International Journal of Intercultural Relations 27 (2003) 563–580 Determinants of intercultural adjustment among expatriate spouses Anees Ali a , Karen Van der Zee b, *, Geert Sanders c a Faculty of Management, University Sains Maleysia, Penang, Malaysia b Department of Social and Organizational Psychology, University of Groningen, Groute Kruisstraat 2/1, Groningen 9712 TS, The Netherlands c Faculty of Management and Organization, University of Groningen, The Netherlands Abstract The adaptation of expatriate families to a host country seems crucial to successful fulfilment of international business assignments. The present study focused on personality, family characteristics and characteristics of expatriates’ work life as determinants of the intercultural adjustment of expatriate spouses. Among a sample of 247 expatriate spouses it was first shown that in particular the traits of open-mindedness and emotional stability were associated with expatriate spouses’ adjustment. In addition, family cohesion and family adaptability were found to have an impact on the spouses’ adjustment. Of the work related variables, both support from the company and work satisfaction were related to indicators of adjustment. These effects sustained after controlling for the influence of demographic variables such as duration of expatriation, command of the local language, having visited the country prior to relocation and economic situation that were also found to contribute to spouses’ adjustment. The implications of these findings are discussed. r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Expatriate spouses; Intercultural adjustment; Personality; Family factors; Expatriate work situation 1. Introduction International business assignments are important to the success of multinational companies because they promote global competencies and global integration of the organization (Caligiuri, Hyland, & Joshi, 1998). Increasingly, employees have to be ARTICLE IN PRESS *Corresponding author. Tel.: +31-50-363-352; fax:+31-50-363-4581. E-mail address: [email protected] (K.I. Van Oudenhoven-Van der Zee). 0147-1767/$ - see front matter r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S0147-1767(03)00054-3
Transcript
International Journal of Intercultural Relations
27 (2003) 563–580
Determinants of intercultural adjustment amongexpatriate spouses
Anees Alia, Karen Van der Zeeb,*, Geert Sandersc
aFaculty of Management, University Sains Maleysia, Penang, MalaysiabDepartment of Social and Organizational Psychology, University of Groningen, Groute Kruisstraat 2/1,
Groningen 9712 TS, The NetherlandscFaculty of Management and Organization, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
Abstract
The adaptation of expatriate families to a host country seems crucial to successful fulfilment
of international business assignments. The present study focused on personality, family
characteristics and characteristics of expatriates’ work life as determinants of the intercultural
adjustment of expatriate spouses. Among a sample of 247 expatriate spouses it was first shown
that in particular the traits of open-mindedness and emotional stability were associated with
expatriate spouses’ adjustment. In addition, family cohesion and family adaptability were
found to have an impact on the spouses’ adjustment. Of the work related variables, both
support from the company and work satisfaction were related to indicators of adjustment.
These effects sustained after controlling for the influence of demographic variables such as
duration of expatriation, command of the local language, having visited the country prior to
relocation and economic situation that were also found to contribute to spouses’ adjustment.
The implications of these findings are discussed.
r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Expatriate spouses; Intercultural adjustment; Personality; Family factors; Expatriate work
situation
1. Introduction
International business assignments are important to the success of multinationalcompanies because they promote global competencies and global integration of theorganization (Caligiuri, Hyland, & Joshi, 1998). Increasingly, employees have to be
E-mail address: [email protected] (K.I. Van Oudenhoven-Van der Zee).
