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International Journal of Management (IJM) Volume 11, Issue 7, July 2020, pp. 485-499, Article ID: IJM_11_07_046

Available online at http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=11&IType=7

ISSN Print: 0976-6502 and ISSN Online: 0976-6510

DOI: 10.34218/IJM.11.7.2020.046

© IAEME Publication Scopus Indexed

AN INTENSIVE LITERATURE REVIEW ON

EXPATRIATES’ ISSUES AND CONCERNS

DURING AN INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENT

Bahrullah Safi

Research Scholar, Sharda University, India

Dr Parul Saxena

HOD, Department of HR & OB

School of Business Studies, Sharda University, India

ABSTRACT

Expatriates always complain about their stay in the host country. Moreover, there

are many different ups and downs that increase their issues while performing their

duties. Expatriates regardless of their culture and type of industry face certain issues

namely family issues, organizational issues and cross-cultural adjustment issues

during an international assignment. The intensity of such issues may be different from

person to person but it is associated with every single assignment. Besides these three

major issues there is range of new issues whereas expatriates have to overcome

during an international assignment. MNCs are still failed to minimize expatriates’

issues while sending them abroad and it is due to their inability to design a well-

established policy than can ensure successful international assignment. There have

been huge investments on training and development programs for expatriates but

unfortunately their outcome was almost very less or even zero. The present study

attempts to identify issues and concerns of expatriates during an international

assignment and findings revealed that there are three major issues of expatriates

during an assignment first expatriate’s family issues, second, expatriates’

organizational issues and third, expatriates’ cultural issues.

Key words: Family Issues, Organizational Issues, Cross Cultural Adjustment Issues

Cite this Article: Bahrullah Safi and Dr Parul Saxena, An Intensive Literature Review

on Expatriates’ Issues and Concerns during an International Assignment, International

Journal of Management, 11(7), 2020, pp. 485-499.

http://www.iaeme.com/IJM/issues.asp?JType=IJM&VType=11&IType=7

1. INTRODUCTION

International assignment is very complicated and there is a lot to be done in order to have

successful overseas assignments. MNCs have been doing much in order to come up with a

An Intensive Literature Review on Expatriates’ Issues and Concerns during an International

Assignment


common strategy which can be followed among them but unfortunately, they have been failed

to do so. International assignments are very popular and there is a lot to explore. It gives the

exposure and financial growth and one may enjoy several other benefits too. Expatriates face

certain issues while performing an overseas assignment and the range of issues is dependent

on many different factors and it may be different from person to person, country to country

and industry to industry. Previous studies stated that family issues, cross cultural adjustment

issues in the host country, and organizational issues are some of the most common issues

among different problems which expatriate face during international assignments in the host

country. MNCs have been providing some sort of training & development programs in order

enable their expatriates to overcome these issues in the international market but unfortunately,

expatriates have been struggling to overcome these many troubles in the host country. In spite

of some organizational support and some sort of different arrangements, expatriates still face

many types of issues when they move overseas and work. The ranges of issues they face

impact directly individuals and their organizations in diverse financial and nonfinancial ways.

2. METHOD

The present study is based on secondary data and studies focusing on expatriates’ issues and

concerns during international assignments were discussed carefully. A large number of

potential studies were reviewed in order to identify issues and concerns of expatriates during

an international assignment. Furthermore, the comprehensive reviewed provided a research

gap that further helped the researcher to draw the attention of potential scholars to conduct

their studies on those areas of research. Mostly studies from 2000 till date were reviewed and

they were student papers, thesis and research paper from international and national journals. A

large number of studies were at international level as there are few research studies available

at national level especially in the Indian context. All the studies incorporated in the present

study are available online and they are from valid as well as reliable sources.

3. RESEARCH QUESTION

The following questions are formulated and based on comprehensive literature review they all

are answered correctly. The previous studies revealed that expatriates face all these three

major issues and concerns during an international assignment in the host country. The studies

further revealed that expatriates may face these issues differently but they confirmed that it

very common for an expatriate to experience family issues, organizational issues and cross-

cultural adjustment issues during an international assignment in the host country. It further

added that expatriates face issues which may not be in the flowing context but mostly

expatriates concern about these three major issues while deciding to accept an assignment.

Do expatriates experience family issues during an international assignment?

