Mind the gap: Application-based analysis of cultural adjustment models

Expatriate adjustment in the digital age: The co-creation of online social support resources through blogging

“…An expatriates' experience of uncertainty results from the inability to predict or explain behaviors in the host environment (Gudykunst, 1998(Gudykunst, , 2005Sobre-Denton & Hart, 2008). An expatriate's experience of ambiguity results from the inability to make sense or interpret facts and situations.…”

“…Traditionally in the expatriate literature, social support resources have been conceptualized as social contacts, often referred to as social brokers (Farh et al, 2010;Glanz et al, 2001;Johnson et al, 2003;Sobre-Denton & Hart, 2008). Given that in a face-to-face setting, an expatriate cannot access a message absent a relationship with a social contact, this conceptualization is not surprising.…”

“…To succeed, these individuals must adjust to work and non-work conditions in the host country (Farh, Bartol, Shapiro, & Shin, 2010). That is, newcomers living abroad must establish a relatively stable and functional relationship with the host environment (Sobre-Denton & Hart, 2008), such that they are able to predict the behavior of others in the host environment; explain others' attitudes, feelings and behaviors; interact competently (Gudykunst, 1998); and go about their everyday lives with relative ease and a sense of psychological comfort (Farh et al, 2010;Sobre-Denton & Hart, 2008;Ward, Okura, Kennedy, & Kojima, 1998). Understanding the drivers and outcomes of newcomers' adjustment to foreign environments has been a focus of international management research since the late 1970s (see Black, Mendenhall, & Oddou, 1991 for a review) and is of key importance to individuals living and working in foreign contexts and to the organizations that employ them.…”

“…Research has established the critical role of social support provided by contacts in the host country to expatriates' adjustment to foreign environments (Farh et al, 2010;Glanz, Williams, & Hoeksema, 2001;Johnson, Kristof-Brown, Van Vianen, & De Pater, 2003;Manev & Stevenson, 2001;Sobre-Denton & Hart, 2008). Contacts in the host country provide social support (Adelman, 1988), which, in the context of adjustment to foreign environments, is defined as communication that helps individuals manage uncertainty and ambiguity and increases their perceptions of control regarding life (Albrecht & Adelman, 1987;Albrecht, Goldsmith, & Thompson, 2003).…”

“…Contacts in the host country provide social support (Adelman, 1988), which, in the context of adjustment to foreign environments, is defined as communication that helps individuals manage uncertainty and ambiguity and increases their perceptions of control regarding life (Albrecht & Adelman, 1987;Albrecht, Goldsmith, & Thompson, 2003). This definition focuses on social support that addresses uncertainty, ambiguity and anxiety, which are key barriers to expatriates' adjustment to foreign environments (Gao & Gudykunst, 1990;Gudykunst, 1995Gudykunst, , 1998Gudykunst, , 2005Sobre-Denton & Hart, 2008).…”