The Dimensions of Expatriate Acculturation: A Review

The impact of expatriate personality traits on cross-cultural adjustment: A study with expatriates in Japan

“…Various elements of Flexibility, such as the ability to learn from mistakes and adjust behavior whenever it is required, are also regarded as important parts of multicultural effectiveness (Spreitzer, McCall, & Mahoney, 1997;Van der Zee & Van Oudenhoven, 2000). In work context, a flexible approach is argued to be beneficial because expatriates have to deal with miscommunication and conflicts when interacting with culturally different individuals (Leiba-O'Sullivan, 1999;Mendenhall & Oddou, 1985).…”

“…Emotional Stability is also described as the tendency to be calm and relaxed even when tempered; the ability to deal with stressful situations without getting upset; and to be inclined toward self-acceptance (Leiba-O'Sullivan, 1999). Provided that some stress is associated with living and working in foreign countries, Emotional Stability is argued to facilitate work and non-work-related adjustment in host countries (Abe & Wiseman, 1983;Arthur & Bennet, 1995;Church, 1982;Leiba-O'Sullivan, 1999;Mendenhall & Oddou, 1985). From the socioanalytic theory perspective, Emotional Stability is proposed to have a positive influence on all three facets of cross-cultural adjustment through expatriates' needs to be accepted (getting along), status and power (getting ahead), and predictability and order (finding meaning) (Shaffer et al, 2006).…”

Culture-general competence: Evidence from a cognitive field study of professionals who work in many cultures

“…Language proficiency or fluency has been demonstrated to be an important predictor of overseas adjustment (Black, Mendenhall, & Oddou, 1991;Mendenhall & Oddou, 1985) and of intercultural effectiveness (Tung, 1998). Language proficiency enables a person to understand and interact with populations in specific areas.…”

Does your intelligence help to survive in a foreign jungle? The effects of cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence on cross-cultural adjustment

“…Much previous research has examined individual differences and found that characteristics such as gender (Hechanova, Beehr, & Christiansen, 2003;Sam, 1998), age (Hechanova et al, 2003;Sam, 1998), duration in the host country (Beiser, 1988;Hechanova et al, 2003), previous foreign experience (Black, 1988;Black, Mendenhall, & Oddou, 1991;Bhaskar-Shrinivas et al, 2005), language ability (Bhaskar-Shrinivas et al, 2005;Shaffer, Harrison, & Gilley, 1999), and the Big Five personality Aycan, 1997;Bardo & Bardo, 1980;Black, 1990;Church, 1982;Hawes & Kealey, 1981;Kanungo & Misra, 1992;Mendenhall & Oddou, 1985;Searle & Ward, 1990) have a potential impact on cross-cultural effectiveness or intercultural adjustment.…”