Does cross-cultural adjustment affect employee work commitment? Assessing the role of work factors within selected mission hospitals in Kenya

Abstract

Background Globalization has expanded the scope of business with many companies relying on the contribution of expatriates to fill skills gap in foreign business operations, transferring management knowledge, launching new operations, and coordinating activities on a global scale. Expatriates, however, face challenges that stem from cultural differences. Their commitment levels depend on how well and how quickly they adjust to the unfamiliar culture(s) of the host country. Methods This study sought to investigate the implications of work factors on commitment of expatriates working in selected mission hospitals in Kenya. It was anchored on the provisions of the Three-Component Commitment and International Adjustment theories and a randomly selected sample of 112 respondents from a target population of 156 medical expatriates. Results and conclusions The results depicted that work-related factors significantly affected employee commitment (β= -1.033, p=0.000). To conclude, we argue that employee commitment amongst expatriates can be enhanced through work factors’ cross-cultural adjustment. We further recommend setting up of cross-cultural adjustment policies for expatriate workers within the workplace, particularly in mission hospitals.