European Journal Paper Review: Expatriates' Adjustment and Performance

This report provides a comprehensive review of the article "Effects of individual characteristics on expatriates’ adjustment and job performance." It delves into the critical factors that influence an expatriate's success, including personality traits such as extroversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness, and emotional stability. The review also examines the significance of previous international experience, self-efficacy, and social networks in facilitating adjustment and enhancing job performance. The report further discusses the implications of these factors within the context of the UAE. It highlights the importance of adaptation to new cultures, personal attributes, cultural knowledge, and family considerations. The report concludes by emphasizing the interconnectedness of expatriate adjustment and performance, underscoring the need for proper training, management, and individual assessments to ensure successful global assignments. The report is available on Desklib, providing valuable insights for students studying leadership management and international business.

Running head: PAPER REVIEW
PAPER REVIEW: Effects of individual characteristics on expatriates’ adjustment and job
performance
European Journal of Training and Development
Muhammad Awais Bhatti, Sharan Kaur, Mohamed Mohamed Battour
Vol: 37
Date: 29.03.2013
pp. 544-563

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction......................................................................................................................3
2. Literature Review.............................................................................................................3
2.1. Types of expatriates.....................................................................................................4
2.2. Factors affecting the success of expatriates.................................................................4
2.2.a. Adaptation................................................................................................................4
2.2.b. Personal attributes....................................................................................................4
2.2.c. Cultural knowledge..................................................................................................4
2.2.d. Family issues............................................................................................................5
3. Research aims and objectives..........................................................................................5
4. Discussion..........................................................................................................................5
4.1. Personality traits..........................................................................................................5
4.1.a. Extroversion.............................................................................................................6
4.1.b. Conscientiousness....................................................................................................6
4.1.c. Agreeableness...........................................................................................................6
4.1.d. Openness or intellect................................................................................................7
4.1.e. Emotional stability...................................................................................................7
4.2. Previous international exposure/experience................................................................7
4.3. Self efficacy or dependency........................................................................................8
4.4. Social network or cultural skills..................................................................................8
4.5. Expatriate’s adjustment...............................................................................................8

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4.6. Job performance..........................................................................................................8
5. Research managerial implications in UAE....................................................................9
6. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................10
7. Reference List....................................................................................................................11

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1. Introduction
In recent times, multinational companies are always on the verge of developing new
foreign collaborations. However, in order to do so they require the help of individuals called
expatriates capable of carrying out negotiations in foreign countries. These expatriates are
sent to foreign locations in order to carry out the company’s objective of market
globalization. The expatriates help to develop and control the company’s operations
providing administrative as well as technical services in the foreign land (Selmer & Lauring,
2012).
Expatriate adjustment and performance are closely linked to each other. An expatriate
with better cultural knowledge, emotional knowledge and experience in working abroad has a
better chance of performing better (Lazarova & Thomas, 2012). This report reviews and
summarizes the key points of the article “Effects of individual characteristics on expatriates’
adjustment and job performance”. Previous research has described the roles of several factors
in the prediction of expatriate’s adjustment and performance. However, there were several
factors, which were not described or defined in the literatures dealing with expatriate
adjustment. This report describes in a very comprehensive manner the various factors that
help in expatriate adjustment and subsequently job performance and quality.
This report at first focuses on the various literatures describing the expatriate
adjustment and its effects on job performance. Secondly, it describes the aims and objectives
of the selected article. Thirdly, it describes the key points mentioned in the article. Lastly, it
describes the implications of the factors described in this article on expatriate adjustment in
UAE.
2. Literature Review
Expatriates generally help the multinational company in developing market relations
in foreign countries. In the 21st century, the “China-phenomenon” can be described as an
example of expatriate importance in the global market (Zhang, 2015). In order to develop
skilled workers, increase worker competency, the Chinese companies hire workers from
foreign countries. These skilled workers or expatriates are sent to foreign countries to carry
out communications for business development. However, it also helps the expatriates to