Do expatriates face organizational issues during an international assignment?

Do expatriates face cultural adjustment issues during an international assignment?

4. INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION CRITERIA

Researcher decided to review twenty relevant studies focusing on expatriates’ issues and

concerns during an international assignment. Initially thirty research papers and studies were

reviewed and twenty of them were found relevant to the present review and these twenty

studies are mainly from year 2000 to till date. All studies in English language and from

verified sources as well as after year 200 were reviewed and accepted. Studies not in these

criteria were rejected and were not reviewed for the same. In fact, there are huge sources of

Bahrullah Safi and Dr Parul Saxena


secondary studies on expatriates’ issues and concerns which are available online mainly in

wikis that are not a part of this review. A list of reviewed papers is presented in the table 1.

Table 1 List of reviewed papers included

Sr. No Author/s Paper/s

1 Brewster, C., et al., 2005. Job satisfaction among expatriates, repatriates and domestic employees.

The perceived impact of international assignments on work-related

variables.

2 Polón, M., 2017. Impact of cross-cultural training on expatriate performance

3 Rocke, D., 2017. Expatriation: challenges & success factors of an international career.

4 Dave, D.G. and Makwana,

K., 2016.

A study on assessing expatriate’s challenges during an international

assignment: international human resource management perspective.

5 Rawls, K.N., 2016. A phenomenological examination of expatriate families during their

transitions to living in a foreign country.

6 Insch, G.S., et al., 2008. The expatriate glass ceiling: the second layer of glass

7 Caligiuri, P.M. and

Colakoglu, S., 2007.

A strategic contingency approach to expatriate assignment

management.

8 Zhang, L.E. and Harzing,

A.W., 2016.

From dilemmatic struggle to legitimized indifference: expatriates’ host

country language learning and its impact on the expatriate-HCE

relationship.

9 Ko, H.C. and Yang, M.L.,

2011.

The effects of cross-cultural training on expatriate assignments.

10 Abdullah et al., 2011. Issues and trends in expatriation management.

11 Moulik, S.R. and

Mazumdar, S., 2012.

Expatriate satisfaction in international assignments: perspectives from

Indian its professionals working in the US.

12 Nikolaeva, T.G., 2010. The challenges of expatriation & repatriation.

13 Minter, R.L., 2008. Preparation of expatriates for global assignments: revisited.

14 Ko, H.C., 2014. Role of family in expatriate assignments: a qualitative study.

15 Caligiuri, P. and Cascio,

W.F., 2000.

Sending women on global assignments challenges, myths and solutions.

16 Mitrev, S. et al., 2012. Expatriation in Europe: factors and insights.

17 Gerald, R.V., 2014. Global adjustment challenges facing female business expatriates.

18 Gupta, N., et al., 2012. Expatriation: the solution or the problem?

19 Speranza, C., 2017. Women expatriate leaders: how leadership behaviors can reduce gender

barriers.

20 Lineberry, M., 2012. Expatriates' acculturation strategies: going beyond "how adjusted are

you?" to "how do you adjust?"

5. FINDINGS

Expatriates face certain issues while performing an overseas assignment and the range of

issues they face during an international assignment is dependent on many different factors and

it may be different from person to person, country to country and industry to industry but

previous studies revealed that expatriate family issues, cross cultural adjustment issues in the

host country, and expatriate organizational issues are top common issues and concerns of

expatriates during an international assignment. Moreover, expatriates face these issues and

concerns irrespective of their country of origin and the type of industry there are into. On the

other hand, expatriate family issues, cross cultural adjustment issues and organizational issues

can be named as expatriates’ common issues and concerns during an international assignment.

The above-mentioned expatriate common issues and concerns are presented with main and

sub headings below.

5.1. Family Issues

Initially expatriates used move overseas alone but at the present expatriates mostly like to go

with their family members on an international assignment. Now it is important for the


Assignment


multinational corporations to consider expatriate’s family when sending employee overseas

and the inclusion of expatriate’s family is now almost a common practice among industries.

When expatriates shift overseas with family members, they generally face several family

issues in the host country which negatively impacting their performance in the subsidiary.

