Culture Shock and Job Expectations Adjustment among Nigerian Self-Initiated Expatriates in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Purpose: A great number of people in the world today, live and work outside the shores of their nations of origin. It is imperative to investigate how they are faring in the face of job satisfaction/dissatisfaction and the divergent cultural environment of their sojourn in order to correctly harness their inter-cultural usefulness across the globe. This research investigated the factors that influenced the relocation of Nigerians to the United Kingdom and sustained them there, in spite of their job experiences and culture shock.Methodology/Approach: Methodology triangulation of both questionnaire survey on seventy-six participants and six in-depth interviews was employed. Reflexivity, thick description and grounded theory were the approaches engaged in the data analysis and Interpretation of results.Findings: The findings revealed that multiple reasons like education, economic, socio-political and personal, are ‘pushing’ Nigerians from home and ‘pulling’ them to the United Kingdom. It was also discovered that the Nigerians in the United Kingdom, are experiencing different forms of job dissatisfaction and culture shock but for some salient reasons, they adjust fairly well to the environment.Keywords: Self-initiated expatriates, job expectations, culture shock, and socio-cultural adjustment.