The relationship between expatriates' personality traits and their adjustment to international assignments

International Journal of Human Resource Management

Volumn 16, Issue 9, 2005, Pages 1656-1670

  Huang, Tsai Jung ^a   Chi, Shu Cheng ^a   Lawler, John J ^b  

^a NATIONAL TAIWAN UNIVERSITY   (Taiwan)

^b UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA CHAMPAIGN   (United States)

Author keywords

Adjustment; Big Five model; Chinese; Expatriate; Personality trait

Indexed keywords

EID: 27744538392     PISSN: 09585192     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09585190500239325     Document Type: Article

References (47)

1. Armes, K. and Ward, C. (1988) 'Cross-cultural Transition and Sojourner Adjustment in Singapore', The Journal of Social Psychology, 129(2): 273-5.
2. Barrett, L.F. and Pietromenaco, P.R. (1997) 'Accuracy of the Five-factor Model in Predicting Perceptions of Daily Social Interactions', Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23(11): 1173-87.
3. Barrick, M.R. and Mount, M.K. (1991) 'The Big Five Personality Dimensions and Job Performance: A Meta-analysis', Personnel Psychology, 44: 1-23.
4. Barry, J.W., Kim, U. and Boski, P. (1987) 'Psychological Acculturation of Immigrants'. In Kim, Y. and Gudykunst, W. (eds) Cross-Cultural Adaptation: Current Approaches. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
5. Black, J.S. (1988) 'Work Role Transitions: A Study of American Expatriates in Japan', Journal of International Business Studies, 19: 274-91.
6. Black, J.S. (1990) 'The Relationship of Personal Characteristics with the Adjustment of Japanese Expatriate Managers', Management International Review, 30(2): 119-34.
7. Black, J.S. and Gregersen, H.B. (1991) 'Antecedents to Cross-cultural Adjustment for Expatriates in Pacific Rim Assignment', Human Relations, 44(5): 497-515.
8. Black, J.S., Gregersen, H.B. and Mendenhall, M. (1992) Global Assignment: Successfully Expatriating and Repatriating International Managers. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
9. Black, J.S., Mendenhall, M. and Oddou, G. (1991) 'Toward a Comprehensive Model of International Adjustment: An Integration of Multiple Theoretical Perspectives', Academy of Management Review, 16(2): 291-317.
10. Brown, M. (1994) 'The Fading Charms of Foreign Fields', Management Today, August: 48-51.
11. Caligiuri, P.M. (1997) 'Assessing Expatriate Success: Beyond Just Being There'. In Saunders, D.M. and Aycan, Z. (eds) New Approaches to Employee Management, 4. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.
12. Caligiuri, P.M. (2000) 'The Five Big Personality Characteristics as Predictors of Expatriates' Desire to Terminate the Assignment and Supervisor-rated Performance', Personnel Psychology, 53(1): 67-88.
13. Chatman, J.A. and Barsade, S.G. (1995) 'Personality, Organizational Culture, and Cooperation: Evidence from a Business Simulation', Administrative Science Quarterly, 40: 423-43.
14. Cohen, E. (1977) 'Expatriate Communities', Current Sociology, 24: 5-129.
15. Dicken, C. (1969) 'Predicting the Success of Peace Corps Community Development Workers', Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 33: 597-606.
16. Digman, J.M. (1990) 'Personality Structure: Emergence of the Five-factor Model', Annual Review of Psychology, 41: 417-40.
17. Earley, P.C. (1987) 'Intercultural Training for Managers: A Comparison of Documentary and Interpersonal Methods', Academy of Management Journal, 30: 685-98.
18. Furnham, A. (1987) 'The Adjustment of Sojourners'. In Kim, Y. and Gundykunst, W. (eds) Cross-Cultural Adaptation: Current Approaches. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
19. Goldberg, L.R. (1981) 'Language and Individual Differences: The Research for Universals in Personality Lexicons'. In Wheeler, L.W. (ed.) Review of Personality and Social Psychology, 2. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
20. Goldberg, L.R. (1993) 'The Structure of Phenotypic Personality Traits', American Psychologist, 48(1): 26-34.
21. Goldberg, L.R. (1997) 'A Broad-bandwidth, Public-domain, Personality Inventory Measuring the Lower-level Facets of Several Five-factor Models'. In Mervielde, I., Deary, I., De Fruyt, F. and Ostendorf, F. (eds) Personality Psychology in Europe, Vol. 7. Tilburg, the Netherlands: Tilburg University Press.
22. Goldberg, L.R. (1998) 'Possible Questionnaire Format for Administering the 50 Big-Five Factor Markers', International Personality Item Pool (Online) P.A2. Available at: http://ipip.ori.org/ipip/