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develop their global communication skills, which further enhances their performance in the
future.
2.1. Types of expatriates
An expatriate is considered successful if the following objectives are met. These
include their ability to complete the task on time, development and maintenance of good
relations between the employees in the foreign land. These organizational expatriates (OEs)
are assigned by the company itself to go to foreign location for proper management of the
organization (Andresen, Bergdolt & Margenfeld,. 2012). Self initiated expatriates or SIEs on
the other hand are individuals who are hired as individuals and are not relocated to foreign
locations by an organization. SIEs are employed abroad on their own will and have a regular
employment (Cerdin & Selmer, 2014).
2.2. Factors affecting the success of expatriates
Various factors determine the success of the expatriate in the foreign country. These
factors include adaptation, personal attributes, cultural knowledge and family issues (Lee &
Kartika, 2014).
2.2.a. Adaptation
The most important factor that determines the ability of expatriate to succeed in a
foreign country is to adapt to the new country. Various obstacles that hit an expatriate include
the socio-cultural adaptations like fluency in the foreign language, interaction with the
natives, cultural knowledge, among others. Moreover, other obstacles include the cultural
differences between the foreign and native countries, the ability to commit to the work,
control the work and take challenges (Firth et al., 2014).
2.2.b. Personal attributes
Various self attributes like the ability to design a career path, willingness to go to
foreign lands and the level of orientation towards work at the international level also
determines the success of an expatriate (Peltokorpi & Froese, 2012).
2.2.c. Cultural knowledge
The success of expatriates depends on his/her ability to distinguish between the
cultural orientations of the native and foreign country. Moreover, it also requires a degree of

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co-operation which enables them to develop a healthy relationship with the natives of the
foreign country (Ramalu et al., 2012).
2.2.d. Family issues
Various family related issues also play a role in the success or failure of an expatriate.
These include consideration of their spouses and their desire either to work or not to work in
foreign locations (Shaffer et al., 2012).
The inability of an expatriate to adjust and carry out the work on time results in huge
financial losses not only for the company but also for the expatriate. Moreover, this results in
frustration and lack of motivation to work in foreign locations. However, such problems can
be solved with the help of proper training, management and assessments of individuals for
selection as expatriates.
3. Research aims and objectives
The main aim of this paper is to describe and highlight the important factors, which
can affect the work of an expatriate, interaction and general adjustments and finally job
performance. This paper tries to contribute additional points that would help increase
expatriate knowledge and understanding.
In the past, researchers have explained the role of various factors in the success of an
expatriate but lack of proper understanding of concepts and theories led to vagueness of these
factors. There is a need to establish the proper roles of the factors.
The objectives of this paper involves explanation of the roles of various factors like
personality traits of the expatriates, previous international exposure, self-efficacy or
dependency, social network or cultural skills, expatriate adjustment and job performance.
4. Discussion
4.1. Personality traits
This article describes the individual factors that define an expatriate’s ability to
succeed in developing business relations in a foreign country. Researchers have described the
Big Five personality traits that determine the success of the expatriates. The five factors are

