Causality Orientations Research Articles

The psychological mechanism of basic psychological need frustration affecting job burnout: a qualitative study from China.

Job burnout is a common issue in most professions, and it can have adverse effects on employees, their families, clients, and organizations. It is essential to address and resolve job burnout syndrome. More research is needed to understand the underlying psychological mechanisms involved in job burnout. This study introduces the concept of primary psychological need frustration to explore its impact on the psychological processes involved in job burnout. This study adopted a qualitative research methodology based on purposive sampling and convenience sampling principles. Eight grassroots senior counselors with over 13 years of teaching experience at a Chinese university were selected as the study cases. The data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and analyzed thoroughly via cluster analysis, which involved examining the text data word by word, sentence by sentence, line by line, and fragment by fragment. NVivo 11 software was used to register and code the text data. The study revealed that the subjects experienced high levels of frustration with their basic psychological needs. This frustration was evident in the coexistence of negative job characteristics and a lack of autonomy, a hostile professional environment and a lack of competence, and the negative behavior of others and relationship frustration. The study also revealed that the four types of primary psychological need frustration were strongly linked to job burnout: A lack of control motivation or motivation, the pursuit of external goals, negative behavior patterns, and the causal orientation of a controlled style. These factors positively predicted various dimensions of job burnout and positively affected the frustration of basic psychological needs. This study effectively explains the psychological process behind why individuals experience severe job burnout in a controlled organizational environment due to frustration with basic psychological needs. This study also highlights the internal causal relationship between primary psychological needs, frustration, and job burnout. This insight can help employees and organizations prevent and detect early job burnout syndrome and enhance employees' occupational well-being and organizational vitality.

Causal Discovery Using Weight-Based Conditional Independence Test

Conditional independence (CI) tests play an essential role in causal discovery from observational data, enabling the measurement of independence between two nodes. However, traditional CI tests ignore the imbalanced occurrence probabilities of node values, which may affect the accuracy of determining independence between nodes. To address this problem, we first introduce a new concept of the Node-imbalance phenomenon to describe the imbalance of node values in the Bayesian network data and analyze the influence of the Node-imbalance phenomenon on the traditional CI tests, then we propose a W eight-based C onditional I ndependence test (WCI) to improve the accuracy of CI tests in the presence of Node-imbalance. In the experiments, we verify that WCI effectively measures the dependency between nodes in the Node-imbalance phenomenon compared with the traditional independence tests, and the state-of-the-art causal discovery algorithms reduce the number of false causal orientations through WCI.

Workplace Causality Orientations Moderate Impostorism and Burnout: New Insights for Wellness Interventions in Graduate Medical Education

Theory: Impostor phenomenon (IP) is strongly linked to physician burnout, but the nature of this association is not well understood. A better grasp of the mechanism between these constructs could shed new light on ways to mitigate physician IP and burnout. Grounded in self-determination theory (SDT), the present study explores whether and how residents’ general causality orientations at work—impersonal, controlled, and autonomous—each moderate the effect of IP on physician burnout. Hypotheses: We theorized that the autonomous orientation would buffer the facilitative effect of IP on burnout, while the controlled and impersonal orientations would each enhance it to varying degrees. Method: Two hundred forty-three residents from the Universities of Saskatchewan, Calgary, and Alberta, across various programs, specialties, and years of training, completed a survey containing demographic questions and three previously validated instruments: the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale, Causality Orientations at Work Scale, and Oldenburg Burnout Inventory. We used partial correlation analyses to test our moderation hypotheses. Results: In line with what we expected, the autonomous causality orientation buffered the facilitative effect of IP on burnout, while the controlled and impersonal causality orientations each enhanced it. Conclusions: Results suggest that possessing a stronger autonomous causality orientation (and creating learning/work environments that prime it) will dampen the effect of IP on burnout, while possessing a stronger controlled or impersonal causality orientation (and creating learning/work environments that prime them) will each augment it. Findings and their implications are discussed in terms of instigating theory-informed, system-level wellness interventions in graduate medical education.

