The Role of Career Adaptability and Cultural Intelligence and its Implications for Migrant Workers

Abstract

The steady upsurge of international labor migration has raised new and important questions for career scholars: how do migrant workers adjust to their new roles and environment and what accounts for their successful adjustment? In the research reported here, we invoke the fundamental principles of Career Construction Theory (Savickas, 2013) to examine whether the interactive influence of career adaptability and cultural intelligence can facilitate migrant workers’ adjustment to work and life in a foreign environment. We also examined the subsequent influence of adjustment on work (i.e., job performance and retention) and psychological health (i.e., life satisfaction) outcomes. This proposed moderated mediation model was tested with two time-lagged and multi-source field samples. Study 1 showed that migrant workers’ career adaptability promotes work and general adjustment, which in turn enhances their job performance, retention intentions, and life satisfaction. Study 2 demonstrated that the indirect effects of career adaptability on work and psychological health outcomes via work and general adjustment were stronger for migrant workers with high, rather than low, levels of cultural intelligence. Implications for research and practice are discussed along with the study limitations and opportunities for future research.