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The authors explore the nature of commitment, job satisfaction and job characteristics, and the nature of the interrelationships among these variables concerning expatriate employees in Saudi Arabia. An examination of a sample of 504 expatriate employees reveals that these employees are, by and large, indifferent with respect to their perceptions of commitment, job satisfaction, and job characteristics. In addition, the results provide strong support for (1) the influence of job satisfaction on commitment, (2) the influence of job variety on commitment, and (3) the influence of job autonomy, identity, and feedback on job satisfaction.

Kevin Au graduated from the Chinese University of Hong Kong with a BBA and earned his Ph.D. in management/international business at the University of British Columbia. He co-founded the CUHK Center for Entrepreneurship and has been an associate director. He also serves as associate director of the MBA programme. His research interests are international management, entrepreneurship, family business, social network and cross-cultural research methodology. He has published dozens of academic articles, cases and book chapters, and served on the editorial boards of several academic journals. He has provided consulting and training for the government and business corporations. His clients include the Central Policy Unit, Hong Kong Cyberport, Ove Arup and a number of business startups and family businesses in Hong Kong.

In the opening chapter of this volume, Dave Ulrich and Norm Smallwood enlighten us with a unique perspective toward the understanding of leadership. They point out that in the past, most leadership research used an inside/out approach that studies leadership attributes (i.e., what is inside oneself that makes an effective leader). However, what matters more are the results that effective leadership produces. Therefore, an outside/in, business-values-driven approach should be adopted to match leadership to the expectations of various stakeholders, including customers, investors, organizations, and employees. The authors stress the importance of building leadership brand to better capture what stakeholders want and propose seven principles that can produce sustainable, long-lasting results from leadership development.