Search results

The purpose of this paper is to provide an instrument to measure the dimensionality of Indian expatriate adjustment.

In an effort to measure the dimensionality of Indian expatriate adjustment in the USA, Black's instrument was used in this paper.

The factor analysis gave a different factor structure from that proposed by Black. Expatriate scores did not merge into three dimensions of expatriates' adjustment; rather they merged into two dimensions. Unlike Black's study, interaction with host nationals was not found to be a separate dimension. A possible explanation is that linguistic skills and the presence of Indian diaspora support Indian expatriates during their interactions with Americans.

The exploratory character of this study with its small convenience sample of Indian expatriates makes the findings tentative.

The paper is a useful source of information for students planning to make a career in international business and practitioners already engaged in international business activities.

This paper fulfils an identified information need and offers help in expatriate adjustment.

The purpose of the present study is to examine the role of the feedback environment in expatriate adjustment and subsequent performance. Based on newcomer adaptation and sensemaking theories, the authors proposed that the supervisor and coworker feedback environments would serve as informational resources, reducing the ambiguity associated with the expatriate's new setting.

This study was conducted with a broad sample of assigned expatriates (N = 95) originating from 33 different countries and currently working in 35 different host countries. Mediation analysis using a bootstrapping methodology was conducted to test the hypotheses.

The authors found that the supervisor feedback environment and coworker feedback environment were both related to expatriate adjustment through role clarity. The authors also found that the supervisor feedback environment was indirectly related to expatriate job performance and intent to leave the international assignment through both role clarity and adjustment.

This study examines the extent to which the supervisor and coworker feedback environments enable expatriates on an international assignment. Expatriates face challenges that may be ameliorated by constructive feedback practices. The authors discuss how organizations can improve expatriate sensemaking and adjustment through improved feedback practices.

Whether expatriate cross-cultural training programs significantly influence expatriate adjustment has been debated for more than two decades. The purpose of this paper is to examine a pivotal variable not yet addressed in the literature: the expatriate's perceptions of the employer's investment in the training (termed “perceived corporate training investment”: PCTI).

Completed surveys were collected from 71 hotel expatriate managers stationed around the globe.

When an expatriate manager perceives that his/her company's investment in expatriate training (PCTI) exceeds industry standards, it leads to enhanced work adjustment. Interestingly, PCTI is also found to significantly influence the expatriate's general adjustment in the foreign culture. A firm's organizational learning climate mediates the relationship between PCTI and both forms of adjustment (work and general).

It could prove informative for future research to model additional variables in these relationships, such as an expatriate's spousal support.

These findings suggest that firms should not only invest in expatriate training, but should also communicate to their expatriates the extent and importance that they assign to investment in training to foster a positive learning climate that in turn improves adjustment.

This research is the first to examine perceived corporate training investment (PCTI). Since PCTI is found to ultimately influence an expatriate's work adjustment and general adjustment, it is a key variable that should be considered by multinational hotel firms.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the behaviours described by expatriates (“what expatriates say they do”) when they are pressed for adjustment and, at the same time, they feel ethically challenged.

The authors interviewed 52 expatriates from the European Union working in Sub-Saharan Africa who were immersed in what was considered by them to be an ethically challenging context or situation while they were in the process of adjusting to their international assignment. The authors conducted a reflexive qualitative analysis between the data and existing literature.

The authors found that the feeling of moral discomfort that causes the perception of an ethical challenge is triggered by an event that contrasts with the expatriates’ notion of morals. After feeling ethically challenged, expatriates engage in a sensemaking process that is hinged in an “intended future identity”.

The authors contribute to the literature by stressing the ethical dimension of adjustment. The authors complement the normative approaches to ethical decision making in international contexts. The research identifies a set of events that are considered as ethical challenges by business expatriates.

The research opens the possibility to anticipate and manage potential conflicts, thus minimizing the probability of expatriation failure. Early knowledge about an expatriate's intended future identity can provide relevant information concerning the probable type of adjustment problems s/he will face.

The research combines two hitherto separate streams of literature – expatriate adjustment and ethical decision making in international contexts – to open the possibility of ethical adjustment. This is supported by a sensemaking process that is also grounded in future intentions, and not only in past experiences and present signals.

Researchers have been focusing on the predictors of expatriates adjustment and job performance at different levels (individual level, organizational level, and societal level) but still some of the predictors have been ignored or unclear in the expatriate literature. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of personality traits (big five) on expatriates adjustment and job performance.

In this regards, data were collected from 201 expatriates working in Malaysia and analyzed by using structural equation modelling with Amos 16.

The findings of this study indicated that personality traits (big five) which include extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism positively influence expatriate adjustment which further influence expatriate performance rated by peers. In other words, expatriates adjustment (work, interaction, and general) mediate the relationship between big five personality traits (extroversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism) and expatriates job performance (task, relationship building, and overall performance).

The findings of this study will help the researchers to further understand the importance of personality traits required for successful completion of international assignment. Furthermore, the findings also suggest human resource professionals to consider these personality traits before selecting an individual for international assignment. Finally, future research directions have been proposed.

Literature on expatriate adjustment and job performance is still at developing stage. This paper shed light on the individual characteristics which work as predictors for expatriates adjustment and job performance.

