The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

www.emeraldinsight.com/1059-5422.htm

CR
22,4 Dimensions of Indian expatriate
adjustment in the USA:
an exploratory study
320
Deepak K. Srivastava
Institute of Management, Niram University, Gujarat, India, and
Monika Panday
Keller Graduate School, Irvine, California, USA

Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an instrument to measure the dimensionality of
Indian expatriate adjustment.
Design/methodology/approach – In an effort to measure the dimensionality of Indian expatriate
adjustment in the USA, Black’s instrument was used in this paper.
Findings – The factor analysis gave a different factor structure from that proposed by Black.
Expatriate scores did not merge into three dimensions of expatriates’ adjustment; rather they merged
into two dimensions. Unlike Black’s study, interaction with host nationals was not found to be a
separate dimension. A possible explanation is that linguistic skills and the presence of Indian diaspora
support Indian expatriates during their interactions with Americans.
Research limitations/implications – The exploratory character of this study with its small
convenience sample of Indian expatriates makes the findings tentative.
Practical implications – The paper is a useful source of information for students planning to make a
career in international business and practitioners already engaged in international business activities.
Originality/value – This paper fulfils an identified information need and offers help in expatriate
adjustment.
Keywords Expatriate adjustment, Expatriate failure, General and job adjustment, India, Expatriates,
International business
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
Growing globalization demands mobility of managers from different countries and
cultures. To implement global strategies, managers of one subsidiary are often sent to
subsidiaries in foreign countries. A manager who is sent by the parent company to
perform international assignments in another country is called an expatriate.
Expatriates play a very significant role. It is indicated by Aycan (1997) that:
The primary role of an expatriate manager can be conceived as that of a catalyst who secures
the continuity of the MNC’s organizational structure and the philosophy in the local unit
while ensuring the fit between MNC practices and local demands.

Competitiveness Review: An Companies investing abroad need to manage, coordinate, control, and integrate
International Business Journal the operations of their foreign partners with that of the parent company
Vol. 22 No. 4, 2012
pp. 320-328
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1059-5422
The authors are grateful to Ajit Mathur, Professor at the Indian Institute of Management
DOI 10.1108/10595421211247150 Ahmedabad for his constructive feedback on the paper.
(Yavas and Bodur, 1999). To accomplish these tasks, parent companies often send Indian
expatriate managers to affiliates as corporate representatives and ambassadors. expatriate
Since subsidiaries are dispersed around the world with different standards, posting
of expatriates gives MNCs the opportunity to better control and coordinate their adjustment
subsidiaries. Expatriates share the aims of the parent company and can interpret
its policies and organizational culture. The process by which expatriates adjust to new
work environments has been the subject of management research for decades 321
(Van Mannen and Schein, 1979; Nicholson, 1984; Fisher, 1986; Chao et al., 1994). Research
on expatriate adjustment is particularly salient in the international domain due to the
complexity associated with expatriate managers’ simultaneous adjustment to new work
roles, subsidiary organizational cultures, and national cultures (Black et al., 1991).
With the growth of international business, expatriate failure rate also has increased
sharply. Expatriate failure means that an expatriate returns to the home country or
resigns from the job before the international assignment is finished (Hill, 2005).
However, Dowling et al. (1999) broaden the definition of failure to include poor job
performance and prolongation of the international assignment.
The difficulties associated with expatriate adjustment have been documented in the
literature, with reports of high expatriate premature return rates (Tung, 1981; Shay and
Tracey, 1997) and the high costs associated with premature returns (Caudron, 1991;
Kraimer et al., 2001).
Baker and Ivancevich (1971) and Tung (1981) have found that between 20 and
40 percent of expatriate managers do not successfully make the transitions and return
early. These figures become larger if one includes the “brownouts” (Lanier, 1979) or
those who may not return early but perform at a decreased capacity by not being able
to adjust adequately to their new work roles.
Tung (1982) found that 76 percent US MNEs have more than 10 percent expatriates
failing, while 41 percent and 24 percent of European and Japanese MNEs, respectively,
have a comparable number of failure cases.
Seward (1975) found 90 percent of the expatriate mangers sent to Japan in the past
were significantly less successful in Japan than they were in their previous assignments
in their home countries. Adams and Kobayashi (1969) found that 80 percent of the
expatriate assignments in Japan were considered failures by their headquarters.
Expatriate failure is significant to MNCs because the associated costs are very high.
Expatriate failure can result in substantive direct and indirect costs. Direct cost includes
expatriate’s salary, allowances, benefits, which are calculable. However, indirect cost is
invisible and might be much more expensive than the direct cost. Indirect cost could be
jeopardizing market shares and damaging relations with customers, partners,
suppliers, and local governments.
Expatriate failure also has a negative effect on individual performance. Expatriates
may lose self-confidence or honor and his/her later career development may be
affected, too. Sometimes an expatriate manager’s family may suffer unexpected
emotional damage (Dowling et al., 1994).
Subsequent research has focused on organizational, job, individual, and contextual
antecedents to expatriate adjustment (Black, 1988, 1992; Black and Gregersen, 1991;
Parker and McEvoy, 1993; Shay and Baack, 2004).
Despite difficulties associated with expatriate adjustment, nearly 80 percent of
midsize and large companies currently assign managers overseas and nearly half plan
CR to increase the number that they have on assignment (Black and Gregersen, 1999).
22,4 Given the importance of the issue, it is useful to gain an understanding of different
dimensions of expatriate adjustment.

