Expatriates' dual commitment: a serial multiple mediation model of workplace friendships and adjustment
ISSN: 0048-3486
Article publication date: 30 July 2021
Issue publication date: 9 August 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to advance the understanding of expatriates' psychological attachment toward both their parent company and its foreign subsidiary by highlighting how workplace friendships enhance the process of adjustment for expatriates and how these effects on adjustment subsequently translate into expatriates' dual commitment.
Design/methodology/approach
Hypotheses were tested using a sample of 187 expatriates, working in managerial positions, in subsidiaries of multinational corporations, all of whom were assigned expatriates. Serial multiple indirect effects were tested.
Findings
The results indicated that the relationship between workplace friendships and interaction adjustment was supported, but the relationship between workplace friendships and work adjustment was not supported. The serial indirect effects of international adjustment and work adjustment on the relationship between interaction adjustment and expatriates' dual commitment were supported.
Originality/value
This study seeks to fill a gap in the research literature on expatriates by focusing on the issue of workplace friendships and expatriates' dual commitment. The findings help bolster the literature on relational schemas in that expatriates' workplace friendships establish scripts for expatriates' expected outlines of adjustment in work domains. This study also provides insights relevant to the literature on social interaction and adjustment, as the findings support our theory that expatriate commitment is not directly contingent on workplace friendships but rather on the mediating roles of both interaction adjustment and work adjustment.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This study is founded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan.
Citation
Liu, Y. (2022), "Expatriates' dual commitment: a serial multiple mediation model of workplace friendships and adjustment", Personnel Review, Vol. 51 No. 6, pp. 1690-1706. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-02-2020-0072
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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