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extroversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, openness or intellect and emotional stability
(Awais Bhatti et al., 2014).
4.1.a. Extroversion
Extroversion involves the personality traits like talkativeness, energy and
assertiveness of an individual. Various researchers have put forth their point of view about
this personality trait. According to some, extroverts are less tense in a workplace with social
activities while an introvert will feel more tensed to work and communicate in such an
environment. Moreover, extroverts can also adjust to a new social environment. Moreover,
extroverts with their energetic and assertive skills will help them to adjust with the natives of
the foreign country. Moreover, extroverts with their talkative nature will be able to interact
with the new individuals and the natives of the foreign country will feel free to interact with
these expatriates. In addition extroverts can easily adjust themselves to a new culture and in
the process can navigate their careers to higher positions using their assertive skills.
4.1.b. Conscientiousness
Conscientiousness refers to the personality traits like proper organizational skills and
the ability to carry out thorough planning for future prospects. According to many
researchers, conscientiousness enables the expatriates to enhance their job performance.
Expatriates achieve conscientiousness if they are motivated in the workplace and carry out
their tasks on a timely basis without regard of personal issues. Motivated expatriates can
carry out additional roles, which enable them to establish interpersonal relationships with the
other individuals in the work environment, which will subsequently enhance their
performance. Their questioning skills will enable them to interact properly and enable them
to develop a strong foothold in both the work place and the society in general. Expatriates
need to have a good reputation, which will enable them to attain leadership roles and gain the
chance of getting future promotions.
4.1.c. Agreeableness
Ability to show kindness, sympathy and affection are the highlights of the personality
trait agreeableness. These skills enable expatriates to nurture close bonds with the natives of
the foreign country and in the process, it reduces the stress associated with work pressure.
This trait helps the expatriates to develop alliances both inside and outside the workplace.
This not only helps to enhance job performance but also enables them to maintain their social

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life as well. The ability of the expatriate to resolve issues in the workplace and development
of mutual understanding helps to establish cross-cultural relations. Expatriates who are
flexible to the changes in the surroundings can adjust better at the workplace as well as in the
society. This finally results in enhanced job performance.
4.1.d. Openness or intellect
It highlights the personality traits like having interest in varied subjects, having a
creative mind or imagination and intellectual ability. The ability of the expatriates to perceive
the social, cultural and workplace differences can enable them to solve issues thereby
enhancing their survival. Proper assessment of the surroundings enables the expatriates to
preserve themselves in both the workplace and society. The expatriate’s openness towards
new cultures, beliefs and work environments enable them to hold a positive attitude towards
the new environment. This in turn enables them to enhance their job performance and
succeed in life. Moreover, a good imagination and creative skills enable the expatriates to
show high productivity in the workplace (Wilson, Ward & Fischer, 2013).
4.1.e. Emotional stability
Emotional stability or neuroticism involves personality traits like being moody,
anxious and tensed. Neuroticism is associated with a foreign environment. It enables
expatriates to adjust in the host or foreign country and to interact with their peers. Emotional
stability or neuroticism enables them to solve problematic situations and adjust to cultural
and workplace differences. This helps them to determine the cultural differences between
their country and the host country, resulting in successful adjustment and establishment of
relationships, enhancing job performance, among others. Emotional stability helps the
expatriates to be confident and positive, thereby helping them to deal with various unpleasant
experiences and subsequently enhancing job performance (Ren et al., 2015).
4.2. Previous international exposure/experience
Previous experiences enable the expatriates to analyze their mistakes and imply the
corrections in future planning. Experiences enable them to handle different critical situations
and perform tasks in a better way. Previous experience in a workplace enables expatriates to
develop new knowledge and skills, which help them to adjust and perform better in the new
environment. Moreover, expatriates who have experienced cultural clashes in the past can
adjust themselves in the new environment to get cultural acceptance (Crowne, 2013).

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4.3. Self efficacy or dependency
Self-efficacy or self-confidence determines the ability of the expatriate to work in an
unknown setting and carry out assignments on time. Individuals with low self-efficacy show
poor performing ability, are frequently absent and look for other jobs. On the contrary,
individuals with high self-efficacy can perform better and are committed to their jobs.
Individuals with high self-efficacy show problem solving skills, can initiate tasks and achieve
tasks in the face of problems (Rehg, Gundlach & Grigorian, 2012).
4.4. Social network or cultural skills
Cultural sensitivity enables the individuals to have a positive attitude towards cultural
differences and as a result establish better relations with the host country, further improving
job performance. Social network refers to the social relations that an individual develops
through interactions. Social network may also include the alliance of the expatriates with the
host country nationals. This enables them to gain additional information and access to
culture, working styles, food and behaviour. They can get information beforehand about their
job and the working conditions in the new environment. This will subsequently enable them
to establish working relations and enhance job performance. It will also enable them to gain
social support from the foreign nationals (Rienties & Nolan, 2014).
4.5. Expatriate’s adjustment
Various researchers have defined expatriate adjustment in different ways. One
definition of adjustment is subjective well being which includes the feelings of the expatriate
towards their work environment. Another definition involves acceptance of socio-cultural
changes for better interaction with host nationals. Lastly, adjustment can be defined as a
discomfort of the expatriates at the psychological level involving work, interaction and
general adjustments. Work adjustment refers to the comfort level in the workplace, general
adjustments include the adaptations to new food, language, transportation; while interaction
adjustment refers to the ability of the expatriates to successfully interact with the foreign
nationals (Malek & Budhwar, 2013).
4.6. Job performance
Job performance refers to the motivation and commitment that an expatriate shows
towards the job. Various factors influence job performance. These are orientation towards