Literature review
Adjusting to a different culture is a challenge for expatriate managers. In a substantive
322 body of research on expatriate adjustment (Black et al., 1991; Mendenhall and Oddou,
1985; Torbiorn, 1982), the assumption is that growing cultural dissimilarity between
host and home culture, i.e. “cultural distance” (CD) will increase adjustment difficulties.
Many authors suggest that the more different the expatriate’s country of origin and
the host country are, the more difficult the adjustment will be. Church (1982) refers to
this phenomenon in terms of “CD” and Tung (1987) in terms of “hardness of culture”.
Many studies show that CD is negatively linked to cross-cultural adjustment
(Parker and McEvoy, 1993; Gregersen and Stroh, 1997 cited by Waxin and Panaccio, 2005).
Hofstede’s (1980) work on CD has gained broad acceptance in the international
business literature as well as in strategy and human resource management, among
other areas. The four psychological dimensions or axes used to differentiate between
cultures are: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, and masculinity.
However, McSweeney (2002) argued that Hofstede model is based on fundamentally
flawed assumptions upon which his measurements are based. These assumptions are
“crucial” in the sense that each is necessary for the plausibility of his identification
claims. Therefore, his national cultural descriptions are invalid and misleading.
Psychological adjustment and socio-cultural adjustment is a distinction that has
been proposed in the literature on international adjustment (Searle and Ward, 1990;
Ward and Kennedy, 1992, 1993; Ward and Searle, 1991). Although conceptually
interrelated, the former deals with subjective well-being or mood states (e.g. depression,
anxiety, tension, and fatigue). The latter relates to the ability to “fit in” or to negotiate
interactive aspects of the host culture as measured by the amount of difficulty
experienced in the management of everyday situations in the host culture (Ward and
Kennedy, 1996 cited by Selmer et al., 2007).
The socio-cultural notion of adjustment is based on cultural learning theory and
highlights social behavior and practical social skills underlying attitudinal factors
(Black et al., 1991; Furnham, 1993; Klineberg, 1982).
Literature on cross-cultural adjustment (Black and Gregersen, 1990; Parker and
McEvoy, 1993; Caligiuri, 2000) defines it as “the degree of psychological comfort of an
individual with several aspects of a new environment”. Black (1988) put forward three
facets of adjustment: work adjustment, which encompasses supervision, responsibilities
and performances; relational adjustment, which encompasses interaction with members
of the host community; and general adjustment, which encompasses life conditions in
the foreign country.

Research objectives
.
To assess the internal reliability of expatriate adjustment instrument proposed
by Black.
.
To evaluate validity of the instrument in the context of Indian expatriate
adjustment.
Methodology Indian
Instrument expatriate
Black (1988) and Black et al. (1991) proposed a three dimensional concept of expatriate
adjustment. These dimensions are: adjustment
(1) adjustment to work;
(2) adjustment to interacting with host nationals; and
323
(3) adjustment to the general non-work environment.

The instrument has the following 11 items:

(1) How adjusted are you to your job and responsibilities?
(2) How adjusted are you to working with American co-workers?
(3) How adjusted are you to the transportation system in America?
(4) How adjusted are you to working with American outside your company?
(5) How adjusted are you to the food in America?
(6) How adjusted are you to the weather in America?
(7) How adjusted are you to interacting with Americans in general?
(8) How adjusted are you to shopping in America?
(9) How adjusted are you to supervising American subordinates?
(10) How adjusted are you to generally living in America?
(11) How adjusted are you to the entertainment available in America?

Sample
The sample for this study was drawn from Indian expatriates working in on-site
information technology projects in California, USA in early 2009. A sample of
150 individuals was drawn at the convenience of the researchers. Out of the
150 questionnaires sent, 50 were returned for a response rate of 33.3 percent.
However, only 48 of the returned questionnaires were usable. Around 90 percent
respondents were male and 80 percent were married. On average, the respondents were
35 years old.

