SIE identity strain, job embeddedness and expatriate outcomes: within-domain and spillover buffering effects of off-the-job relationship building

Abstract

Self-initiative expatriates (SIEs) are increasingly important to the global talent pool. However, they are vulnerable to identity strain due to their self-initiative status and tendency to maintain their previous identity during temporary stays in the host country. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, we establish a resource-based model to examine the indirect effects of SIEs’ identity strain on expatriate outcomes (performance, work withdrawal, repatriation intention) through on-the-job and off-the-job embeddedness, with off-the-job relationship building as the boundary condition. With a two-wave research design, we collected data from 103 Chinese visiting scholars at 48 American universities in 2017. The results show that identity strain has indirect effects on all three expatriate outcomes through on-the-job embeddedness and an indirect effect on repatriation intention through off-the-job embeddedness. Off-the-job relationship building buffers the indirect effects of identity strain on expatriate outcomes via on-the-job embeddedness rather than off-the-job embeddedness.