0147-1767/$ - see front matter r 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0147-1767(03)00054-3
willing to operate within foreign countries. This implies that they have to leave theirfamiliar surroundings to start a new life in a different country, often together withspouse and children. About 80% of the international expatriates around the worldare married and more than 70% take their children with them on the internationalassignment (Black, Gregersen, & Wethli, 1990). It is not difficult to imagine that sucha transition is enormously difficult for all family members. The family has to start anew life in a new environment, often within a cultural context that strongly differsfrom the own familiar culture. They leave their friends and relatives behind andtherefore have to build up a complete new social network. Surprisingly, in decidingwho will be sent abroad, most companies do not consider the ability of the expatriatefamilies to adapt and to function effectively in a new cultural environment (Black,Gregersen, & Mendenhall, 1992).The present study focused on determinants of intercultural adjustment among
expatriate spouses. The success of an international business assignment is determinedby the adaptation of the expatriates to the new living conditions. The adaptation ofexpatriates in an important way seems to be affected by the adaptation of theirspouses to the foreign country (De Leon & McPartlin, 1995). Marital support seemsto play a crucial role in the adaptation of acculturating individuals (Aycan, 1997;Golding & Burnam, 1990; Hurh & Kim, 1990; Scott & Scott, 1989; Westermeyer,1989). Moreover, low well-being among spouses may have a negative impact on thewell-being of the expatriate which in turn affects the expatriates’ work performanceand thereby the success of the international assignment (Solomon, 1996). Indeed,studies on expatriate turnover revealed that the inability of expatriate spouses toadjust to the global assignment was among the two most frequently cited reasons forexpatriate failure (Handler, 1995; Harvey, 1985; Tung, 1981). In a similar vein, Blackand Gregersen (1991) have suggested that spouse adjustment may be a keyantecedent to how well an expatriate performs on his or her global assignment.Black and Stephens (1989) found strong correlations between indicators of spouse
and expatriate adjustment. They also showed that the adjustment of both theexpatriate and his or her partner are positively related to the expatriate’s intention tostay in the international business assignment and not to return to the home countryprematurely. A study by Caligiuri (1996) showed that family adjustment was asignificant predictor of the desire to terminate the international business assignment(see also Harvey, 1985; Black & Stephens, 1989; Tung, 1984). In a similar vein,Fukuda and Chu (1994) showed that family situation was among the factors thatcontribute to failures among Japanese expatriates. Finally, Shaffer (1996) showedthat spouse adjustment in the host country moderates the relationship betweenwithdrawal cognitions and moral commitment of expatriates. These studies clearlypoint at the importance for companies involved in international assignments to payserious attention to the intercultural adaptation of spouses.In many ways, cross-cultural adjustment of spouses seems to be more difficult than
adjustment of expatriates themselves (Naumann, 1992). Expatriates find continuityin their work life, as well as colleagues that provide a network for support. Theyremain within the stability of the familiar organizational culture. For a large part ofthe day they escape from direct contact with the host culture (Harvey, 1985). Their
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spouses on the other hand, have no access to organizational continuity, and maytherefore experience strong disruption of their personal lives. Furthermore, theyreceive little structural support in coping with the daily demands of unfamiliarcircumstances (De Leon & McPartlin, 1995). Empirical evidence underlines thedifficult position of expatriate spouses. For example, a study by Punnet (1997)showed that particularly female spouses who did not work at the foreign locationsuffered from substantial culture shock and tended to shut themselves away from theoutside world in the new country.
1.1. Intercultural adjustment of expatriate spouses
In its most general sense, adaptation refers to changes that take place inindividuals or groups in response to environmental demands. Adjustment can beregarded as the outcome of the adaptation process. A distinction can be madebetween psychological and sociocultural adjustment (Searle & Ward, 1990).Psychological adjustment refers to internal psychological outcomes such as mentalhealth and personal satisfaction. Sociocultural adjustment refers to externalpsychological outcomes that link individuals to their new context such as the abilityto deal with daily problems, particularly in the areas of family life, work and school(see Segall, Dasen, Berry, & Poortinga, 1999). In the present study, indicators ofboth psychological and sociocultural adjustment were included. In addition, adimension of intercultural interaction was added (Kealey & Ruben, 1983). Thisdimension was defined as the ability to deal with people from other cultures and canbe regarded as a sub-dimension of sociocultural adjustment. We focused on threemajor determinants of spouse adjustment: personality, family characteristics and,finally, characteristics of the expatriates’ work life.
2. Theoretical model
The present study departed from a theoretical model (Fig. 1) which is anadaptation of the model of Expatriate’s Family Adjustment proposed by Caligiuriet al. (1998) and a model by Parker and McEvoy (1993). The model considers threedeterminants of expatriate spouse adjustment, that is (a) personality dimensions; (b)family characteristics, and (c) expatriate work life.