Family safety and security, children’s education system in the host country, inability of

spouse to adjust in the host country, lack of wife occupation opportunities in the international

market and parental demand are some of the family issues expatriates struggle to overcome in

the host country. Studies revealed that expatriate’s family issues should be given priority and

companies must design polices in a way in which family issues should be addressed carefully

during an international assignment. In addition, multinational corporations should also include

family members in their training and development programs as it is equally important to train

family members in order to regulate faster in the host country environment. When expatriates

are educated about host country, this increases their confident to be much positive and excited

about their international assignment. Above all, expatriate’s family issues and concerns have

major influence over expatriate’s choice to either accept an international assignment or else to

refuse it. Therefore, having a deep understanding of expatriate’s family issues and how to

tackle those issues increases the chances of successful organizational expatriation. Figure 1

below Shows expatriates most regular family issues in an overseas duty.

Figure 1 Expatriate Family Issues

5.1.1. Inability of Family to Adjust

Expatriate’s family issues are generally culturally enclosed and it is dynamic in nature.

Studies revealed that many MNCs don’t show willingness to include expatriate’s family in an

international assignment and even they don’t give any sort of training despite of knowing the

fact that ignoring expatriate’s family may lead to expatriate’s failure in the host nation. MNCs

should provide training opportunities not just for expatriate however for their family units

when sending them overseas. This may increase efficiency of expatriate and it would further

lead to a successful international assignment. Moreover, expatriates have to be very sure

about their family adjustment before accepting an international assignment because inability

of family to adjust in the host country may definitely impact their performance during an

assignment. When expatriate’s family adjusts faster, it also increases expatriate’s capability to

perform better during an international assignment. Expatriate family adjustment issues start

right from arrival and they are many for instance inability to adjust with weather and climate,

inability to adjust with law and order, culture, food, people and education system. Last but not

the least that studies revealed that expatriate’s family initially struggle so much but they

gradually try to adjust in the host country during an international assignment.

Inability of

family to adjust

Lack of spouse’s

career

opportunities

Family and

support and role

Children’s

education



5.1.2. Lack of Spouse’s Career Opportunities

In today’s globalized world males are no more superior to females and a large group of

expatriates who move overseas have their working professional spouses who are also looking

for greater exposure in order to learn and gain international experience. It is now almost a

trend that roughly every expatriate wants that their spouse should also have some professional

assignment to do when they move abroad but mostly expatriates are only deployed overseas

and spouse who works in home country with a different organization has to leave her job in

order to join her family overseas. Spouses who leave jobs in home country and move overseas

with their husband’s face career opportunities and most of them don’t have the chance to

work in the host nation. Lack of spouse career opportunity in the host setting makes

expatriates to refuse international assignment given by organization but in most of the

situations spouse has to scarify her career growth for the family. Spouses who leave home job

and going overseas with families gradually become very stressful and they cannot continue

their stay with their family members in the host country and this situation even sometimes

leads to family separation and it increases distance among the family and members.

5.1.3. Family Support & Role

Family support during an international assignment is very important and it helps expatriate to

change faster in the host country environment (Van Erp et al., 2008). Family support also

helps expatriates not only to adjust faster but it gives them strength to become more

productive and well-organized during an international assignment in the host country. It

further helps to reduces expatriate’s stress and support them morally during their stay in the

host country. Studies also revealed that expatriates having their family support during

international assignment are more successful and productive than those who are staying

overseas without their families. Spouse plays major roles namely; supporting, influential,

agile, restricting, involved and equivalent spouse role during an international assignment in

(Mäkelä et al., 2011). Last but not the least when expatriates do not receive family support

during international assignment, they may experience major issues such as incapability to

focus on occupation, failure to complete international assignment, psychological stress,

pressure and depression and even in some cases returning back home country unsuccessfully.

5.1.4. Children’s Education

Children’s education became one of the top most expatriate’s family issues these days and it

has been becoming a crucial aspect of international assignments. Moreover, it is one of the

biggest hindrances towards expatriate’s willingness whether to acknowledge an international

assignment or to decline it. Many expatriates reject international assignments due to their

children education and they prefer to stay home in order to not disturb their children education

by moving overseas. In fact, when children move overseas, they face a drastic difference in

their education system and it takes time to overcome them. The biggest struggle children have

to do is to learn the host country language because; in some countries education system is

offered in their own native language. Previous studies revealed that children education has

been ignored by many IHRM professionals and MNCs also haven’t considered it very

seriously. Problems do not end when children move overseas but they also face major issues

when they go back home or third country after completion of their parent’s assignment.

