Pemanfaatan tenaga ekspatriat menjadi dilema tersendiri bagi manajemen, yaitu di satu sisi sangat dibutuhkan untuk meningkatkan kapabilitas organisasi terutama kinerja inovasi karyawan, tetapi di sisi lain dapat menimbulkan kerugian yang besar bagi perusahaan bila mengalami kegagalan. Tesis ini bertujuan untuk membahas tentang pengaruh peran ekspatriat terhadap kinerja inovasi karyawan pada perusahaan penyedia jasa telekomunikasi seluler di Indonesia melalui mediasi alih pengetahuan, kapabilitas organisasi, dan budaya organisasi. Penelitian ini adalah penelitian kuantitatif dengan menggunakan metode survei. Responden yang berpartisipasi dalam penelitian ini sebanyak 167 responden berasal dari 8 perusahaan penyedia jasa telekomunikasi seluler di Indonesia dengan response rate 47%. Temuan utama penelitian adalah peran ekspatriat berpengaruh positif secara signifikan terhadap kinerja inovasi karyawan melalui mediasi kapabilitas organisasi. Hasil penelitian lain adalah alih pengetahuan yang terjadi secara langsung ternyata dapat berpengaruh negatif secara signifikan terhadap kinerja inovasi. Hal ini disebabkan banyaknya alih pengetahuan yang terjadi tetapi tidak dapat diimplikasikan di perusahaan penyedia jasa telekomunikasi seluler di Indonesia. Hasil penelitian penting lainya adalah budaya yang berlaku, karena akibat akulturasi budaya, ternyata dapat berpengaruh negatif secara signifikan terhadap kapabilitas organisasi. Hal ini disebabkan budaya yang berlaku kemungkinan masih kuat dipengaruhi oleh budaya hirarki dan budaya klan yang berfokus pada perbaikan internal unit kerja, sehingga apabila berhubungan dengan unit kerja lain akan menimbukan ketidakcocokan. Kemudian berdasarkan temuan penelitian ini maka disarankan perusahaan perlu menyeleksi secara ketat pengetahuan yang akan dialihkan berdasarkan koordinasi dengan unit kerja lain; selain itu perlu dilakukan perubahan budaya yang lebih berfokus ke eksternal, lebih banyak koordinasi dan kerjasama lintas fungsional, mengurangi birokrasi, dan pemberian insentif guna mendukung kinerja inovasi karyawan; serta lebih memanfaatkan peran ekspatriat semaksimal mungkin untuk peningkatan kinerja inovasi karyawan.

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The utilization of expatriates role became management dilemma because on one side expatriates were needed to lever organization capabilities especially employees’ innovation performance but on the other side the failure of expatriates could make a huge cost for organization. The purpose of this thesis is examine the influence of expatriates’ role to employees’ innovation performance at the companies of cellular telecommunications service provider in Indonesia through mediation of knowledge transfer, organizational capabilities, and organizational culture. This research is quantitative research using the survey method. The participants in this study were 167 selected employees including expatriates, expatriates’ subordinates, expatriates’ peers, and expatriates’ superiors from 8 main companies of cellular telecommunication in Indonesia with response rate 47%.

The main finding of this research is the expatriates’ role significantly positive affect employees’ innovation performance through the mediation of organizational capabilities. The other finding is surprising that knowledge transfer could occur directly turns significantly negative impact on employees’ innovation performance. This is due to the number of knowledge transfer that occurred but could not be implicated in cellular telecommunications services companies in Indonesia. Another surprising result is that there are cultural influences, as a result of acculturation, could affect negative significantly to organizational capabilities. This is due to acculturation that occurs is likely strong influenced by the cultural hierarchy and cultural clan which focus on internal improvement for internal work unit, so when dealing with other work units will have disastrous friction or incompatibility.

Then from the findings of this study, there were suggested that companies need to filter the knowledge which would be transferred must be based on coordination with other related work units. Thus it was a danger impact to transfer of knowledge directly from expatriates to employees without coordination with other related work units. The other suggestion is the cellular telecommunication services provider companies need to change of organization culture over to an external focus, more coordination in multifunctional level, reduce bureaucracy, and the provision of incentives to support employees’ innovation performance, as well as better utilizing of expatriates’ role as much as possible to increase employees’ innovation performance.