Autonomy Orientation and Innovative Work Behavior

Abstract: Introduction: Innovative work behavior (IWB) has a built-in, definitional association with elements of creativity and the provision of benefits to others within the work context. Because of the properties of IWB and the nature of autonomy, as conceptualized by self-determination theory, we hypothesized that autonomy orientation would be positively associated with IWB through the mediating role of both creativity and prosocial motivation. Aim: The study examines the relationship of dispositional autonomy with IWB and offers evidence for potential explanatory mechanisms of how autonomous forms of motivation are associated with IWB. Method: We conducted a cross-sectional study in Greece and Canada, wherein employees ( N = 528) completed assessments of causality orientations at work, prosocial motivation, creativity and IWB. Results: Autonomy orientation, creativity, and prosocial motivation were positively associated with IWB, whereas controlled and impersonal orientations were negatively associated with IWB. Mediation analyses showed that creativity and prosocial motivation mediated the relationship between causality orientations and innovative work behavior. Discussion and conclusion: Our findings extend prior research on the role of autonomy and prosocial motivation on innovative and creative behavior at work.

Not all ‘impostors’ are created equal: A dimensional, person-centered, and theory-based analysis of medical students

Purpose Research on the impostor phenomenon (IP) is rapidly growing in medical education due to its relationship with distress and burnout. How IP is theoretically conceptualized and analyzed has been inconsistent, however, which limits our understanding of results and how to act on them. We hypothesized that a person-centered analysis, in combination with a robust theoretical framework, would provide a more specific ‘profile’ of medical student IP and help to optimize supports for their well-being. Materials & methods We used exploratory factor analysis to assess the factor structure of the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS) in medical students, followed by cluster analysis to identify distinct ‘impostor’ profiles, based on the identified factors. We then used self-determination theory’s (SDT) framework of motivation to explore how students in each profile differed in their general causality orientation, autonomous motivation towards going to medical school, and psychological need satisfaction in the medical program – factors that SDT identifies as predictors of engagement, performance, and well-being. Results Factor analysis yielded three main IP factors – feeling like a fake, attributing success to luck, and discounting achievement – in line with Clance’s original definition of IP. The cluster analysis then identified four distinct IP profiles based on individual differences in these factors, each varying in aspects of their self-determination. Conclusions This study sheds light on the ways that medical students may experience IP, further reinforcing the notion that not all ‘impostors’ are created equal. Findings support the three-factor structure of the CIPS among medical students, and that most students will fall into one of four IP profiles. These profiles and their implications are discussed.

Common Relationship Between Causality Orientation and the Prefrontal Region in Psychiatric Disorders as Revealed by Diffusional Kurtosis Imaging.

Background Motivation dysregulation is common in several psychiatric disorders. However, little is known about the relationships between motivation and the regional brain areas involved. We evaluated the relationships between brain microstructural features and causality orientation in patients with schizophrenia, major depressive disorder (MDD), and bipolar disorder (BD) using diffusional kurtosis imaging (DKI) techniques. Methods Forty patients with MDD, 36 with BD, and 30 with schizophrenia underwent DKI and assessment using the General Causality Orientation Scale (GCOS). We analyzed the DKI index and the GCOS subscales. Results The psychiatric patients showed significant positive correlations between the GCOS-autonomy orientation score and the mean kurtosis (MK) values in the prefrontal regions, orbitofrontal regions, and posterior cingulate cortex. When the analyses were performed separately by disease and gender, a positive correlation was found between the GCOS-autonomy orientation score and the MK values in the left prefrontal regions transdiagnostically, especially among female patients with MDD, BD, and schizophrenia. Conclusions A similar association between intrinsic motivation and MK value in the left prefrontal cortex was suggested in patients with schizophrenia, MDD, and BD. The commonality of this association among these disorders might lead to the discovery of a new biomarker for psychiatric clinical research.

Self-Determination Theory and Workplace Outcomes: A Conceptual Review and Future Research Directions.