5.2. Organizational Issues

Expatriate’s issues start by shifting from home country to the host country and they face key

organizational issues during this period of time. Expatriates may be successful if they receive

the right support during an international assignment. Moreover, organizational support during

is significant because it is almost impossible to return home successfully without having


Assignment


organizational support. On the other hand, expatriates always try to find ways in order to have

organizational support but unfortunately organizations are unable to provide enough support

during their employees stay in the host country. Apart of this, there is huge gender

discrimination that leads to unequal treatment of male and female expatriates during an

international assignment. Female expatriates aren’t given managerial post so often and they

hardly get a chance to go for an international assignment in the host country. Above all, today

a great number of employees in the subsidiary are from local market and when expatriates

move overseas to take care of management in the subsidiary, they are not welcomed warmly

by local employees in the host country. Local employees take time to get familiar with newly

appointed expatriate and expatriate struggle to find social acceptance among the employees in

the host country. There are many organizational issues that disturb expatriate performance and

lead to expatriate failure. Figure 2 below shows organizational issues of expatriate.

Figure 2 Expatriate Organizational Issues

5.2.1. Job Satisfaction

Satisfied expatriates are more productive and they return home successfully. Expatriate’s job

satisfaction depends on many organizational factors like working hours, salary and

compensation, work environment, management support and relationship at work. It is a matter

of pride when companies have satisfied employees because they ensure long term

organizational success and keeps organization much competitive and strong. In contrast

dissatisfied employees make organization least productive and may lead to shut down and

crises because dissatisfied expatriates may not complete their assignment successfully and

they may bring immense financial and non-financial cost to the organization. In spite of such

importance, expatriate’s job satisfaction has received least attention and there has been few

studies which studied expatriate’s job satisfaction but the concept of job satisfaction in the

domestic context has received vast interest of researchers and there are plenty of research

available on the same. Table 1 and 2 show job satisfiers and dissatisfiers or hygiene factors.

Table 2 Job Satisfiers Factors

1 Performance and accomplishment

2 Acknowledgment and appreciation

3 Job status and position

4 Accountability and liability

5 Opportunity for development and advancement

6 Personal and professional growth

7 The nature of work itself

8 Training and development

9 Autonym and freedom

10 Future prospects

Job

satisfaction

Communication Training &

development

Management

support



Table 3 Job Dissatisfies or Hygiene Factors

1 Company rules and regulation

2 Salary and compensation and benefits

3 Bureaucracy and administration

4 Relationship with superintendent

5 Relationship with coworkers

6 Employment conditions

7 The physical work environment

8 Job security

9 Work life balance

10 Quality of administration and management

5.2.2. Training & Development

Expatriates need training in order to adjust faster and perform better during assignment. When

employees participate in training programs they improve drastically and they enhance their

ability to overcome issues faster. Training not only enhances expatriate’s ability to adjust

faster but it also assists expatriate to complete international assignment successfully in the

host country. Previous studies found that there are many companies which don’t provide

proper training and orientation programs to their employees and they believe that training is

not as useful as it should be but companies have to change their mindset and should go with

time It is the duty of IHR managers to design proper preparation and growth strategies which

should convene the requirements of the present time. They should invest and try to provide as

much training opportunities as possible to their expatriates in overseas. Studies also stated that

IHR professionals haven’t been successful to design standard training program for expatriates

which could be followed by MNCs across the globe. Literature also found that Language

training is very vital and it should be given the top priority during expatriate’s selection. Table

3 shows below few training areas for expatriates during an assignment.

Table 4 Expatriate training Areas

1 Local or native language of the host nation environment

2 Ethnicity of the host country where business unit operates

3 Local or host country customs and traditions

4 History of the country where expatriate goes on assignment

5 General living environment and conditions

6 Training to expand expatriate skills

7 Training on career and professional planning

8 Repatriation training while returning back home country

5.2.3. Communication

Expatriates require regular communication and communication is very important for keeping

employees excited especially about their repatriation. Insufficient communication creates

misunderstanding among employees and organization and it leads to expatriate’s poor

performance during international assignment. MNCs suffer immense losses due to lack of

proper communication network and they haven’t been able to design a well standard

communication channel yet. When expatriates don’t have day to day updates, they loss their

interest and become very casual that may definitely lead to international assignment failure.

