THE IMPACT OF ACCULTURATION AND SOCIALIZATION ON EXPATRIATE ADJUSTMENT AND OUTCOMES

Abstract

The increasing pace of globalization and organizational competitiveness has placed immense pressure on companies to more effectively manage their international assignees (Templer, 2010). This study contributes significantly to expatriate adjustment literature by synthesizing research on two main sources of adjustment: expatriate acculturation and socialization. Specifically, culture novelty, cultural intelligence, proactivity and supervisor support were tested as antecedents of adjustment. The moderating effects of proactivity and supervisor support on the relationship between cultural antecedents and expatriate adjustment were examined as well. Data was collected from 104 expatriates who were working in Singapore. The results from hierarchical regression analyses revealed that cultural intelligence and proactivity were significant predictors of adjustment. Supervisor support was surprisingly found to have no relationship with work adjustment, and instead, significantly related to interaction adjustment. Lastly, culture novelty only had a weak association with adjustment. In addition, proactivity and supervisor support moderated the relationship between cultural antecedents and adjustment. Finally, expatriate adjustment was found to be a significant predictor of various organizational outcomes such as job performance, career success and intentions to leave. The implications, limitations and future research of this study are also discussed.