To adjust or not to adjust in the host country? Perspective of interactionism

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship of regulatory foci (promotion focus and prevention focus) to expatriate adjustments (general, interaction, and work adjustments) and explore whether mentoring functions (psychosocial support, role modeling, and career development) moderate the aforementioned relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

Using 141 questionnaired primary data (response rate 32.25 percent) gathered from at least six months experienced expatiates of multinational companies in six industries, this study adopts regression method to examine the moderating effect.

Findings

This study found that promotion focus was positively related to the interaction and work adjustment, respectively; prevention focus was positively related to the general, interaction, and work adjustment, respectively. Psychosocial support function moderates the relationship between promotion focus and general adjustment. Career development function moderates the relationships between promotion/prevention foci and work adjustment.

Originality/value

According to the interactionism perspective, behavior is a result of the interaction between personality and situational influences, has a long history in social and personality psychology. This study extends this perspective to the interactive effects of mentorship (situational factor) and expatriates’ regulatory foci (personality factor) on expatriate adjustment.

Citation

Hung, C.-C., Huan, T.-C., Lee, C.-H., Lin, H.-M. and Zhuang, W.-L. (2018), "To adjust or not to adjust in the host country? Perspective of interactionism", Employee Relations, Vol. 40 No. 2, pp. 329-345. https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-12-2016-0237