Expatriates also face communication barriers when they are in the host country and it is due to

the truth that many expatriates are unable to understand local languages in the host country. It

is almost mandatory for expatriates to study home language of the host country and it will

facilitate them to ensure effective communication during international assignment. Having,


Assignment


effective communication with local employees and customers help expatriates to run

subsidiary in the finest possible way and it further eliminate communication gap among them.

Table 4 shows methods of communication and figure 3 shows corporate communication.

Table 5 Methods of Communication in the Organization

Oral

Communication

Oral communication is a process of contact through words and it is usually

used for internal matters in the organization. Oral communication mostly

occurs face to face. It can be formal or informal.

Written Communication

When information and thoughts exchange in written form it is called

written communication and it may be in the form of letters, scripts,

bulletins, files, circulars, memos and etc. written communication is far

used method and it has no other alternative in certain situations.

Electrical

Communication

Faxes and e-mails are the form of electrical communication method and it

is mostly used to communicate with external people. Electrical

communication is faster and low-priced. Nowadays multinational

corporations typically use electrical communication method.

Figure 3 Structure of Internal Corporate Communication

5.2.4. Management Support

Management support includes all those activities and strategies which facilitate expatriates to

feel that the company appreciate their assistance, concerns about their health, considers their

objectives and principles, care for them reasonably, pay attention to their troubles and support

to resolve them. The presence of such organizational support is crucial and it may help

expatriates to adjust faster and perform better during an international assignment. Previous

studies also revealed that organizational support help out expatriates to overcome general

adjustment, work adjustment and interaction adjustment faster. Employees who receive

organizational support not only complete their international assignments successfully but they

are more enthusiastic to help their colleagues, even when it is not a part of their professional

job and they also try to contribute towards organizational development. Organizational

support is mainly depending on organizational leadership and managers in organizations

aren’t generally responsible towards providing organizational support. When there is

organizational leadership involvement in the drafting of polices and organizational plans

pretending to employees’ organizational support then the amount of organizational support

would be definitely immense during an international assignment but studies showed that

leadership has least engagement in the same. Table 5 shows types of management support.



Table 6 Types of Management Support

1 Physical support and assistance

2 Information support

3 Emotional and affecting support

4 Hardly noticeable support

5 Financial support

5.3. Cross Cultural Adjustment Issues

Cross cultural adjustment is not simply important for assignees but for companies too,

because; expatriate’s level of cross-cultural adjustments during international assignments

demonstrates the possibility of international assignment success (Parker and McEvoy 1993,

cited in Waxing, 2004, P. 3). Cross cultural adjustment would be defined as the level of a

person’s emotional relieve with different parts of a host country (Black (1988). Moreover,

Cross cultural adjustment is an inner and mental condition which can simply be evaluated by

the person him or herself while entering to different cultural surroundings (Searle and Ward,

1990). Cross cultural adjustment is divided into three parts namely general adjustment,

interaction adjustment and work adjustment (Black, 1988). Overcoming general adjustment in

terms of general living conditions, education facilities and health care facilities in the host

country, work adjustment and interaction adjustment is a time taking process and one may

take time to overcome these issues during an international assignment. Previous studies

revealed that cross culture adjustment training has great impact on expatriate’s performance

during international assignment (Black & Mendenhall, 1990; Litlrell & Salas, 2005; Selmer,

2005). Studies further discussed that inability to overcome cross culture differences may lead

to expatriate’s assignment failure (Briscoe & Schuler; 2004; Dowling & Welch, 2005). The

more expatriate knows about host country culture the better he can perform during his or her

international assignment. The chance of successful assignment is only higher when expatriate

is well culturally adjusted. Culturally well-informed expatriates are unbiased and they are

open to the host country’s culture during the assignment. Culturally learned expatriates are

further excellent at integrating new manners, customs and roles into their own culture

(Caligiuri and Tung, 1999). Western multinational corporations generally give priority to

those expatriates who have already worked in the overseas market and understand the fact

behind cross cultural difference. Above all, IHRM should take care of cultural differences and

try to address them carefully. Table 6 below shows expatriate’s cross-cultural adjustment.