Adaptive workplace outcomes, such as employee work engagement, job performance, and satisfaction are positively associated with physical and psychological well-being, while maladaptive workplace outcomes, including work-related disengagement, dissatisfaction, stress, boredom, fatigue, and burnout, are negatively associated with well-being. Researchers have applied self-determination theory to identify key motivational correlates of these adaptive work-related determinants and outcomes. Research applying the theory has consistently indicated that autonomous forms of motivation and basic psychological need satisfaction are related to better employee performance, satisfaction, and engagement, while controlled forms of motivation and need frustration are associated with increased employee burnout and turnover. Forms of motivation have also been shown to mediate relations between need satisfaction and adaptive workplace outcomes. Despite support for these associations, a number of limitations in research in the field have been identified, which place limits on the inferences that can be drawn. Noted limitations encompass an over-reliance on single-occasion, correlational data; few fit-for-purpose tests of theory mechanisms; and a lack of consideration of key moderating variables. In the current conceptual review, we discuss these limitations in turn, with specific reference to examples from the extant research applying the theory in workplace contexts, and provide a series of recommendations we expect will set the agenda for future studies applying the theory in the workplace. Based on our review, we make three key recommendations: we stress the need for studies adopting experimental and longitudinal designs to permit better inferences (i.e., causal and directional), highlight the need for intervention research to explicitly test mediation effects to provide evidence for theory mechanisms, and outline some candidate moderators of theory effects, including workplace context, job type, pay structure, and causality orientations. We expect these recommendations to set an agenda for future research applying self-determination theory in workplace contexts with a view to filling the current evidence gaps and improving evidential quality.

Application of Self-Determination Theory to Substance Use and Its Treatment: A Scoping Review of the Literature

Background: Self-determination theory (SDT) may provide important insights for understanding substance misuse and treatment outcomes. However, to date, the literature applying SDT to substance use and its treatment is varied and difficult to integrate. Methods: The authors searched psycINFO and PubMed on October 26th, 2021 to identify articles applying SDT to substance use and its treatment. Eligible studies were published in peer-reviewed articles in English, on adult populations (18+), and explicitly applied SDT to the context of substance use or its treatment. Results were categorized as studies applying SDT in non-treatment or treatment settings and were synthesized within these categories by substance(s) of focus, primary outcome(s), component(s) of SDT utilized, and relevant findings. Results: The search revealed 38 articles applying SDT in non-treatment (k = 16) and treatment (k = 22) settings. Causality orientations and the basic psychological needs were the most frequently studied components of SDT. Studies that applied SDT in non-treatment settings placed a greater emphasis on causality orientations, whereas treatment studies more frequently targeted or measured basic psychological needs. Conclusions: SDT constructs consistently predicted both substance misuse and treatment outcomes in a theoretically consistent manner, however, several important gaps remain and opportunities for future research are discussed.

Innovative behavior, empowerment, and work engagement: Joint curvilinear effect on well-being

The relationship between innovative behavior and psychological well-being has been well documented. Organizations believe that innovative behavior is essential for their survival and can increase their effectiveness, promoting employee happiness. However, the causal orientation discrepancies between self-determination theory and conservation of resources theory predict the complexity of this relationship. I examined the curvilinear relationship between innovative behavior and psychological well-being, as well as the moderating effects of empowering leadership and work engagement on this relationship. Analysis revealed an inverted U-shaped relationship between innovative behavior and psychological well-being, which was strengthened by empowering leadership and work engagement. Furthermore, psychological well-being positively influenced in-role performance. By revealing the effects on performance, this study contributes to the literature on innovation and positive organizational behavior, and provides practical implications and suggestions for future research on possible nonlinearities among the examined variables.

Causal Model of Autonomous Motivation to Modify Dietary Behavior among People with Early-stage Chronic Kidney Disease

Dietary behavior is significant for delaying chronic kidney disease progression but is difficult to modify. Autonomous motivation is one of the key concepts that seem to be useful for behavior modification. Thus, this descriptive cross-sectional study was purposed to develop and test a causal model of autonomous motivation to modify dietary behavior among people with early-stage chronic kidney disease. Participants comprised 308 people with early-stage chronic kidney disease from ten tertiary hospitals in Thailand. Data collection employed a demographic and health information form, the Regulation of Eating Behaviour Scale: Autonomous Motivation Subscale, the General Causality Orientation Scale: Autonomy Orientation Subscale, the Health Care Climate Questionnaire Short-Form, the Importance Domain of the Aspiration Index: Intrinsic Life Aspiration Subscale, the Importance Domain of the Aspiration Index: Extrinsic Life Aspiration Subscale, and the Basic Need Satisfaction in General Scale. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling using M-plus.The results showed the final model explained 57% of the variance in autonomous motivation to modify dietary behavior. Intrinsic life aspiration, autonomy support from healthcare providers, and autonomy orientation had a positive direct effect on autonomous motivation and an indirect effect through basic psychological need satisfaction. Basic psychological need satisfaction had a positive direct effect on autonomous motivation. On the other hand, extrinsic life aspiration had neither a direct nor an indirect effect on autonomous motivation. Nurses can use these findings to design and test nursing interventions by integrating autonomy orientation, autonomy support from healthcare providers, and intrinsic life aspirations for enhancing autonomous motivation to modify the dietary behavior of this population.

