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The purpose of this study is to explore how three experiential factors – perceived social support from host-country nationals (HCNs), adaptation difficulties, and attitude towards assimilating into the host culture and society – influence the generation of worthwhile feelings and the intention to pursue expatriate career opportunities in the host country among short-term studying abroad (STSA) students.

This study used data from a survey of 297 Thai students who studied in Chinese universities between 2015 and 2019. A bivariate probit model was applied due to its ability to account for the potential correlation of errors between the two binary outcome variables: worthwhileness and aspiration for expatriate careers.

Adaptation difficulties reported by students negatively impacted their willingness to work in the host country, but did not diminish their perception of the sojourn as worthwhile. Satisfaction with social support from HCNs was found to not only enhance the worthwhileness of the sojourn but also inspire students' expatriate career intentions in the host country. The study also found that while willingness to assimilate into the host culture and society primarily enhanced the worthwhileness of the trip, its effect on students' willingness to consider working in the host country was relatively weak, compared with the effect of social support from HCNs.

The generalizability of the findings from this study may be limited to country pairs that are geographically and culturally similar.

Although it is commonly believed that STSA programs help inspire students to develop aspirations for international careers or lifestyles, the specific roles of various factors in their experiences abroad have not been sufficiently studied. This study aims to clarify the different effects between social support received, adaptation difficulties experienced, and inner acculturation attitudes on both the evaluation of the trip itself and the long-term life goals of students participating in STSA programs.

Organizational embeddedness of employees who are experiencing their work as a calling is of high relevance. Understanding what promotes staying in organizations can provide benefits for individuals with a calling while at the same time helping organizations to retain those valuable employees. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate how and when experiencing work as a calling relates to organizational embeddedness (OE). Based on assumptions from the theory of work adjustment (TWA), the authors hypothesized a conditional effects model with feedback from others and role clarity as moderating variables.

For this longitudinal study, the authors collected data at two measurement time points (N = 553). To tests the hypotheses, the authors performed hierarchical regression analysis. Additionally, the authors conducted simple slope tests to calculate the effects of calling on OE, depending on the different levels of the moderators.

The results indicated that higher levels of experiencing a calling are associated with higher levels of OE 18 months later while controlling for the initial levels of OE. Additionally, the moderation analysis revealed that feedback from others and role clarity strengthened the relationship between experiencing a calling and OE. Interestingly, for individuals with low feedback from others and low role clarity, experiencing a calling was not related to OE.

Addressing recent research calls that highlight more research on boundary conditions and diverse theoretical perspectives, this study contributes to the literature on calling and organizational retention and provides a more individual and career-related view of potential predictors of OE.