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goals, self-efficacy and monitoring, task orientation, cultural sensitivity, ability to perform
challenging tasks and previous international experiences (Bhatti, Sundram & Hoe, 2012).
5. Research managerial implications in UAE
The economy of the United Arab Emirates or UAE is predominantly dominated by oil
but other business ventures have also developed to further enhance the economy of the
nation. These include businesses like the automobile, fashion, entertainment, ecommerce,
education, among others. In order to develop businesses in UAE, foreign companies often
send expatriates to develop and co-ordinate their business. However, the expatriates face a
number of problems during their stay in UAE. These include loneliness, inability to accustom
to social or cultural settings, relationship problems, healthcare problems, among others.
Loneliness is the major issue faced by the expatriates in the UAE (Alnajjar, 2017). People
without good communication skills cannot interact with the people in the host country and as
a result are unable to develop new social relations. As a result, they feel homesick and this
affects their job performance. However, the expatriate’s ability to interact with the natives
and establish a good working relationship with them will enable their eventual success in the
workplace as well as in their social life. Knowledge of the native language and culture are
also essential to develop social relations. Moreover, the expatriates also face cultural clashes
which prevent them to establish a working and social relationship with the host nationals. As
a result, they feel isolated, thereby affecting their performance. Moreover, the treatment of
women although has improved but still it is very different from that in the western countries
(Montagne107, 2014).
Other problems include relationship problems and healthcare problems. Individuals
moving in with their families in the UAE often suffer from maintaining their relationships
and as a result, problems creep out subsequently affecting their job performance. However,
openness to a particular social or cultural custom and practices may enable the expatriates to
lead a problem free life without any personal stress overshadowing their job performance.
Additionally, the healthcare system is very advanced in the UAE but one has to have health
insurance in order to avail the private healthcare facilities. Thus, it is better to gain
information about the country before travelling. Moreover, here also previous experiences of
the expatriate of staying in UAE comes in hand as social networks established during earlier
stays enable them to prepare thoroughly before travel.

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6. Conclusion
Development and expansion of business play an important role in the economy of the
country. However, to spread business to foreign lands require the hiring of individuals who
are experts in the field. These individuals go to the foreign countries on behalf of the
company to manage and co-ordinate the business. These individuals are called expatriates.
However, without certain characteristics, an expatriate is unable to survive in foreign lands.
These characteristics apply to the expatriates in any country and enable them to gain
reputation and enhance their performance. The personality traits of the expatriates play an
important role in developing social relations with the host country. They also help to enhance
the stature and the reputation of the expatriates among their peers. However, other factors
include the ability of the expatriate to be broad minded and adapt to the cultural practices of
the country without going into cultural clashes. Moreover, the previous experiences of the
expatriate also help in adapting to the new work environment. Self-confidence and proper
interaction skills help the expatriates to properly plan and organize their work, thereby
enabling them to complete the work on time. Apart from these, creative skills also play an
important role in enabling the expatriate to gain a good reputation as well as support from the
workplace. This in the end gives motivation and helps the expatriates to gain promotion in the
future. Thus, one can conclude that expatriates all around the world face a number of social
and professional issues. However, the ability of the expatriates to tackle these problems and
their managerial skills may enable them to succeed in their future business ventures.