The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating effects of expatriate adjustment (work, general and interaction) between individual (previous international experience, self‐efficacy, social network and cultural sensitivity) and organizational factor (direct and indirect support) and job performance.

The data were collected from 201 expatriates working in Malaysia and analyse by using structural equation modelling (Amos‐16).

The results of the study indicated that expatriate adjustment (work, general and interaction) mediate the relationship between individual and organizational factors and expatriate performance (supervisor rated).

The data were collected from the expatriates working in Malaysian universities. There can be differences between education industry and pure business organization in terms of working environment, selection process and management support. The respondents were citizens of different countries around the world which include Asia, Europe and Middle East. Even though Malaysia is a multicultural society and expatriates from any part of the world can find themselves in Malaysia, this research did not group the respondents in terms of their cultural differences and similarities with Malaysian culture.

The findings of this study suggest that human resource managers and MNC's management should provide direct and indirect support to the expatriates and their families in terms of language and cultural training, career development, logistical assistance, family mentoring, psychological counselling, job search, self‐development and social activities. Furthermore, recruitment managers and MNC's management should consider these factors before appointing any employee for international assignment. Finally, the findings of this research suggest that better expatriate performance help MNC's to perform better in their international operations which will ultimately improve the home and host country economic situation. The better performance of MNC's in their international operations through effective expatriate performance will encourage other domestic organizations to expand their operations globally.

Expatriate literature have highlighted many individual and organizational factors which affect expatriate job performance and adjustment but the role of some individual and organizational factors is still not clear and/or ignored by past researchers. For example, the role of direct and indirect support has not been well conceptualized in past studies. In addition, only a few studies have explained the importance of self‐efficacy, cultural sensitivity and social network in expatriate literature. Furthermore, role of previous international experience has generated conflicting results in past research.

The purpose of this paper is to examine relationships between cross-cultural adjustment and stress of expatriate employees with families in a multinational corporation and identify common stressors reported during international transitions.

This study utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods through an online survey based tool. The CernySmith Assessment captured the statistical measures of objective adjustment scales along with written in, subjective stressor responses from a sample of expatriates.

Overall subjective stress level was negatively correlated with all five objective adjustment domains (organizational, cultural, relational, behavioral, and personal). Seven stressor categories (cultural, occupational, relational, historical, crisis, spiritual, physical) demonstrated statistically significant negative relationships with overall adjustment. Regression analysis indicated expatriate adjustment was predicted by spiritual, occupational, and support stressors. Write-in stressor responses provided specific expressions of individual stress challenges, strains, and hassles that support predicted relations according to the Family Adaptation and Adjustment Response model.

This study provides a snapshot of objective adjustment interacting with subjective stress for expatriate employees from a single international organization during a specific time period.

These findings provide insights to organizations and human resource development professionals as well as to expatriates and their families on how stress impacts expatriate adjustment. It also highlights the need for support mechanisms to ease transitions and reduce stressors.

The globalization of work has contributed to a great increment in cross-cultural interactions, contributing to a new impetus in the expatriates’ topic. The costs associated with the failed international missions are high, and the identification of effective adjustment strategies is of extreme importance, both for organizations and for individuals. The purpose of this paper is to identify the kind of practices that are developed by organizations and their impact on the adjustment of expatriates.

To achieve the proposed objective, a systematic review of literature (from the late 1980s to the present day) will be carried out.

Based on five articles on the topic, the results show that there are few studies that assess the impact of the types of adjustment to organizational practices, with the cross-cultural training and language training being the most common. These practices have shown a positive effect on performance and adjustment of expatriates.

The authors feel the lack of studies that have adequate indicators to measure the integration and effectiveness of the adjustment of expatriates.

The purpose of this study is to assess differences between the adjustment of expatriates in Germany and France. Most research has focused on the individual in relation to expatriate adjustment. The general conditions of the host country, however, could represent an important contextual factor that needs to be explored further.

Based on an empirical study of 130 expatriate managers on foreign assignments in France (61) and Germany (69), the authors take a comparative perspective and examine differences for sociocultural and psychological adjustment as well as time to proficiency in both countries.

The authors found that expatriates assigned to France show higher degrees of work adjustment and general adjustment than those in Germany. This was unexpected as Germany is generally described as a more transparent, open and welcoming country. Results may thus challenge stereotypical conceptions of national differences and indicate that globalization processes are gradually changing country-specific conditions.

Only scant research has dealt with expatriates adjusting to Western European countries and no other studies have compared the adjustment of expatriates in Germany and France.

Drawing on Herzberg's motivation-hygiene perspective, this study examines the factors affecting expatriate adjustment and the relationship between expatriate adjustment and subsidiary performance of emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs).

Using structural equation modeling, this study tests a proposed conceptual model based on a matched dataset collected from 38 EMNEs.

The findings reveal that perceived organizational support (POS) and family adjustment are positively associated with expatriate adjustment, while remuneration and job burnout have no significant relationships with expatriate adjustment. In addition, expatriate adjustment is positively associated with the foreign subsidiary performance of EMNEs.

This study contributes to expatriate adjustment research in the EMNE context by distinguishing motivators and hygiene factors in affecting the expatriates' attitudes toward international assignments. Empirical evidence of expatriate adjustment-subsidiary performance relationship also enriches the authors’ knowledge of EMNEs' expatriation practices.