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This paper aims to examine the effect of push and pull factors motivating international students to study abroad as two pre-departure factors to their mobility decision; and the effect of two post-departure factors – cultural distance and academic/university environment – on international students’ adjustment.

Data were collected from 339 international students studying in Egypt. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess the effect of the independent variables on two facets of adjustment, the cultural adjustment and the academic adjustment.

The descriptive studies showed differences in level of adjustments, where the academic adjustment was higher than the cultural adjustment. Moreover, the SEM results have confirmed the significant role of all studied variables on general cultural adjustment; and all variables except for the push factors, on interaction cultural adjustment; and the effect of only push and academic environment on academic adjustment.

This paper is an attempt to extend the work on international students’ mobility via identifying the main pre-departure and the post-departure factors affecting their decision to study in Egypt and the interplay of those factors in shaping their level of adjustment. This study is among a relatively limited attempts in the field that would link push and pull motivational factors to level of adjustment and via detecting the effects on two different adjustments dimensions: the cultural and the academic dimensions; and within an under researched context as Egypt.

The extant literature on expatriate adjustment primarily highlights the role of host country nationals (HCNs) in supporting expatriates during international assignments. However, there is a dearth of research exploring the expatriates’ socialization process in establishing interpersonal relationships with HCNs. Additionally, the pivotal element of expatriates seeking credible HCN sources, fundamental for fostering these relationships for adjustment, remains largely unexamined in the context of expatriate literature. Thus, this study addresses these gaps by proposing a conceptual model to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the expatriate adjustment process.

This conceptual paper draws upon the theoretical framework of social identity theory to elucidate how socialization processes initiated by the parent organization and the expatriate shape the expatriate’s perception of HCN credibility. This perception, in turn, serves as the foundation for building a robust support system, ultimately leading to expatriate adjustment.

The proposed model explores the nuanced dimensions of expatriate adjustment, emphasizing the complex dynamics between expatriates and host country nationals during individualized socialization. This model aims to assess the credibility of HCNs in the eyes of expatriates and understand the role of the institutionalized socialization process. Further, the model investigates the influence of perceived similarity traits in the examined relationship, shedding light on the interplay of these factors and their impact on the expatriate’s adjustment to the international assignment.

The study’s findings offer practical insights for organizations looking to enhance their support systems for expatriates, emphasizing the importance of nurturing interpersonal relationships and the credibility of HCNs.

This study contributes to the expatriate literature by shedding light on the often-overlooked interpersonal relationship between expatriates and HCNs. Doing so opens new avenues for further research, offering a fresh perspective on the expatriate adjustment process.

The expatriation literature (a substantial domain of the International HRM literature) has not paid sufficient attention to the phenomenon of work engagement, which is essential for expatriate success. Equally, research on work engagement in Organizational Behavior, although extensive and mature, has neglected the context of expatriation. Our study bridges the two literature streams to examine the antecedents of expatriates’ work engagement within the distinct context of international assignments.

Through e-interviews with 27 Nordic assigned expatriates in 16 host countries, we delineate and organize antecedents of assigned expatriates’ work engagement in a framework.

We identify two clusters of antecedents – general and specific – characteristic of expatriate settings (e.g. distance to headquarters, pride in being chosen, culture, fewer distractions, success in a foreign context, adjustment, location, and language). We decompose each cluster into contextual and job-related antecedents leading to absorption, dedication, and vigor as three components of work engagement. We depict and organize the relationships in a framework.

Our qualitative study connects two bodies of literature that have remained largely independent of each other. In doing this, we contribute to the expatriate literature by presenting a comprehensive picture of antecedents to work engagement and the engagement literature by exploring engagement in a new occupational work setting, namely international assignments.

International assignments are not just opportunities for career advancement but also for personal growth and exploration. This paper, by capturing the changing expectations and success parameters across the assignments, is a timely and relevant resource for individuals navigating the complexities of international careers. In addition, the paper aims to help organizations build policies for enabling successful assignments for international assignees and managers.

Our research took a unique two-pronged approach to understanding the success parameters of international assignments. We first interviewed 16 managers to understand the success parameters they set for expatriates. Then, we interviewed 19 international assignees to explore their choices and how they defined success in their international experiences.

Our comprehensive research, based on 35 interviews with international assignees and their supervisors, reveals that an assignment's success evolves with different stages of the assignment, over the assignments that the assignees choose, and varies according to the intent of the mobility.

This paper makes a significant contribution to the field of cross-cultural management and international assignments. By discussing the evolving definition of success across various international assignments, it not only provides valuable insights for expatriates in their international careers but also to managers to build aligned policies and practices.

The international mentoring literature predominantly features traditional company-assigned expatriates as protégés overlooking other types of global talent, such as immigrants, refugees, and international graduates, who may help organizations gain long-term IHRM competitive advantages. We integrate multidisciplinary research to better understand the role of mentoring as a global talent management tool, identify research gaps, and propose future research directions.