Figure 4 Expatriate Cross Cultural Adjustment

5.3.1. General Adjustment

There are many definitions to general adjustment; it can be defined as the individual’s ability

to agree to the new situation or environment. Socializing with people in the host country,

dealings with local crowd, communication, and living circumstances are some essentials

which persuade expatriate’s general adjustment (Zainol et al., 2017). In addition, expatriates

General cross-cultural

adjustment

Interaction cross cultural

adjustment

Work cross cultural

adjustment


Assignment


may be concern about adjustment with food, shopping, healthcare facilities and education

during an international assignment. When expatriates have a clue about host country’s food

habits, entertainment facilities, health and education then they generally need least time to

overcome general adjustment issues. Shopping which is a kind of day to day activity is one of

the common expatriate’s general adjustments because shopping pattern is different depending

upon country to country. Sometimes shopping adjustment may increase other expatriate’s

challenges during an international assignment and even in some cases employees may reject

to accept international assignments due to the fact that they feel incapably to adjust with day

to day activity in the host country (Black, 1998). Studies revealed that the level of adjustment

to the day to day activity in the host nation is depending on expatriates’ experience living

overseas. Accepting general living condition in the host country is another expatriate’s

general cross-cultural adjustment issue which expatriates have to acknowledge while living in

the host country. Above all, the success of an assignment is not only depending upon

expatriate’s cross- cultural adjustment skills but it is mostly depending upon expatriate him or

herself. In order to experience success, one must build ability to overcome adjustment issues

and it is also true that everyone may not have the same ability to overcome them easily.

5.3.2. Interaction Adjustment

The degree of expatriates interaction adjustment is depend upon their country of origin and it

is different from person to person (Waxin, 2004). Waxin further said that expatriate’s desire

to communicate, public orientation, dynamic anxiety confrontation and frankness capability

are fundamental to the interaction adjustment progress during an international assignment.

Expatriate interaction can be defined as the level to which an expatriate is contented

interacting with host country nationals (Takeuchi et al., 2002). Difference between home

country and host county increases uncertainty which negatively impacts expatriate’s

interaction adjustment in the host country. Previous research revealed that prior international

assignment experience is useful for expatriate’s general cross-cultural adjustment and it

doesn’t facilitate expatriate’s work and interaction adjustment during an international

assignment (Black, 1988). Studies revealed that cross cultural training is useful during

international assignment and it increases not only expatriate’s interaction adjustment but also

work and general adjustment in the host country. Organizational support not only increases

expatriate’s interaction adjustment but it has very positive impact on overall three phases of

cross-cultural adjustment. A part from organizational support, coworker support during

international assignment also helps expatriates to overcome interaction adjustment. Above all,

speaking host country language increases expatriate’s ability to overcome interaction

adjustment sooner while staying in the host country.). However, some studied stated that there

is momentous relationship between expatriate span of time spent in the host country and

expatriate’s interaction and general adjustment during international assignment (Waxin,

2000).

5.3.3. Work Adjustment

Expatriates who tackle general and interaction adjustments during international assignment

may not be successful without overcoming work adjustment issues. Expatriate work

adjustment is equally important like other cross-cultural adjustments of expatriates. Studies

revealed that expatriates have least work adjustment issues as compare to general and

interaction adjustments issues during an international assignment. General adjustment, work

adjustment and interaction adjustment almost need similar majors in order to increase

expatriate ability to overcome cross cultural adjustment issues in the host country. Expatriates

with higher personality traits are good at overcoming work adjustment issues and a study



revealed that family adjustment also has a direct relationship with expatriate’s work

adjustment level. In addition, culture of country of origin and organizational support has a

positive impact on expatriate work adjustment. Expatriates receiving organizational support

are more productive and well-adjusted and they also intend to finish their assignments

successful. Last but not the least expatriate cross cultural motivation also has useful impact on

work adjustment and perceived organizational support increases expatriate degree of cross-

cultural motivation to adjust faster with work and new environment of the host country.

6. DISCUSSION

Family issues, organizational issues and cross-cultural adjustment issues are most highlighted

issues and concerns of expatriates during an international assignment. Moreover, failure of

family to adjust, lack of wife’s profession opportunities, family support and role, children’s

education are common expatriate’s family issues during an international assignment

meanwhile, job satisfaction, communication, training and development, management support

are considered to be the top organizational issues besides expatriates cross cultural adjustment

issues which are general adjustment, interaction adjustment and work adjustment issues.