Assessing the Link Between General Causality Orientations and Problem Gambling, and the Mediational Role of Nonattachment, Greed, and Anhedonia.

Gambling is common in the US, yet nearly one in three players experience gambling-related problems. Using Self-Determination Theory, this study explores how three causality orientations-autonomous, controlled, and impersonal-affect the severity of problem gambling. The study further investigates the mediating roles of nonattachment, dispositional greed, and anhedonia to illuminate how these orientations relate to problem gambling. The data from 675 participants (59% male; Mean age = 40.4years, SD = 12.9) via Amazon's Mechanical Turk were collected following a screening procedure to identify at-risk players. Findings showed that dispositional greed mediated the impact of a controlled orientation on problem gambling severity, while anhedonia mediated the effect of impersonal orientation. Unexpectedly, nonattachment did not explain the effect of autonomous orientation on problem gambling, though a negative association was still observed. This research enhances understanding of how individual differences and causality orientations contribute to problem gambling behavior. The implications are discussed.

Pandemic Emotional Impact on Academic and Professional Worries while Controlling for Satisfaction with Life and Perceived Social Support

In this article, we test the associations between the Covid-19 pandemic’s emotional impact and academic and professional worries among social work students when controlling for life satisfaction as a part of subjective well-being and perceived social support. Therefore, we aim to test the controlling variables’ role as mediators in explaining how academic and professional worries can be reduced. The survey was conducted in Romania in 2021 on a sample of 329 students attending full-time courses in the field of social work, both bachelor’s studies and master. The study was cross-sectional but considered a causal orientation for the variables (i.e., past pandemic emotional impact – present social support and satisfaction with life – future academic and professional worries). The findings showed that although life satisfaction does not significantly determine academic and professional worries, perceived social support has a significant direct effect. Indirect effects indicate a decrease in academic and professional worry when controlling for perceived social support alone and while controlling for both perceived social support and satisfaction with life. Additionally, our findings show that students who were less emotionally impacted by the pandemic effects had no worries about their capacity to continue or complete their studies or their employment perspectives.

Causality orientations and spontaneous mental contrasting

Mental contrasting is a motivational behavior change strategy necessary for strong goal commitment. Meanwhile, general causality orientations are motivational patterns that represent individuals’ motivation for behavior change and the reason for their goal commitment. The current study explored whether causality orientations predict spontaneous mental contrasting in Chinese university students. Study 1 investigated whether academic autonomy, control, and amotivated orientations correlate with spontaneous mental contrasting about an important academic goal. The findings of Study 1 reveal that autonomy orientation did not correlate with mental contrasting, whereas control and amotivated orientations were negatively correlated with mental contrasting. Study 2 investigated whether priming autonomy and control orientations, in addition to the neutral condition, would induce spontaneous mental contrasting about an academic goal related to the students’ research topic. The results of Study 2 revealed that the autonomy condition orientation did not differ significantly from the controlled orientation condition. However, when compared to the neutral condition, the autonomy condition significantly predicted mental contrasting, whereas the controlled orientation condition did not show any significant difference. In Study 2, the autonomy-oriented participants generated more spontaneous mental contrast than the control orientation and neutral conditions. The findings show that controlled and amotivated orientations predicted negative mental contrasting. As a result, controlled and amotivated students must learn how to use mental contrasting to achieve high levels of goal commitment and achievement. Lastly, the study discussed its implications, limitations, and suggestions for future research.

The role of engagement intention in mediating the relationship between brand equity and engagement behavior moderated by social media context

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about significant transformations in various aspects of life. Shifts in consumer behavior, for instance, can exert influence on global economic operations. This situation indirectly boosts the e-commerce sector while expediting the decline of conventional retail. Matahari Department Store is an example of a retail business adapting to this trend. Matahari, a retail company, recently shifted its focus towards online marketing. On one of its social media platforms, Matahari consistently presents engaging content. Nevertheless, this does not necessarily imply that Matahari enjoys a high level of social media engagement. This study aims to evaluate how brand equity influences engagement behavior, with engagement goals acting as a mediator, while considering social media context as a moderating factor. The research employed a quantitative approach with a causal orientation. The target population for this study comprises the followers of the Matahi Department Store Instagram account. The sampling method employed was purposive, indicating that the sample was selected based on specific criteria. Data collection was conducted through the online distribution of questionnaires using Google Forms. The collected data was analyzed through the utilization of SMART PLS 3.0 software employing the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method. As per the research results, brand equity is influenced through engagement intention and exhibits a positive and statistically significant impact on both consumption and donation behavior. Additionally, the connection between intention to be involved and behavior in consumption is affected by media richness.