2.1. Personality and spouse adjustment
The first major part of the model concerns the influence of personality onadjustment. The assumption was that a number of intercultural traits are related tosuccessful adjustment of expatriate spouses: cultural empathy, open-mindedness,emotional stability, flexibility and social initiative (Van der Zee & Van Oudenhoven,2000, 2001).The first dimension is cultural empathy. Ruben (1976) defines cultural empathy as
the capacity to clearly project an interest in others, as well as to obtain and to reflect
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a reasonably complete and accurate sense of another’s thoughts, feelings, and/orexperiences. In other words, this dimension refers to the ability to empathize with thefeelings, thoughts and behaviors of members from different cultural groups. Asecond relevant dimension to acquiring the rules and values of a new culture is open-
mindedness, referring to an open and unprejudiced attitude towards outgroupmembers and towards different cultural norms and values (see Arthur & Bennett,1995; Hammer, Gudykunst, & Wiseman, 1978; Harris, 1973; Ronen, 1989). Thethird MPQ-dimension is social initiative, defined as a tendency to actively approachsocial situations and to take the initiative. Researchers have pointed at the relevanceof the ability to establish and maintain contacts for multicultural success (Abe &Weisman, 1983; Hammer et al., 1978; Hawes & Kealey, 1981; Kets de Vries & Mead,1991). Thereby, it seems important to take actions rather than to wait and see. Arelated construct is Extraversion, which several researchers argue to be important formulticultural success (Armes & Ward, 1989; Deller, 1997; Ones & Viswesvaran,1997). Emotional stability refers to a tendency to remain calm in stressful situationsversus a tendency to show strong emotional reactions under stressful circumstances(e.g., Abe & Weisman, 1983; Armes & Ward, 1989; Hammer et al., 1978; Tung,1981). Finally, flexibility has been discussed as important by a number of authors(Arthur & Bennett, 1995; Ruben & Kealey, 1979). In intercultural situations
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Personality Traits- Cultural Empathy- Open-mindedness- Social Initiative - Flexibility- Emotional Stability
Family Characteristics
- Family Cohesion - Family Adaptibility - Family Communication
A. Ali et al. / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 27 (2003) 563–580566
individuals need to be able to switch easily from one strategy to another, becausefamiliar ways of handling things may no longer work. Moreover, they should not beafraid of new and unknown situations but instead feel attracted to them, seeing it asa challenge rather than as a threat (e.g., Kets de Vries & Mead, 1991; McCall, 1994).First studies have supported the concurrent and predictive validity of these
dimensions against indicators of multicultural success (e.g., Van der Zee & VanOudenhoven, 2000, 2001). Van der Zee and Van Oudenhoven (2000) providedpreliminary support for their incremental validity above the general Big Fivepersonality dimensions in predicting international orientation. In a study amonginternational students in Taiwan it was shown that higher scores on the instrumentare associated with a higher sense of psychological and social well-being in anintercultural context (Mol, Van Oudenhoven, & Van der Zee, 2001; see also VanOudenhoven & Van der Zee, 2001). The five intercultural traits have never beenstudied in relation to the adjustment of expatriate spouses. Nevertheless, there wasno reason to assume that traits that are related to the ability to establish contactswithin a new culture, to maintain a high level of psychological well-being and toperform successfully among expatriates differ from traits that are related to the samecriteria among expatriate spouses. Therefore, the prediction was that culturalempathy, open-mindedness, emotional stability, flexibility and social initiative arepositively related to the intercultural adjustment of expatriate spouses (Hypothesis 1).
2.2. Family characteristics and spouse adjustment
Family system theory (Hill, 1949; McCubbin, 1988; Minuchin, 1974) describes thenature of relationships among family members. In terms of family system theory, anoverseas assignment is a change which requires the family to restructure, develop,and adapt in response to the demands of the new situation. If families can adequatelyadapt to the foreign environment, they will maintain continuity and facilitate eachfamily member’s psychological growth and intercultural adjustment (Caligiuri et al.,1998). Departing from family system theory, the present study focused on threefamily characteristics that may contribute to adjustment among expatriate spouses,namely cohesion, adaptability and communication. These three dimensions emergedfrom a conceptual clustering of over 50 concepts developed to describe marital andfamily dynamics (McCubbin & Patterson, 1983). A study by Forster (1997) showedthat the family dimensions of flexibility/adaptability, cohesion and communicationwere clearly related to the outcomes of international assignments.
Family cohesion has been defined as the amount of emotional bonding betweenfamily members (Bloom, 1985; Olson, Russell, & Sprenkle, 1984). McCubbin andPatterson (1983) defined family cohesion as the degree to which an individual isseparated or connected to the family system. A study by De Cieri, Dowling, andTaylor (1991) showed that the relationship of expatriate spouses with their childrenbecame closer through the expatriation period as they had endured trials andtribulations together. The level of emotional bonding within the family may impactfamily members’ ability to develop relationships beyond the boundaries of the familyunit, for example, a child’s ability to establish and maintain friendships with other
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children (Caligiuri et al., 1998) and a spouses’ ability to establish contacts with theneighbours. In the present study, the prediction was that the amount of cohesion inthe expatriate family is positively related to the intercultural adjustment of expatriatespouses (Hypothesis 2a).The second family characteristic concerns family adaptability. Olson et al. (1984)
defined family adaptability as the ability of a family system to change its powerstructure, role relationships and relationship rules in response to situational anddevelopmental stress. In other words, it refers to the extent to which a family isflexible and able to change. According to Caligiuri et al. (1998), the ability of afamily to adapt is critical both in response to stress from within the family and inresponse to stress from the external environment. Examples of external sources ofstress are children suffering from homesickness or from problems adapting to newschools or friends, or feelings of unsafety due to the political situation in the foreigncountry or due to high rates of violence and robbery. Such issues will increase thestress levels that exist within the family. According to family system theory, the morecapable the family is of changing its internal relations in response to the demands ofthe foreign situation, the better it will adapt to new circumstances (Olson et al.,1984). The expectation was therefore that the adaptability of the expatriate family ispositively related to the intercultural adjustment of expatriate spouses (Hypothesis
2b).The third family characteristic is communication. Through communication,
families can create a shared sense of meaning, develop and orchestrate copingstrategies, and maintain harmony and balance (McCubbin, Thompson, &McCubbin, 1996). A healthy level of family communication is evidenced by theability of a family to address and resolve concerns within the family. It refers to afamily’s ability to resolve conflicts by mutual recognition of different opinions and tonegotiate issues of contention (Caligiuri et al., 1998). The prediction of the presentstudy was that the quality of communication among expatriate family members ispositively related to the intercultural adjustment of expatriate spouses (Hypothesis
2c).