Data analysis and results

In order to test reliability of the overall instrument, Cronbach’s coefficient a was
computed using data on expatriate adjustment. The reliability coefficients are shown in
Table I. The results show that overall reliability of the instrument in all three dimensions
is quite satisfactory.

Dimension Cronbach’s a

General 0.852
Job 0.833
Interaction 0.889 Table I.
Overall (11 items) 0.922 Reliability coefficients
CR Factor analysis
22,4 In order to test the validity of t, Black’s (1988) instrument, an exploratory factor analysis
was performed. The 11 items scale was factor analyzed using a principal component
factor analysis procedure with a varimax rotation method with Kaiser normalization.
Two factors emerged with eigen values greater than one and explained 68.25 percent of
the variance in the 11 items set (Table II).
324 Eight items loaded (above 0.50) on the first factor and the remaining three items
loaded (above 0.60) on the second factor (Table II). A reliability test of eight items in the
first factor produced an a of 0.89 and three items in the second factor produced 0.83
(Table III), which is generally considered acceptable (Churchill and Peter, 1984). The
first factor included items such as adjustment to general living conditions, adjustment
to transportation system, adjustment to food, adjustment to shopping, adjustment to
weather, adjustment to entertainment, adjustment to working with Americans outside,
and adjustment to interacting with Americans in general. This factor is termed as
general adjustment with living conditions and everyday life.
The three remaining items such as adjustment to interacting with American
co-workers; adjustment with American subordinates, and adjustment to job
responsibilities loaded on the second factor and were termed as adjustment to the job.
Both factors (adjustment to general conditions and adjustment to job) were very
clear and strong; however Pearson coefficient of correlation was found highly
significant between general adjustment and job adjustment (Table IV).

Discussion
Results indicate that expatriate perceptions scores do not support three dimensions of
adjustment as proposed by Black (1988). This means that respondents do not consider

Factor 1 Factor 2
Item no. General adjustment Job adjustment

Item no. 10 0.629

Item no. 3 0.655
Item no. 5 0.887
Item no. 8 0.843
Item no. 6 0.634
Item no. 11 0.706
Item no. 4 0.591
Item no. 7 0.642
Item no. 1 0.873
Item no. 2 0.850
Item no. 9 0.685
Table II.
Factor analysis Note: Only loading greater than 0.50 are given

Mean SD Cronbach’s a

Table III. General adjustment 4.2318 0.73522 0.898

Reliability coefficients Job adjustment 4.3819 0.74374 0.833
statements four and seven (both pertaining to interaction) as separate statements from Indian
general adjustment. Unlike Black’s study, which was done in the Japanese context, expatriate
interaction with host nationals was not found to be a separate dimension. A possible
explanation is that the Indians’ linguistic skills and the presence of an Indian diaspora adjustment
in the USA support Indian expatriates during their interactions with host nationals. It is
therefore arguable that expatriates are socialized to the host country environment
thereby reducing the expatriate’s perceived need for interaction adjustment. 325
The results show that most of the items proposed by Black (1988) are relevant in
measuring expatriate adjustment in the Indian context and there are no reliability
problems. However, factor analysis gave a different factor structure than what was
proposed by Black (1988). Therefore, if item no. 4 (how adjusted are you to working
with Americans outside your company?) and item no. 7 (how adjusted are you to
interacting with Americans in general?) of the instrument were modified or dropped
then the instrument could be used.
It is important to note that the relationship between expatriate adjustment to job
and general adjustment was significant. It may be that expatriates who were able to
adjust to the general environment were also able to adjust to the work place.
Thus, this study provides support that careful consideration should be given to the
socialization of expatriates in host countries that is essential for expatriate
effectiveness.

Implications for MNCs

The findings of this study may hold important lessons for MNCs on how to prepare their
expatriates for their foreign assignments. Expatriates in transfers may require
cross-cultural training as they may encounter cultural differences. Cross-cultural
training of expatriates should include substantial elements of cognitive training,
emphasizing factual information about the host country in case of more CD, whereas
expatriates going in a direction where little CD is anticipated should focus on creating
motivation for the individuals to fine-tune their current thinking and behavior. MNCs
should encourage dialogue between host country nationals and the expatriates
regarding what information or what types of support the expatriate needs most to adjust
to the new environment.