The Volunteer Motivation Scale (VMS): Adaptation and Psychometric Properties among a Portuguese Sample of Volunteers

Using self-determination theory, this study examined the autonomous motivation and regulatory styles of volunteers. The Volunteer Motivation Scale (VMS) is one of the main instruments available to assess these constructs, but it requires validation and adaptation for different contexts. Therefore, the goal of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the 12-item VMS in a sample of Portuguese volunteers. The sample consisted of 207 volunteers, mostly women (74.4%), aged from 14 to 81 years, from various areas of volunteering. The measures included self-regulation, basic psychological needs, causality orientation, and autonomy support. Confirmatory factor analysis using the lavaan package in R was performed to test a four-factor model and a two-factor model. The results indicated that the four-factor model had a better fit to the data. The VMS showed good internal consistency, discriminant validity, and convergent validity. The VMS can be viewed as a valuable tool for professionals and a promising avenue for future research on the motivations of volunteers.

Gamified online surveys: Assessing experience with self-determination theory.

We developed four online interfaces supporting citizen participation in decision-making. We included (1) learning loops (LLs), good practice in decision analysis, and (2) gamification, to enliven an otherwise long and tedious survey. We investigated the effects of these features on drop-out rate, perceived experience, and basic psychological needs (BPNs): autonomy, competence, and relatedness, all from self-determination theory. We also investigated how BPNs and individual causality orientation influence experience of the four interfaces. Answers from 785 respondents, representative of the Swiss German-speaking population in age and gender, provided insightful results. LLs and gamification increased drop-out rate. Experience was better explained by the BPN satisfaction than by the interface, and this was moderated by respondents' causality orientations. LLs increased the challenge, and gamification enhanced the social experience and playfulness. LLs frustrated all three needs, and gamification satisfied relatedness. Autonomy and relatedness both positively influenced the social experience, but competence was negatively correlated with challenge. All observed effects were small. Hence, using gamification for decision-making is questionable, and understanding individual variability is a prerequisite; this study has helped disentangle the diversity of responses to survey design options.

Evaluation of a new intrinsic and extrinsic motivation scale in youth with psychosis spectrum symptoms

BackgroundImpairment in intrinsic motivation (IM), the drive to satisfy internal desires like mastery, may play a key role in disability in psychosis. However, we have limited knowledge regarding relative impairments in IM compared to extrinsic motivation (EM) or general motivation (GM), in part due to limitations in existing measures. MethodsHere we address this gap using a novel Trait Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation self-report scale in a sample of n = 243 participants including those with schizophrenia, psychosis-risk, and healthy controls. Each of the 7 IM and 6 EM items used a 7-point Likert scale assessing endorsement of dispositional statements. Bifactor analyses of these items yielded distinct IM, EM, and GM factor scores. Convergent and discriminant validity were examined in relation to General Causality Orientation Scale (GCOS-CP) and Quality of Life 3-item IM measure (QLS-IM). Utility was assessed in relation to psychosis-spectrum (PS) status and CAINS clinical amotivation. ResultsIM and EM showed acceptable inter-item consistency (IM: α = 0.88; EM: α = 0.66); the bifactor model exhibited fit that varied from good to borderline to inadequate depending on the specific fit metric (SRMR = 0.038, CFI = 0.94, RMSEA = 0.106 ± 0.014). IM scores correlated with established IM measures: GCOS-CP Autonomy (rho = 0.38, p < 0.01) and QLS-IM (rho = 0.29, p < 0.01). Supporting discriminant validity, IM did not correlate with GCOS-CP Control (rho = −0.14, p > 0.05). Two-year stability in an available longitudinal subset (n = 35) was strong (IM: rho = 0.64, p < 0.01; EM: rho = 0.55, p < 0.01). Trait IM was lower in PS youth (t = 4.24, p < 0.01), and correlated with clinical amotivation (rho = −0.36, p < 0.01); EM did not show significant clinical associations. ConclusionsThese results demonstrate the clinical relevance of IM in psychosis risk. They also provide preliminary support for the reliability, validity and utility of this new Trait IM-EM scale, which addresses a measurement gap and can facilitate identification of neurobehavioral and clinical correlates of IM deficits.

