The influence of individual, family, and social capital factors on expatriate adjustment and performance: The moderating effect of psychology contract and organizational support

Abstract

This research is conducted to get more understanding about the antecedents and consequences of expatriate adjustment. Expatriate adjustment is a very important factor for the expatriate and for the organization. As prior studies have explained that family, individual, and social capital factors significantly related to expatriate adjustment, but these studies did not integrate the antecedents and consequences of expatriate adjustment into a more comprehensive research model. Therefore, this study aims to integrate relevant research streams into a more comprehensive model of expatriate adjustment and empirically test the viability of the model. The results of this study illustrated that expatriates with higher emotional intelligence, cultural intelligence, and experience abroad can adjust more easily in the new work environment. Also, family support and family adaptability have positive influence on expatriate adjustment. Expatriates who had prior experiences on parental demand and family to work conflict tend to be able to manage these problems more easily. Furthermore, social capital and mentoring behavior are also important factors that can enhance the success of expatriate adjustment which could further influence expatriate performance, innovative work behavior, knowledge transfer, and organizational performance. Finally, this study also identified that psychological contract and organizational support as two important moderators that can enhance expatriate adjustment and success.