Expatriate’s family issues are generally culturally enclosed and it is dynamic in nature.

Expatriate’s family plays very important role and in particular spouse support is very

significant during an international assignment. In today’s globalized world males are no more

superior to females and a large group of expatriates who move overseas have their working

professional spouses who are also looking for greater exposure in order to learn and gain

international experience. It is now almost a trend that roughly every expatriate wants that their

spouse should also have some professional assignment to do when they move abroad. Family

support during international assignment is very important and it helps expatriate to adjust

faster in the host country environment. Children education is all the time the first priority of

expatriate’s family these days and their own issues generally come second. Expatriates may

be successful when they receive right support from their international managers and

organizational support matters a lot for a successful operation. Expatriate feel satisfy when

organization provides every support during international assignment but sometimes in spite of

direct and indirect organizational support expatriate doesn’t see satisfaction at their jobs due

to some other hygiene factors which impacting their satisfaction level at work. Employees

who go on international assignments need training in order to facilitate them to adjust faster

and to perform greater during their international assignment. Expatriates require regular

communication during their international assignments and communication is very important

for keeping employees excited especially about their repatriation. Employees who have

already experienced cultural differences in their career are the right candidates because they

know very well how to overcome these differences and adjust faster. Expatriates don’t have

the ability to acquire every cultural adjustment skill at once but they should be given cultural

training that would at least help them to know about different cross-cultural adjustment issues

that they may face in the host country. MNCs can train their expatriates cross culturally in

many different ways they may adopt cognitive, the effective, experiential and language

training approaches in order to facilitate their expatriates with an effective training program.

Trained expatriates are more energetic and dynamic and they are well aware of their

responsibilities. When expatriates move to countries which have least difference, they take

less time to adjust but when they move to countries which are culturally diverse, they take lots

of time to overcome adjustment issues. Expatriates whose families are well adjusted are more

stratified compare to those whose families are having hard time to adjust. Above all,

expatriates who are having advanced individuality characters are more successful than

expatriates having no or least personality traits.


Assignment


7. PRACTICAL IMPLICATION

The present study helps organizations in particular multinational corporations to design better

policies and strategies for their expatriates’ employees. It may further enable them to be

careful while sending employees on international assignments in host country. The outcome

of this study also educates multinational corporations’ human resource experts to analyze

different aspects of international assignments especially expatriate’s cross-cultural adjustment

issues, organizational issues and family issues prior to select or recruit employees for an

international assignment in the host country. In addition, the implication provides a clear and

classified understanding of issues and concerns of expatriates during international

assignments in the host country. The implication further helps expatriates in understanding

the intensity of issues and concerns they face during international assignment and it also

enable them equip themselves with every perquisite while moving overseas. The implication

can be used as basis for expatriates who are willing to accept an international assignment.

Last but not the least the implication can be used a great source of information for those

researchers and scholars who are interested to conduct their studies in this area of research.

8. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY AND FUTURE RESEARCH

There is no research without limitation. Every research study has its own kind of limitations

which is due to the type of research methodology and design applied in the study. Research

limitations have its own impact over the finding of a study hence every researcher attempts to

mention their research study limitation in order to give reliability to their work. The present

study is based on secondary data and a bunch of studies conducted in the last two decades

focusing on expatriates’ issues and concerns during an international assignment are analyzed.

Most of the previous studies were in European and Asian context whereas there are were no

constructive studies in Indian context. Considering the findings of present study, it is can be

said that expatriates generally face same or similar issues during international assignments

and it hardly matters where an expatriate goes to perform an international assignment. The

present study also provokes researchers and potential scholars to conduct studies on other

aspects of expatriates rather than their issues and concerns during an international assignment

because it is the time to shift our focus on other critical issues of expatriates during an

international assignment for instance the impact of corona virus on expatriates during an

international assignment and etc.

9. RESEARCH GAP

There are many studies focusing on expatriates’ family issues and cross-cultural

adjustment issues however there are few studies talking about organizational issues of

expatriates during an international assignment in the host country environment.

Areas like training and growth programs for expatriates, selection and recruitment,

performance and appraisal, job satisfaction and expatriate’s success and failure are

over researched instead there is vital need to study other areas of research.

