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This paper seeks to review and explore the relatively neglected notion of the adjustment of expatriate families to living abroad with the aim of developing a new model that can be used for future research.

The paper draws on the few studies of the topic that have been carried out, but widens the search to include evidence from the related adjustment and family stress literature to create a new model of the process. Using the ideas of stressors, strains and hassles, capabilities, and shared meanings, the paper examines the situation of the expatriate family and explores how families can adjust to life in another country.

By adopting a salutogenic approach and incorporating insights from these other literatures, the paper shows that family adaptation is a complex and many‐faceted process. It is a process that greater awareness on the part of the family and the organization can improve.

With the help of the model of family adjustment the paper points to systematic gaps in studies on expatriate families and outlines a consequent research agenda.

Awareness is a crucial element in adjustment. The paper shows that awareness by the family can alleviate problems, and that organizations employing members of the family can assist in the adjustment process for the family.

The contribution of the paper comes in its attempt to encompass what is known about expatriate family adaptation directly with a wider view of family adjustment. This provides both a practical framework for future research and some practical implications.

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 purpose of this article is to provide a systematic literature review of research on non-traditional expatriates (NTEs) and an agenda for future research.

The systematic literature review of NTEs 2010–2020 followed Moher et al.'s flow chart approach to undertaking a systematic literature review and included research on various categories of NTEs.

The article explains how the author developed an interest in NTEs and provides a brief distillation of the author's research on NTEs and its key contributions. The article then presents the findings of the systematic literature review of NTEs and highlights the key aspects and contributions of this research. The article examines the strengths and weaknesses of the body of research, how it relates to global mobility research broadly and presents some issues for future literature reviews.

The article highlights the limited research undertaken on some types of NTEs and issues of construct definition. The article presents issues for future research on NTEs including examining a wider range of NTEs, the impact of changing locations for NTEs, identity and intersectionality of NTEs, and methodological issues within NTE research. Moreover, the call for future research suggests the need for greater construct clarity including proposing a new term to define this group, namely, minority expatriates.

The article is original in terms of building on earlier examinations of NTEs to provide a systematic literature review of NTEs 2010–2020 and an extensive agenda for further research in the field.

International relocation is undoubtedly a source of stress for families, and in particular for married couples. Yet, despite familial challenges and the fact that “family concerns” remain a top reason for assignment refusal and assignment failure, including a growing body of anecdotal evidence suggesting that many expatriate marriages fail often at huge cost to organizations, there is not one academic study yet published on expatriate divorce. The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the causes and consequences of expatriate divorce.

In this exploratory case-based study, the author uses respondent data from 13 face-to-face interviews and 25 online survey participants.

Findings demonstrate that expatriate marriages end in divorce for two main reasons: first, a core issue in the marriage that exists before going abroad (e.g. alcoholism, mental health problems) and which continues while abroad; and second, when one or both spouses is negatively influenced by an expatriate culture to such an extent that a form of “group think” results in polarizing behavior that is counter to how they might behave “back home” (e.g. infidelity, sexual misconduct). The consequences of divorce for expatriates are immense and include bankruptcy, destitution, homelessness, depression, psychophysiological illness, alienation from children, and suicide.

Data are cross-sectional and findings are limited by single-response bias. Future studies would do well to research matched samples of couples engaging in global work experiences over different points in time in order to track longitudinal changes in marital quality, including why some go on to divorce while others recover from marital breakdown and stay married.

One of the strongest pieces of advice offered by most of the respondents is for spouses, and trailing spouses in particular, to know their legal rights and entitlements in each country where they are living in the event of divorce.

This is the first study to empirically explore the lived experience of expatriate divorce.

Korean educational migrant (kirogi) families have received widespread popular attention due to their ironic form of family that sacrifices the togetherness of a family. Recent trends suggest that this practice is spreading to the less affluent classes and that many such families are heading to ‘new’ destinations, including Singapore. This study examines the transnational schooling and life experiences of Korean transnational educational families in Singapore. It addresses the questions, why did these families choose Singapore? Why did transnational schooling, which parents almost unanimously said that they had organised for the betterment of their children's future, lead to some families getting stuck in the destination country?

Fieldwork in Singapore and Korea was conducted between April 2006 and September 2007. In-depth interviews with both mothers and fathers who have at least one child attending public, private or international schools in Singapore, at the primary or secondary level, were conducted with 18 families. The analysis was conducted using a grounded theory approach and NVivo 7/8.

