Abstract
Expatriates are often presented in the cross-cultural adjustment literature as a homogeneous, broad population. However, recent research that makes a distinction between organizational expatriates (OEs), those who are dispatched by their home companies to international posts, and self-initiated expatriates (SIEs), those who themselves make the decision to live and work abroad, has identified differences between the two groups. The present study compares the cross-cultural adjustment of these two groups of expatriates. Survey results of 179 expatriates in Japan show that SIEs are better adjusted to general aspects of their host country and interactions with host-country nationals than OEs. Suggestions for practice are provided.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1096-1112 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | International Journal of Human Resource Management |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2009 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank Ingmar Björkman for his comments on a previous draft of this study, and all those people who helped us to collect the data and participated in this study. Fabian Jintae Froese gratefully acknowledges financial support from Korea University (New faculty research grant, no. K0719081).
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Strategy and Management
- Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management
- Management of Technology and Innovation