2.3. Expatriate work life and spouse adjustment
Next, the present study focused on the relation between spouse adjustment andaspects of expatriate work life. In the present study, we concentrated on expatriate
work satisfaction and the support spouses receive from the international company
prior and during the expatriation period. Work-family conflict represents variousways in which the intersection between work and family life is a source of difficultiesfor workers and family members (Hughes, Galinsky, & Morris, 1992). Highquantitative, emotional and mental work demands may result in work overload,resulting in work-home interference. Work-home interference has a negative impacton well-being (Aryee, 1997; Geurts, Rutte, & Peeters, 1999; Voydanoff, 1988;Wallace, 1999). The draining of energy and resources at work may leave theexpatriate little energy to pay attention to the demands of family life. In this regard,Jackson and Maslach (1982) compared husbands’ job related affective well-being
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with their wives’ description of at home behavior. They found that the level of ahusband’s job-related emotional exhaustion was significantly associated with thewife reporting that their spouses came home tense, unhappy, tired and upset, andexperienced difficulties sleeping at night. Moreover, a high level of emotionalexhaustion among expatriates was associated with low quality of family life. In thepresent study, it was therefore expected that expatriate work satisfaction influencesspouse adjustment in the host country. The prediction was that expatriates’satisfaction with their international business assignment is positively related to theintercultural adjustment of spouses (Hypothesis 3a).The next issue that is related to work life is the support that spouses receive from the
company prior to and during the expatriation period. A study among Britishexpatriate spouses by Forster (1997) revealed that quite a number of them weredissatisfied with the relocation support provided by the companies. De Cieri et al.(1991) found that company assistance during the relocation period was a strongpredictor of psychological adjustment of an expatriate’s partner to relocation,particularly in the early stages of expatriation. Black and Gregersen (1991) alsofound that firm-provided cross-cultural training and involvement of spouses in thedecision about the overseas assignment were significantly related to spouseadjustment. Help and support from the company seem to be important to expatriatespouses in order to adapt and adjust effectively to the new surroundings. Ourprediction was therefore that support received from the company is positively relatedto the intercultural adjustment of expatriate spouses (Hypothesis 3b).In addition to intrapersonal and social resources, earlier models on intercultural
adjustment have incorporated demographic variables such as economic situation andcommand of the local language (Shaffer & Harrison, 2001) and having visited thehost country prior to relocation (De Leon & McPartlin, 1995). Moreover, it can beargued that sociocultural adjustment of the spouses as well as their perceptions offamily functioning are affected by the structure of the family and by the workingsituation of the spouse him or herself. In the present study, we will further test thestrength of the model by examining whether it is able to predict variance inadjustment above these demographic characteristics.
3. Method
3.1. Participants
Approximately 80 organizations for expatriate spouses all over the world wereapproached for participation in the study (e.g., Hong Kong, Malaysia, Egypt, SouthAfrica, Brazil, United States of America, Russia, France and The Netherlands). Ofthese organizations, 32 expressed their interest to participate. Contact persons fromeach organization further distributed the questionnaires among their members.Completed questionnaires were either collected through the organizations or werereturned by individual participants in a stamped, self-addressed envelope. Inaddition, members of an expatriate club on internet were approached and received
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and returned their questionnaires by electronic mail. In total 1000 questionnaireswere sent out, 275 of which were returned (response rate 27.5%). Although thisfigure seems to be rather low, it is at least as high as and in most cases higher than inother international studies (e.g., Black & Gregersen, 1991; Tung, 1981). Out of 275questionnaires, 247 were useable for data analysis. The participants were from 29different countries, in majority from the United Kingdom (24.6%), United States ofAmerica (18.1%), Australia (8.9%) and the Netherlands (8.5%).The participants were in majority female; 7% were male. In terms of age 7% was
aged between 20 and 29 years, 31% between 30 and 39 years, 34% between 40 and 49years, 22% between 50 and 59 years and 6% above 60 years. Of the respondents,78.2% had one or more children. The sample was highly educated: 34.1% had ahigher educational level, 17.1% had a university degree. With respect to familyincome, 6% earned less than $35,000; 9% between $35,000 and $50,000; 19%between $50,000 and $70,000; 26% between $70,000 and $90,000, and, finally, 40%earned over $90,000. About half of the spouses were not engaged in either paid orvolunteer work; 23.4% of the respondents worked full time, 27.0% were engaged involunteer work. Participants had been expatriated on average 1.5 times and had beenliving abroad for 8.0 years (SD ¼ 8:5). In total, 63.7% of the respondents visited thehost country prior to international relocation; 37.9% of the respondents indicatedthat they were able to speak the host country’s language.