Although the Korean state's emphasis on international competitiveness and parental aspirations for their children's future upward social mobility were common motivators, Koreans in Singapore were also attracted by the relatively low cost, English–Chinese bilingualism and other ‘family-friendly’ features in Singapore. However, kirogi children had highly contrasting schooling experiences and they met with mixed success in gaining what they expected. Furthermore, many children in public schools faced demotion and other difficulties in their new school environments. Some less affluent families found themselves facing dilemmas of cross-border schooling. This study shows that transnational schooling does not necessarily operate equally favourably for participants from diverse class backgrounds. It also demonstrates that the societal contexts of reception in both the countries of origin and of destination, including the buffering institutions and reference groups and peer culture, are important factors shaping the schooling and life experiences of educational migrant children and in reconfiguring their trajectories.

Companies expend significant resources on global assignees’ success during deployment. However, the broader repatriation experience of organizational expatriates and their families, beyond securing employment, is still largely unexplored. Thus, the purpose of this paper, an exploratory study, is to describe the repatriation experience of five US Christian repatriates who returned to the USA after long-term expatriate assignments in China.

A qualitative approach was employed, and data were collected through five open-ended interviews with US Christian repatriates, focusing on their social networks and family repatriation experiences.

Upon repatriation, most global assignees received assistance with relocation and securing stateside employment but no assistance with readjustment issues for themselves or their accompanying family members. Most found repatriation the most difficult part of the assignment, and home churches were of little assistance. The findings support the deterioration of home social networks during longer assignments and extend the literature’s findings to the expatriate spouse and families.

This exploratory study addresses the experiences of Christian US repatriates and their social support through work and non-work home social networks. The findings highlight the importance of intentional efforts by repatriates and their families to strengthen their home social connections in order to minimize repatriation difficulties.

The purpose of this paper is to study the antecedents of the adjustment of expatriate children to foreign destinations. This process of adjustment is partly explained by the transformation of their identities while abroad.

This research used a mixed method approach. First, to identify the factors that affect expatriate children’s adjustment, 36 interviews were conducted. An ad hoc survey was then developed, distributed and analyzed, in order to determine the factors that really help or inhibit the adjustment of expatriate children.

Expatriate children adapt quite well, and they are mostly interested in fitting in with other children, whether locals or other internationals. Some relevant factors found to relate to adjustment were children’s social skills, their academic self-efficacy, the academic level of the school in the host country and the support received from their families.

Companies could use the results of this study in their cross-cultural training of expatriates traveling with families.

This is the first study to examine a rather comprehensive set of factors that affect the adjustment of expatriate children, using a mixed methods approach.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the perception of the work‐family interface in an expatriation context. Furthermore, potential antecedents of work‐family enrichment and work‐family conflict in the work as well as in the family domain are identified and potential gender differences in perceptions sought.

An exploratory approach was adopted. The authors conducted in‐depth interviews with 15 expatriates and repatriates that were analysed using content analysis.

Work‐to‐family conflict was perceived as a time‐based conflict, whereas family‐to‐work conflict was perceived as an energy‐based conflict. Work‐family enrichment (i.e. work‐to‐family; family‐to‐work) was perceived as a transfer of skills and mood. Furthermore, at least in an expatriation context, the work‐family interface is reflected in more reciprocal influences than are currently presented in existing concepts. In total, four potential antecedents of work‐family interaction were identified: social support at work; development opportunities at work; family social support; and family adjustment. Finally, gender differences in the perception of the work‐family interface could be revealed.

First, the interviews were analysed solely by one person; consequently, inter‐rater‐reliability could not be tested. Second, a direct relationship between each potential antecedent and work‐family interaction can only be hypothesized.

The findings enable companies to implement support strategies that foster a positive interaction between the work and the family domain which, in turn, will enhance expatriation success.

The study provides one of the first exploratory examinations of the perception of the complete work‐family interface in an expatriation context. Furthermore, this is one of the few studies that include female and male international assignees in the sample and therefore can give a balanced perspective of the work‐family interface among male and female assignees.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the health-related well-being of public sector expatriates paying particular attention to the family situation.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among the entire staff of the German Foreign Service (GFS), resulting in a response rate of 35.5 percent (analytical sample n=1,390). Partnership status, childlessness, and experiences of partnership break-ups were analyzed by gender and by age. Using OLS regression, the authors examine how gender and individual perceptions of conflict between international relocation and family stability and formation contribute to subjective well-being.

The results show that females are significantly over-represented among GFS employees who experience partnership instability as well as among single and childless employees. Yet barriers to partnership and family formation appear to be increasing for younger cohorts of male employees.

Unstable families can jeopardize the well-being of employees highlighting that expatriates’ relationship and family needs are insufficiently met in high mobility contexts.

The focus on family formation challenges in non-corporate expatriation makes a novel contribution to the literature and practice of expatriate management, as the system-wide rotational staff mobility of public service institutions has received minor attention.