When all roads lead to Rome: expatriate adjustment in a United Nations Organisation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Organisational Psychology at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
Loading...
Date
2009
DOI
Open Access Location
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Massey University
Rights
The Author
Abstract
Studies of expatriate adjustment have traditionally focused on corporate expatriate
assignments where foreign employees are often the only expatriate, or one of a handful
in a host organisation. Multicultural not-for-profit organisations such as United Nations
organisations have largely been ignored. It was hypothesised that classic predictors of
expatriate adjustment – Spousal Adjustment, Culture Novelty and Acculturation Style,
and novel variables of Economic Adjustment and Stage in Assignment would predict
Expatriate Adjustment and subsequent Cognitions to Withdraw prematurely from the
assignment.
181 expatriates representing 38 countries from all economic levels completed an
online survey investigating their experiences on assignment to a United Nations
Organisation in Rome, Italy. Black & Stephens (1989) classic scales of Expatriate
Adjustment, Spousal Adjustment, Culture Novelty and Cognitions to Withdraw were
employed along with Acculturation Style, Economic Adjustment and Stage in
Assignment measures designed for this study. Qualitative data was also collected
around expatriates’ cognitions to withdraw from their assignment and reasons to stay in
order to gain a richer understanding of the expatriate experience.
The best predictors of Expatriate Adjustment and subsequent Cognitions to Withdraw
for United Nations expatriate employees in Rome were classic predictor Culture
Novelty and novel predictors Economic Adjustment and Stage in Assignment.
Structural Equation Modelling indicated the best fitting model of Expatriate Adjustment
and subsequent Cognitions to Withdraw demonstrated moderate fit (!2 = 1045.19, df =
486, p =.000, TLI = .80, CFI = .82, RMSEA = .08) with Culture Novelty predicting
General and Interaction Adjustment; Economic Adjustment predicting General
Adjustment; and Adjustment Stage predicting General, Interaction and Work
Adjustment. General Adjustment was the only significant predictor of Cognitions to
Withdraw.
Qualitative analysis suggested that the classic adjustment measures used did not
adequately capture the experiences of these expatriates and that caution should be taken
in generalising the literature to not-for-profit populations. Furthermore the outcomes of
this study suggest that the inclusion of novel variables of Economic Adjustment and
Stage in Assignment as predictors of expatriate adjustment could be warranted for
future research. Sample size and adequacy of measures both limited the extent to which
analysis could be conducted and results generalised. More research into the expatriate
experience in the not-for-profit sector is desperately needed.
Description
Keywords
Non-profit organisations, Expatriates