23. Graham, J., Mintu, A.T. and Rodgers, W. (1994) 'Explorations of Negotiation Behaviors in Ten Foreign Cultures Using a Model Developed in the United States', Management Science, 40(1): 72-95.
24. Hofstede, G. (2001) Cultures Consequences: Comparing Values, Institutions, and Organizations Across Nations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
25. Hui, C. and Triandis, H.C. (1986) 'Individualism-collectivism', Journal of Research in Personality, 17: 225-48.
26. Kets de Vries, M. and Mead, C. (1991) 'Identifying Management Talent for a Pan-European Environment'. In Makrdakas, S. (ed.) Single Market Europe. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, pp. 215-35.
27. Klaus, K.J. (1995) 'How to Establish an Effective Export Program best Practices in International Assignment Administration', Employment Relations Today, 22(1): 59-79.
28. Marquardt, M.J. and Engel, D.W. (1993) 'HRD Competencies for a Shrinking World', Training and Development, 47(5): 59-65.
29. McCrae, R.R. and Costa, P.T., Jr (1987) 'Validation of the Five-factor Model of Personality across Instruments and Observers', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52: 81-90.
30. Mount, M.K. and Barrick, M.R. (1995) 'The Big Five Personality Dimensions: Implications for Research and Practice in Human Resources Management', Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, 13: 153-200.
31. Moynihan, L.M. and Peterson, R.S. (2001) 'A Contingent Configuration Approach to Understanding the Role of Member Personality in Organizational Groups', Research in Organizational Behavior, 23: 327-78.
32. Nicholson, N. (1984) 'A Theory of Work Role Transitions', Administrative Science Quarterly, 29: 172-91.
33. Nicholson, J.D., Stepina, L.P. and Hochwarter, W. (1990) 'Psychological Aspects of Expatriate Effectiveness', Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, supplement 2: 127-45.
34. Ones, D.S. and Viswesvaran, C. (1996) 'Bandwidth-fidelity Dilemma in Personality Measurement for Personnel Selection', Journal of Organizational Behavior, 17: 609-26.
35. Parker, B. and McEvoy, G.M. (1993) 'Initial Examination of a Model of Intercultural Adjustment', International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 17: 355-79.
36. Porter, G. and Tansky, J.W. (1999) 'Expatriate Success May Depend on a 'Learning Orientation': Considerations for Selection and Training', Human Resource Management, 38(1): 47-60.
37. Schneider, R.J., Hough, L.M. and Dunnette, M. (1996) 'Broad Sided by Broad Traits: How to Sink Science in Five Dimensions or Less', Journal of Organizational Behavior, 17: 639-55.
38. Searle, W. and Ward, C. (1990) 'The Prediction of Psychological and Sociocultural Adjustment During Cross-cultural Transitions', International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 14: 449-64.
39. Shaffer, M.A., Harrison, D.A. and Gilley, K.M. (1999) 'Dimensions, Determinants, and Differences in the Expatriate Adjustment Process', Journal of International Business Studies, 30(3): 557-81.
40. Solomon, C.M. (1994) 'Staff Selection Impacts Global Success', Personnel Journal, 74(3): 60-7.
41. Suh, E., Diener, E., Oishi, S. and Triandis, H.C. (1998) 'The Shifting Basis of Life Satisfaction Judgments Across Cultures: Emotions Versus Norms', Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(2): 482-93.
42. Taiwan Government Information Office (2002) Available at www.gio.gov.tw
43. Teagarden, M.B. and Gordon, G.D. (1995) 'Corporate Selection Strategies and Expatriate Manager Success'. In Selmer, J. (ed.) Expatriate Management: New Ideas for International Business. Westport, CT: Quorum Books.
44. Wiggins, J.S. and Trapnell, P.D. (1997) 'Personality Structure: The Return of the Big Five'. In Hogan, R., Johnson, J. and Briggs, S. (eds) Handbook of Personality Psychology. New York: Academic Press, pp. 737-66.
45. Xin, K.R. and Pearce, J.L. (1996) 'Guanxi: Connections as Substitutes for Institutional Support', Academy of Management Journal, 39(6): 1641-58.
46. Yates, J.F. and Lee, J. (1996) 'Chinese Decision-making'. In Bond, M.H. (ed.) The Handbook of Chinese Psychology. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, pp. 338-51.
47. Yoshikawa, M. (1987) 'Cross Cultural Adaptation and Perceptual Development'. In Kim, Y. and Gudykunst, W. (eds) Cross-Cultural Adaptation: Current Approaches. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.