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7. Reference List
Alnajjar, A. A. (2017). EXPLORING THE PHENOMENON OF LONELINESS IN THE
UAE.
Andresen, M., Bergdolt, F., & Margenfeld, J. (2012). What distinguishes self-initiated
expatriates from assigned expatriates and migrants. Self-initiated expatriation:
Individual, organizational and national perspectives, 166-194.
Awais Bhatti, M., Mohamed Battour, M., Rageh Ismail, A., & Pandiyan Sundram, V. (2014).
Effects of personality traits (big five) on expatriates adjustment and job
performance. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 33(1), 73-
96.
Bhatti, M. A., Sundram, V. P. K., & Hoe, C. H. (2012). Expatriate job performance and
adjustment: Role of individual and organizational factors. Journal of Business &
Management, 1(1), 29-39.
Cerdin, J. L., & Selmer, J. (2014). Who is a self-initiated expatriate? Towards conceptual
clarity of a common notion. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, 25(9), 1281-1301.
Crowne, K. A. (2013). Cultural exposure, emotional intelligence, and cultural intelligence:
An exploratory study. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 13(1), 5-
22.
Firth, B. M., Chen, G., Kirkman, B. L., & Kim, K. (2014). Newcomers abroad: Expatriate
adaptation during early phases of international assignments. Academy of Management
Journal, 57(1), 280-300.

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Lazarova, M. B., & Thomas, D. C. (2012). 14 Expatriate adjustment and
performance. Handbook of research in international human resource management,
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Lee, L. Y., & Kartika, N. (2014). The influence of individual, family, and social capital
factors on expatriate adjustment and performance: The moderating effect of
psychology contract and organizational support. Expert Systems with
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Malek, M. A., & Budhwar, P. (2013). Cultural intelligence as a predictor of expatriate
adjustment and performance in Malaysia. Journal of world business, 48(2), 222-231.
Montagne107, C. (2014). Voices of expatriate and bus user women in Abu Dhabi (UAE).
Constraints and detour strategies.
Peltokorpi, V., & Froese, F. J. (2012). The impact of expatriate personality traits on cross-
cultural adjustment: A study with expatriates in Japan. International Business
Review, 21(4), 734-746.
Ramalu, S. S., Rose, R. C., Uli, J., & Kumar, N. (2012). Cultural intelligence and expatriate
performance in global assignment: The mediating role of adjustment. International
Journal of Business and Society, 13(1), 19.
Rehg, M. T., Gundlach, M. J., & Grigorian, R. A. (2012). Examining the influence of cross-
cultural training on cultural intelligence and specific self-efficacy. Cross Cultural
Management: An International Journal, 19(2), 215-232.
Ren, H., Yunlu, D. G., Shaffer, M., & Fodchuk, K. M. (2015). Expatriate success and
thriving: The influence of job deprivation and emotional stability. Journal of World
Business, 50(1), 69-78.

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Rienties, B., & Nolan, E. M. (2014). Understanding friendship and learning networks of
international and host students using longitudinal Social Network
Analysis. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 41, 165-180.
Selmer, J., & Lauring, J. (2012). Reasons to expatriate and work outcomes of self-initiated
expatriates. Personnel Review, 41(5), 665-684.
Shaffer, M. A., Kraimer, M. L., Chen, Y. P., & Bolino, M. C. (2012). Choices, challenges,
and career consequences of global work experiences: A review and future
agenda. Journal of Management, 38(4), 1282-1327.
Wilson, J., Ward, C., & Fischer, R. (2013). Beyond culture learning theory: What can
personality tell us about cultural competence?. Journal of cross-cultural
psychology, 44(6), 900-927.
Zhang, L. E. (2015). On Becoming Bicultural: Language Competence, Acculturation and
Cross-cultural Adjustment of Expatriates in China.