Organizational expatriates who are working in a subsidiary of a multinational

corporation have been given comprehensive attention in the past studies while there is

limited approach towards self-initiated expatriates and even economic migrants such

as refugees.

There is growing inclination of research studies on expatriates in Asian context and

there is immense demand for expatriates in newly developed and developing

countries.



There is a shift from organizational expatriates to self-initiated expatriates due to the

cost factor as self-initiated expatriates are relatively affordable than organizational

expatriates. Local employees in the host country are also given great exposure to work

in the managerial positions that diminishes the number of expatriates in the subsidiary.

10. KEY LEARNINGS

Previous studies revealed that expatriates experience similar issues and concerns

during an international assignment in the host country and there are unusual cases that

expatriates do not have any issues while moving overseas to perform an assignment.

Organizational expatriates generally face three major issues namely family issues,

organizational issues and cross-cultural adjustment issues whereas the situation is

different for self-initiated expatriates and migrants.

The compressive literature further suggests that expatriates’ family issues,

organizational issues and cross-cultural adjustment issues can be labeled as

expatriates’ common issues during an international assignment in the host country

environment.

Inability of family to adjust, lack of spouse career opportunity, family role and support

and children’s education are major expatriates’ family issues during an international

assignment.

Job satisfaction, communication, training and development, management support are

top organizational issues of expatriates during an international assignment in the host

country environment.

Expatriate general adjustment, expatriate work adjustment and expatriate interaction

adjustments are considered to be counted as cross cultural adjustment issues of

expatriates during an assignment.

Previous studies also revealed that there are no constructive studies on expatriates’

issues and concerns during an international assignment in Indian context in contrast

there are few studies & works talking about self-initiated expatriates in Indian domain.

The successful performance of an expatriate is depending on these issues and

expatriates are successful when they have least or no such issues during assignments.

Training is known as best remedy to overcome expatriates’ common issues during an

international assignment but unfortunately multinational organizations are not serious

about training and development programs for their overseas employees.

Expatriates hardly overcome these issues and return home successfully but

unfortunately many expatriates fail during assignment and return home

unsuccessfully.

Appropriate selection and recruitment are another approach to reduce or overcome

these issues as inappropriate selection boost expatriates’ issues during an assignment.

Last but not the least we can say that expatriate’s family has similar or related issues

and concerns during an international assignment regardless of their origin or type of

industry they are working.

11. CONCLUSION

Expatriates face different issues such as family issues, organizational and cross-cultural

adjustment issues during international assignments. Family adaption is a complicated process

and it generally takes time to adjust and adopt with the environment of host country. It is


Assignment


important to be sure about spouse adjustment, children education, family safety and security,

spouse career growth in the host country and care for parents before accepting an international

assignment. Family related factors have major role in expatriate’s decision whether to accept

an international assignment or to reject international assignment offer. Organizational support

is another concern which expatriates doesn’t receive it during international assignments.

Studies revealed that expatriates receive minimum organizational support during international

assignments but they appreciate organization support very much as it plays significant role

during international assignments. Employees having organizational support are more

productive and they are generally successful in their assignments. In addition, organizational

support increases expatriate’s performance, job satisfaction and ability to adjust faster in the

host country. Studies further revealed that expatriates only receive organizational support

before departure and they even don’t receive any organizational support during assignment

and while repatriation. Organizations have introduced many strategies in order to ensure

successful expatriation but there is still no international and standard policy among industries

to ensure successful international assignments. Cross cultural adjustment is third major issues

expatriates face during international assignments and there is plenty of research available on

this aspect of expatriate’s issues during international assignments. Expatriates generally have

hard time to overcome cross cultural adjustment during international assignments and these

adjustments are mainly general adjustment, interaction and work adjustment. Employees who

are culturally educated are capable to overcome cross cultural adjustment faster in the host

country and they are also open-minded which help them to be more productive during their

assignments in the host country. Some multinational corporations organize cross cultural

adjustment training to their perspective employees and this training generally includes

language and orientation program. Language training is very helpful and companies should

consider language ability in their selection process while sending employees overseas.

Employees repatriate due to lack of ability to overcome cross cultural adjustment issues and

many employees don’t show willingness to continue with their organization when they arrive

back at home. Companies should design their repatriation program in a way that should

encourage and train employees to be excited about their returns.

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an intensive literature review on expatriates’ issues … · during an international assignment...

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