3.2. Instruments
3.2.1. Demographic variables
The first part of the questionnaire contained a number of personal questions.Participants were asked to indicate their gender, age, educational background,employment status, size of the family and annual income. Next, they were asked toprovide information related to expatriation. We were interested in how often and forhow long they had been expatriated; whether they had visited the host country priorto international relocation and whether they were able to speak the host country’slanguage.
3.2.2. Personality
The multicultural personality questionnaire (MPQ) was developed by Van der Zeeand Van Oudenhoven (2000) as a multidimensional instrument aimed at predictingmulticultural effectiveness among expatriates. The 91-item questionnaire has scalesfor cultural empathy, open-mindedness, emotional stability, flexibility, and socialinitiative. Examples of items from the cultural empathy scale (18 items, a ¼ 0:87) are‘‘Tries to understand other people’s behavior’’ (+) and ‘‘Finds it hard to emphasizewith others’’ (�). Examples of items from the open-mindedness scale (18 items,a ¼ 0:87) are ‘‘Tries out various approaches’’ (+) and ‘‘Puts his or her own culturein a perspective’’ (+). The social initiative scale (17 items, a ¼ 0:78), has items suchas ‘‘Takes initiatives’’ (+) and ‘‘Is a slow starter’’ (�). Examples of items from theemotional stability scale (20 items, a ¼ 0:75) are ‘‘Is not easily hurt’’ (+) and ‘‘Isnervous’’ (�). Finally, sample items from the flexibility scale (18 items, a ¼ 0:78) are
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‘‘Changes easily from one activity to another’’ (+) and ‘‘Avoids surprises’’ (�).Participants can answer on a 5-point-scale, ranging from [1] not at all applicable to [5]totally applicable.
3.2.3. Family inventories
The scales for family cohesion, adaptability and communication were drawn fromthe family inventories developed by Olson et al. (1992). For the purpose of thepresent study those items were included that were applicable to the situation ofexpatriate spouses in a host country. Family cohesion (9 items) was defined as theamount of emotional bonding between family members (e.g., ‘‘Family members aresupportive of each other during difficult times’’ (+) and ‘‘Family members feel veryclose to each other’’ (+)) Cronbach’s alpha of this scale was a ¼ 0:92: Family
adaptability (9 items, a ¼ 0:75) refers to the extent to which the family system isflexible and able to change. Sample items are ‘‘There is an increase in argumentsamong our family members’’ (–) and ‘‘My family and I tend to worry about manythings’’ (–). Family communication (8 items, a ¼ 0:92) refers to the ability of a familyto address and resolve the concerns within the family ‘‘I find it easy to discussproblems with my family members’’ (+) and ‘‘I am happy how we make decisionsand resolve conflicts’’ (+). A 5-point answering scale was used, ranging from [1]strongly disagree to [5] strongly agree.
3.2.4. Support from the company
For the purpose of the present study, a scale was developed aimed at measuringthe support that the expatriate spouses received before and during the expatriationperiod. Participants were asked to evaluate the information they had received aboutthe country; the amount of cultural training program that was offered; the assistancethey had received in finding employment, and, finally, the amount of financialsupport the company had provided. They could answer on a 5-point scale rangingfrom [1] strongly disagree to [5] strongly agree. Examples of items are ‘‘The companyprovided us with information (books, brochures, etc.) about the host country’’ (+)and ‘‘There was a cultural training provided by the company’’ (+). The internalconsistency of this scale was moderate (a ¼ 0:67), probably due to the fact that mostof the respondents indicated that they strongly disagreed with the statements.
3.2.5. Expatriate work satisfaction
In addition, a 10-item scale was developed aimed at measuring the expatriates’work satisfaction from the point of view of the spouse. Examples of these items are‘‘My partner likes the working climate in the company he/she works for’’ (+) and‘‘My partner complains more about his/her work than he/she used to’’ (�). A 5-point scale was used, ranging from [1] strongly disagree to [5] strongly agree. Thereliability of this scale was moderate (a ¼ 0:70).
