The Influence of the Cultural Context on Expatriate Adjustment

Abstract

While the expatriate management literature has shown the importance of the cultural context for expatriate adjustment, empirical evidence on the role of cultural distance remains mixed. We corroborate the expatriate management literature by developing a conceptual rationale for different mechanisms (underestimation effect, motivation and support effects, and complexity effect) linking cultural distance and expatriate adjustment that lead to a curvilinear relationship between the two constructs. Additionally, we introduce cultural tightness and attractiveness into the expatriate management context and posit that cultural tightness and attractiveness exert a moderating influence on the effect of cultural distance on expatriate adjustment. Specifically, we theorize that tightness negatively moderates the relationship between cultural distance and expatriate adjustment while attractiveness should exert a positive moderating effect.