changsha, China.Ya Xi Shen 1, Chuang Zhang 1, Lamei Zuo 1, Xingxing Zhou 2*, Xuhui Deng 1 and Long Zhang 1†
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