3.2.6. Intercultural adjustment
First, in order to measure the psychological adjustment of the expatriate spousesin the host country, we used the satisfaction with life scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons,
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Larsen, & Griffin, 1985). This scale has five items referring to general satisfactionwith life (e.g., ‘‘In most ways my life is close to my ideal’’ (+) and ‘‘I am satisfiedwith my life, everything taken together’’ (+)). Participants could respond on a 5-point scale ranging from [1] strongly disagree to [5] strongly agree. The reliability ofthis scale was high (a ¼ 0:90).Second, a scale was developed in order to measure intercultural interaction.
Participants were asked to rate their interaction with local nationals on a 5-pointLikert-type scale ranging from [1] strongly disagree to [5] strongly agree. Examples ofitems are ‘‘I spend some time with the local nationals’’ (+) and ‘‘I feel comfortabletalking to local people’’ (+). This scale was moderately reliable (a ¼ 0:71).Third, in order to measure socio-cultural adjustment, that is spouses’ adjustment to
the general, external environment in the host country, ten items were drawn fromBlack’s (1988) study on adjustment of expatriates and expatriate spouses.Participants were asked to indicate the degree to which they are adjusted to anumber of areas of life in the host country (e.g., health care facilities, children’sschooling). They could give their answers on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from [1]not adjusted at all; [7] completely adjusted. This scale was highly reliable (a ¼ 0:90).
4. Results
First, we were interested in the pattern of intercorrelations between theindependent variables in our model. As can be seen in Table 1, the MPQ-scaleswere significantly related to the three family characteristics. The only exceptionconcerned the correlation between flexibility and family cohesion that failed to reachsignificance level. With respect to the work-related variables, it was found that,whereas all MPQ-scales except flexibility correlated significantly with expatriatework satisfaction, solely cultural empathy and emotional stability were significantlyrelated to support from the company. The three family characteristics appeared to besignificantly related to expatriate work satisfaction, but unrelated to support fromthe company. It must be noted that the correlations between personality-, family-and work-related variables were not very high, and it was felt justified to discriminateamongst them. In a similar vein, the dependent variables life satisfaction, socio-cultural adjustment and intercultural interaction were significantly related but not sohigh that it was unjustified to regard them as separate scales.Next, we examined the relation between personality and adjustment. As Table 1
shows, the five MPQ-scales were by no means independent. Particularly the scalesfor cultural empathy and open-mindedness and the scales for open-mindedness andsocial initiative were highly interrelated. It was nevertheless decided to consider themas separate scales. To what extent did the MPQ-scales ‘predict’ interculturaladjustment among spouses? Examining the raw correlations (Table 1), it was foundthat all five dimensions were significantly related to the three indicators ofadjustment. Sociocultural adjustment and intercultural interaction were moststrongly related to open-mindedness. Life satisfaction revealed the highestcorrelation with emotional stability.
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6. Family cohesion 0.70�� 0.74�� 0.06 0.25�� 0.45�� 0.23�� 0.01
7. Family adaptability 0.69�� 0.10 0.29�� 0.49�� 0.27�� 0.09
8. Family communication 0.09 0.26�� 0.41�� 0.17�� 0.07
9. Support from the company 0.19�� 0.20�� 0.11 0.09
10. Expatriates’ work satisfaction 0.32�� 0.26�� 0.29��
11. Satisfaction with life 0.47�� 0.27��
12. Socio-cultural adjustment 0.45��
13. Intercultural interaction
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The family characteristics appeared to be unrelated to the amount of interculturalinteraction. Significant raw correlations of all three family characteristics with bothlife satisfaction and socio-cultural adjustment were found.The third group of independent variables in our model concerned aspects of
expatriates’ work life. In the present study, we focused on social support and theextent to which the expatriate was satisfied with his or her job. The pattern of rawcorrelations revealed that social support was only significantly related to lifesatisfaction, whereas expatriate work satisfaction was significantly related to all threedependent variables.In sum, correlational analysis provided support for the predictive value of
personality, family and work characteristics against intercultural adjustment. Inorder to examine the independent predictive power of each of the three groups ofpredictors from our model, we performed a hierarchical regression analyses with allthe model variables in one equation. Thereby the personality variables were enteredin the first step, the family variables were included in the second step, followed by thework related variables in the third step. Variables were entered in this order, becauseit was assumed that stable intrapersonal characteristics are more likely to influenceperceptions of family functioning and the work situation, than vice versa. Table 2shows the results from these analyses. Both personality (step 1) and workcharacteristics (step 3) significantly added to the prediction of all three criteria. Ascould already be derived from Table 1, the family characteristics failed to predict
ARTICLE IN PRESS
Table 2
Results from hierarchical regression analyses of intercultural adaptation on personality (step 1), family