A framework for doctoral education in developing students’ mental well-being by integrating the demand and resources of the program: An integrative review

Background: Research on doctoral students’ mental well-being has gained importance in recent years. The findings of such studies were uncertain about the critical demand and resource of a doctoral program that largely influence students’ mental health. This review aims to integrate the literature to bring out the nature, importance and relationship between differentiated demands, contextual and personal resource, and doctoral students’ well-being. Methods: An integrative review was conducted based on the five-stage structure of Whittemore and Knafl. The study identified 45 articles published from 2000 onwards following the Joanna Briggs Institute quality evaluation criteria and PRISMA reporting guidelines for selecting eligible articles. Results: The integrative review findings disclose that the differentiated demand of doctoral program were categorized into challenge-hindrance demand. This demand experienced by doctoral students were grouped as ambiguity in doctoral program structure, resource inadequacy, workload, complexity, and responsibility. In addition, institutional support, research supervisory support, and intrinsic motivation were treated as essential resource to mitigate the effects of the demands of the doctoral program. Conclusions: An integrated conceptual model was built exclusively for doctoral programs and suggests that the universities and supervisors design and structure healthy, constructive doctoral programs. As an outcome of the review, differentiated demands, contextual, personal resources at the doctoral education and mental well-being of students are supported by the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping, Conservation of Resources, Causality Orientations Theory and Basic Psychological Need Theory respectively. The current review is an initial attempt to synthesize challenge-hindrance demands and contextual-personal resources in determining the mental well-being of doctoral students.

Threats to creative learning in the primary-school: energies diverted into performative orientations

ABSTRACT This article tracks the life-histories of 23 British schoolchildren aged from seven to 12 who were designated as ‘lower-attaining’ at age seven. Drawing on Self Determination Theory’s mini-theory of Causality Orientations, the authors explored whether/how children with a Controlled or Impersonal Orientation approached creative learning differently from those with an Autonomy Orientation. Six detailed life-histories presented illuminate that children with a Controlled or Impersonal Orientation often channelled their energies into conformity, as well as avoidance of subordination and punishment, diverting them away from creative learning. Relationships with peers also influenced their orientations significantly. Using Chris Watkins’ concepts of Learning Orientation and Performance Orientation, based on Carol Dweck’s Growth and Fixed Mindset theories, they conclude that their life-histories highlight a focus in schooling on both prior attainment and the end product – ‘performances’ – rather than children’s motivated engagement with learning. This threatens the chance that they achieve positive-experience and wellness outcomes through creative learning.

Is There No Place Like Home? Expatriates' Locus of Control Personality, Self-efficacy, Cross-cultural Adjustment, and Organizational Support for Expatriate Career

Expatriates are crucial for multinational corporations' internationalization strategy due to their connective position between headquarters and overseas branches. Understanding expatriates' willingness to remain in the foreign branches may allow organizations to avoid wasting the substantial cost of international human resource transitions and to strengthen the effectiveness of firm strategic deployment. Perceived causality orientation in the international job transition may influence how expatriates cognitively adjust themselves to fit into a new cultural environment, though little work has considered the psychological processes that influence employees’ intention to stay. The study, therefore, explores the relationship between expatriates' causality orientation and their intention to remain in the foreign position through the mediating effect of cross-cultural adjustment process. This considers the social cognitive theory (SCT) and investigates the moderating role of expatriates' self-efficacy and perceived organizational support for their career. The hypotheses proposed in this paper are tested using a unique sample of 219 Taiwanese expatriates in Vietnam. Results show that expatriates with high levels of internal control personality have higher cross-cultural adjustment, and expatriates with better adjustment in different cultural contexts have stronger willingness to stay. However, external locus of control weakens the expatriates' cross-cultural adjustment process when they have low levels of self-efficacy. Counterintuitively, the findings suggest that expatriates’ perceived organizational career support will reduce the positive relationship between their cross-cultural adjustment and the intention to stay.