We draw on an integrative review of 71 academic journal articles published between 1999 and 2024 to explore the role of mentoring in managing global talent (i.e. expatriates, immigrants, refugees, and international students and graduates).

We found that research has identified and examined relationships between various antecedents and outcomes of mentoring but mainly treating mentoring as a talent development tool. Less is known about the role of mentoring as a recruitment and selection tool in the pre-employment context. Mentoring is an important HRM tool that contributes to managing a global talent pool and developing existing employees.

The review contributes to a better understanding of the characteristics and processes involved in mentoring in a global context by proposing a framework that incorporates antecedents of mentoring, characteristics of the mentoring process, and mentoring outcomes. It highlights the value of mentoring as a recruitment and selection tool supporting global talent management and identifies avenues for future research.

This study aims to examine the relationship between cultural intelligence and organisational commitment and its effect on learning goal orientation and turnover intention within the expatriate society of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

A survey instrument was developed to collect data from 173 non-management expatriates employed by multinational corporations located in Dubai, UAE. SmartPLS bootstrap software was used to analyse the path coefficients and test the research hypotheses.

The results demonstrate that cultural intelligence enhances both learning goal orientation and turnover intention of expatriates. Moreover, organisational commitment partially mediates the relationship between cultural intelligence and turnover intention/learning goal orientation.

This study contributes by advancing extant knowledge with regard to cultural intelligence and organisational commitment effects on turnover intention and learning goal orientation of expatriates within a context of high cultural heterogeneity.

The study directs attention to the psychological conditions experienced and knowledge management practices leveraged by faculty in higher education institutes (HEIs) to cope with the shift to emergency remote teaching caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. By focusing attention on faculty experiences during this transition, this study aims to examine an under-investigated effect of the pandemic in the Indian context.

Interpretative phenomenological analysis is used to analyze the data gathered in two waves through 40 in-depth interviews with 20 faculty members based in India over a year. The data were analyzed deductively using Kahn’s framework of engagement and robust coding protocols.

Eight subthemes across three psychological conditions (meaningfulness, availability and safety) were developed to discourse faculty experiences and challenges with emergency remote teaching related to their learning, identity, leveraged resources and support received from their employing educational institutes. The findings also present the coping strategies and knowledge management-related practices that the faculty used to adjust to each discussed challenge.

The study uses a longitudinal design and phenomenology as the analytical method, which offers a significant methodological contribution to the extant literature. Further, the study’s use of Kahn’s model to examine the faculty members’ transitions to emergency remote teaching in India offers novel insights into the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on educational institutes in an under-investigated context.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how social capital resources (SCRs), proactive personality and perceived organizational support (POS) influence work engagement during the organizational socialization process through the lens of self-determination theory (SDT).

Drawing upon a sample of newly hired employees from diverse industries, data was collected using self-report measures. A total of 619 respondents’ data were qualified for analysis. Regression analysis and structural equation modeling with the bootstrap method were used for hypothesis testing.

Results indicate that newcomers who used effective organizational socialization tactics (OSTs) experienced higher levels of work engagement. Moreover, SCRs were crucial in shaping the relationship between OSTs and work engagement. Specifically, newcomers with greater SCRs exhibited increased work engagement, enhancing effective OSTs’ positive impact. Furthermore, proactive personality and POS traits moderate the relationship between SCRs and work engagement. Newcomers with a proactive personality were more likely to leverage their SCRs, leading to higher work engagement effectively.

This study underscores the importance of promoting social connections, organizational support, proactivity and positive relationships to enhance employee work engagement and overall well-being in the Pakistani context.

This study examines how SCRs, proactive personality and POS influence work engagement during organizational socialization, a novel area in newcomer adjustment. It highlights the importance of strategic socialization and targeted onboarding programs that enhance SCRs and proactive personalities. By integrating SDT with the cultural context of Pakistani organizations, it offers unique insights for improving newcomer adjustment and engagement.

The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between the attitudes of principals, municipality-specific aspects of reform implementation, and principals’ resistance to change.

The collected data are based on a multi-level structure. The levels of analysis are at the school level (school principal) and at the municipality level. Therefore, the research question posed in this study is examined using a quantitative multi-level analysis.

The results show that both the personal attitudes of school principals and adjustments made by the school presidency of the municipality affect the school principals’ willingness to change.

The study’s focus on schools limits the ability to generalize the results to apply to other organizations. Nevertheless, schools are an important object of study for change management research because they share crucial organizational characteristics with other organizations in the public sector.

Studies that have looked at the change reactions of leaders in the public school sector have rarely examined individual and collective factors together. We focus on both, since the municipalities in many countries have a certain amount of leeway in implementing reforms, meaning that their involvement is of central importance for a successful change process.