characteristics (step 2) and work characteristics (step 3)
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significant variance in intercultural interaction. Open-mindedness and expatriate worksatisfaction were significantly related to all three indicators of adjustment. Lifesatisfaction was also significantly predicted by Emotional Stability, and the familyvariables cohesion and adaptability. Together, the model variables explained 40% inlife satisfaction, 22% in interaction with the locals and 19% sociocultural adjustment.Finally, we were interested whether our model variables were able to explain
spouses’ intercultural adjustment above demographic characteristics that appearedto be relevant from the literature and may have confounded our results. A number ofdemographic characteristics indeed appeared to be related to spouses’ adjustment,pointing at the usefulness of controlling for these variables in subsequent analysis.The annual income of the expatriate family did have an impact on the adjustment ofspouses. Interestingly, the higher the family income, the higher the life satisfaction ofthe spouse (r ¼ 0:12; po0:05) and the higher their sociocultural adjustment(r ¼ 0:12; po0:05), but the lower the amount of intercultural interaction(r ¼ �0:14; po0:05). It must be noted that these relations are rather weak. Inaddition, multivariate analyses revealed an effect of being able to speak the languageof the host country on intercultural adjustment, F ð3; 231Þ ¼ 5:20; po0:01: At theunivariate level significant effects were found for intercultural interaction,F ð1; 233Þ ¼ 6:24; po0:01; and sociocultural adjustment, F ð1; 233Þ ¼ 8:91; po0:01:Not surprisingly, participants who were able to speak the language of the hostcountry revealed higher levels of intercultural interaction (M ¼ 3:84 versusM ¼ 3:51) and higher levels of sociocultural adjustment (M ¼ 5:60 versusM ¼ 5:21) than participants who did not speak the local language. Having visitedthe host country prior to relocation was found to have a multivariate significant effecton spouse adjustment, F ð3; 242Þ ¼ 2:78; po0:05: At the univariate level, this effect wassolely significant for sociocultural adjustment, F ð1; 244Þ ¼ 8:25; po0:01; revealing ahigher level of sociocultural adjustment among spouses that did visit the host countryprior to relocation (M ¼ 5:50) than among spouses that did not visit the host country(M ¼ 5:12). Duration of stay in the host country was related to life satisfaction(r ¼ 0:11; po0:05), intercultural interaction (r ¼ 0:15; po0:05), and socioculturaladjustment (r ¼ 0:30; po0:01). With respect to biographical characteristics, both familystructure, as indicated by the number of children in the family and employment statusappeared to be unrelated to the indicators of adjustment. However, when we repeatedthe regression analyses presented in Table 2, now controlling for the effect of annualincome, knowledge of the local language, having visited the host country prior torelocation, duration of stay, structure of the family and employment status, we obtainedthe same pattern of results as previously discussed. All significant findings weresustained. The percentage variance explained increased to 44% for life satisfaction, 28%for intercultural interaction and 31% for sociocultural interaction.
5. Discussion
The first purpose of this study was to examine the relation between personalitycharacteristics and the intercultural adjustment of spouses in a host country. In all
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cases, as compared to family and work characteristics, personality variablesappeared to be the strongest determinants of cultural adjustment of expatriatespouses. An important predictor appeared to be open-mindedness that was bothrelated to psychological and sociocultural adjustment of the expatriate spouses andto intercultural interaction. Psychological adjustment was also predicted byemotional stability. The present findings are consistent with the study by Mol et al.(2001) who found open-mindedness and emotional stability to be related toindicators of multicultural effectiveness among international students in Taiwan.The present study provides support for our assumption that the traits that are criticalto the success of international employees and students may also help those whoaccompany them on their international assignment, that is, their partners. Thepresent data thus provide support for the concurrent validity of the MPQ among thisgroup. International companies may use the MPQ as a selection instrument or as adiagnostic tool, for example to be used in consulting families in their decision toaccept or refuse an international job offer. Or alternatively, it can be used to detectwhich expatriate spouses need additional help and support during the expatriationperiod.In addition, the present study examined the relationship between family
characteristics and spouse adjustment. Family cohesion and adaptability were foundto be related to life satisfaction of expatriate spouses. Communication did notappear as an independent predictor. Olson et al. (1984) refer to communication as adimension that facilitates adaptability, and it may also facilitate cohesion. Theability to change and adapt oneself to suit the new environment while at the sametime remain closely tied to each other may require a certain level of opencommunication. Adaptability and cohesion can be seen as a final outcome of healthyfamily processes that in turn determine the level of adjustment to the foreignenvironment. It must be noted that the family variables appeared to be lessimportant than the personality and work-related variables.The present study revealed clear relations between aspects of the expatriates’ work
