Do You Have What It Takes? Political Skills and Adjustment of Self-initiated Expatriates

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the influences of self-initiated expatriates’ core self-evaluations on their cross-cultural adjustment. In addition, we theorize and test the role of self-initiated expatriates’ political skills as a mechanism explaining these influences. We find that among the core self-evaluations only emotional stability is consistently and positively associated with general living, interactional and work adjustment. Other self-evaluations, with the exception of the effect of locus of control on work adjustment, do not exhibit significant associations. At the same time, self-initiated expatriates’ locus of control and self-esteem appear to be conducive to the development of their political skills. Ultimately, expatriates’ political skills mediate, via indirect and complementary effects, the relationships between their locus of control and self-esteem, on the one hand, and general living and work adjustment, on the other hand. Overall, the study is among the first ones to shed light on the role...