Cross-cultural adjustment and training on international expatriates' performance

Abstract

Under the important trend of globalization, enterprises are relying heavily on their expatriate employees to operate in the international market and to remain competitive. As international expatriate management is widely recognized as a vital function for human resource management, this research thus examines the influence of personality traits and training on expatriates' cross-cultural adjustment and subsequent work performance. To increase the reliability and validity of survey data collected, we employ multi-source observations from a multinational sample of 150 expatriates stationed in Taiwan and matched pairs of their work colleagues to examine the prediction of expatriates' performance. Efforts are made to avoid possible self-reported bias and to eliminate the social expectation effect via triangulation of the questionnaires. Results of structural equations models show that personality traits influence cross-cultural adjustment, and that cross-cultural adjustment positively impacts expatriates' subsequent work performance. This research further confirms the mediating effect of cross-cultural adjustment on the relationship between personality traits and expatriates' work performance. Nevertheless, training does not influence cross-cultural adjustment and work performance. One recommendation is that training given to expatriates should be improved through international human resource management.