life and intercultural adjustment of expatriate spouses. Support received from theinternational company contributed to both psychological and socioculturaladjustment of expatriate spouses and the amount of intercultural interaction theyengaged in. Apparently, support given by the international companies to expatriatespouses prior and during the expatriation period is of central importance to effectiveadjustment (see also Punnet, 1997). Support may for example include interculturaltraining and information sources (books, brochures, etc.). Interestingly, althoughmore and more companies claim that they put effort into supporting expatriatespouses, participants in the present study were not highly satisfied with the supportthey received from their partners’ companies (M ¼ 2:86). Clearly, more work needsto be done here. Expatriates’ work satisfaction also showed a high positive relationwith the intercultural adjustment of the expatriate spouses. Because this variable willalso be related to the adjustment of the expatriate him or herself it seems importantfor companies to closely monitor the well-being of their expatriate employees. In thisregard, a mentor system in which an expatriate is coached by a fellow-expatriate or alocal employee may help to diagnose problems at work in an early phase. It must be
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noted that, unfortunately, in the context of the present study, we were not capable ofcollecting data from other sources than the spouses themselves. Of course, theavailability of expatriate ratings of job satisfaction and objective data on companypractices would have strengthened our results.Finally, the present study provided support for the predictive value of the model
variables above a number of demographic variables. Particularly the duration ofexpatriation had a positive impact on the three indicators of adjustment. This findingis in accordance with cyclic models that describe expatriation in terms of a U-curvewhereby an initial short period of excitement and curiosity (‘‘honeymoon stage’’) isfollowed by a stage characterized by serious problems of adjustment (‘‘cultureshock’’/‘‘disillusionment stage’’). Over time, expatriates and their families developskills to cope with these problems which in most cases results in a final stage ofmastery (‘‘adaptation stage’’) (Church, 1982; see also Aycan, 1997). The honeymoonstage was probably not highly represented in the current sample, resulting in a linearrelationship. A recent study among expatriate spouses by Shaffer and Harrison(2001) also revealed significant correlations between assignment duration andindicators of personal and interaction adjustment. In addition, annual income waspositively related to life satisfaction and sociocultural adjustment. Other studies havealso pointed at the role of one’s economic situation as a protective factor againstacculturative stress (Beiser, Johnson, & Turner, 1993) Interestingly, this variable wasnegatively related to intercultural interaction. Apparently, the high income groupsare more inclined to lead a life isolated from the local culture, turning to otherexpatriates as a source for contacts and support. Finally, command of the languageand having visited the country prior to relocation seem to contribute to spouseadjustment. In a similar vein, the study by Shaffer and Harrison (2001) revealed asignificant correlation between language fluency and spouse adjustment. Theseinsights may stimulate organizations to provide language courses in the predeparturepreparation period, and to provide families with the opportunity to pay a visit to thehost country prior to their final relocation. However, controlling for the impact ofthese variables did not affect our results. The effects of the personality, family andwork-related variables sustained after partialling out the variance explained bydemographics (Table 2).An important limitation of the study was its cross-sectional design. It is impossible
to draw any conclusions with respect to cause and effect. Perhaps the low worksatisfaction of the expatriates was the result rather than the cause of the adjustmentproblems of their spouses. Common method variance may also have contributed tothe high correlations between the independent and dependent variables. All measuresrelied on self-report and, for example, some of the MPQ-items resembled criterionvariables (e.g., ‘‘Likes to interact with people from different cultures’’ (MPQ) versus‘‘I feel comfortable talking to local people’’ (intercultural interaction). However, thisproblem of semantic overlap was less an issue for the sociocultural adjustment scalefor which we found equally high correlations with personality. Moreover, in anearlier study that included comparable dependent variables, the correlations betweenthe MPQ scales and dependent variables increased over time, which cannot beexplained away by common method variance (Van Oudenhoven & Van der Zee,
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2002). Second, participation in the study occurred on a voluntary basis, probablyresulting in a sample that was not completely representative for the population ofexpatriate spouses. Spouses who were experiencing either no or—at the otheropposite—a lot of difficulties may have been reluctant to participate. However, weexpect that this may have affected the absolute level of the scores on each variable,but that it is not likely that it has also affected the correlations between the variables.Despite these limitations, the present study clearly highlighted some importantvariables associated with successful adjustment. Future studies may further elaborateon these personality, family and work characteristics, thereby incorporatinglongitudinal designs.
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