Conclusion
Expatriate adjustment continues to be an important phenomenon in ourglobal
economy. Although results of the study does not support Black’s (1988) three

Job General

Job Pearson correlation 1 0.830 *

Sig. (two-tailed) 0.000
n 48 48
General Pearson correlation 0.830 * 1
Sig. (two-tailed) 0.000
n 48 48
Table IV.
Notes: Correlation is significant at: *0.01 level (two-tailed) Correlation
CR dimensions of adjustment, the overall reliability of the instrument is quite acceptable.
22,4 Black’s (1988) three dimensions structure is still useful as a foundation for discussion
and determination of areas for improvement in expatriate adjustment.

Limitations of the study

The exploratory nature of this study with its one small convenience sample of Indian
326 expatriates makes the findings tentative.
Future research
Further research is required to examine various antecedents of work adjustment and
general adjustment processes of Indian expatriates. It seems particularly important to
investigate the causal relationship between family adjustment and expatriate adjustment.
Future research could be done by including more countries and/or more lines of
industries. Research is also needed for measuring impact of CD and cultural attributes on
expatriate adjustment processes.

References
Adams, T.E. and Kobayashi, N. (1969), The World of Japanese Business’, Kodansha
International, Tokyo.
Aycan, Z. (1997), “Expatriate adjustment as a multifaceted phenomenon: individual and
organizational level predictors”, The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, Vol. 8 No. 4, pp. 434-56.
Baker, J.C. and Ivancevich, J.M. (1971), “The assignment of American executives: systematic,
haphazard, or chaotic?”, California Management Review, Vol. 13 No. 3, pp. 39-44.
Black, J.S. (1988), “Work role transitions: a study of American expatriate managers in Japan”,
Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 277-94.
Black, J.S. and Gregersen, H.B. (1990), “Expectations, satisfaction and intentions to leave of
American managers in Japan”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 14
No. 4, pp. 485-506.
Black, J.S. and Gregersen, H.B. (1991), “Antecedents to cross-cultural adjustment for expatriates
in Pacific Rim assignments”, Human Relations, Vol. 44 No. 5, pp. 497-515.
Black, J.S. and Gregersen, H.B. (1999), “The right way to manage expats”, Harvard Business
Review, Vol. 77 No. 2, pp. 52-62.
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, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 291-317.
Caligiuri, P. (2000), “Selecting expatriates for personality characteristics: a moderating effect of
personality on the relationship between host national contact and cross-cultural
adjustment”, Management International Review, Vol. 40 No. 1, pp. 61-80.
Caudron, S. (1991), “Training ensures success overseas”, Personnel Journal, Vol. 70 No. 12,
pp. 27-30.
Chao, G.T., O’Leary-Kelly, A.M., Wolf, S., Klein, H.J. and Gardner, P.D. (1994), “Organizational
socialization: its content and consequences”, Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 79 No. 5,
pp. 730-43.
Church, A. (1982), “Sojourner adjustment”, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 91 No. 1, pp. 540-72.
Churchill, G.A. and Peter, J.P. (1984), “Research design effects on the reliability of rating scales:
a meta analysis”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 360-75.
Dowling, P.J., Schuler, R.S. and Welch, D.E. (1994), International Dimensions of Human Resource Indian
Management, 2nd ed., Wadsworth, Belmont, CA.
expatriate
Dowling, P.J., Schuler, R.S. and Welch, D.E. (1999), International Human Resource Management:
Managing People in a Multinational Context, 3rd ed., South-Western College, adjustment
Cincinnati, OH.
Fisher, C.D. (1986), “Organizational socialization: an integrative review”, in Roland, K. and
Feris, G. (Eds), Research in Personnel and Human Resource Managment, Vol. 4, JAl Press, 327
Greenwich, CT, pp. 101-45.
Furnham, A. (1993), “Communicating in foreign lands: the cause, consequences and cures of
culture shock”, Language, Culture and Curriculum, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 91-109.
Gregersen, H.B. and Stroh, L.K. (1997), “Coming home to the Arctic cold: antecedents to Finnish
expatriates and spouse repatriation”, Personnel Psychology, Vol. 50 No. 3, pp. 635-54.
Hill, W.L. (2005), International Business: Competing in the Global Marketplace, International ed.,
McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
Hofstede, G. (1980), Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values,
Sage, Beverly Hills, CA.
Klineberg, O. (1982), “Contact between ethnic groups: a historical perspective of some aspects of
theory and research”, in Bochner, S. (Ed.), Cultures in Contact: Studies in Cross-Cultural
Interaction, Pergamon, Oxford.
Kraimer, M.L., Wayne, S.J. and Jaworski, R.A. (2001), “Sources of support and expatriate
performance: the mediating role of expatriate adjustment”, Personnel Psychology, Vol. 54,
pp. 71-99.
Lanier, A. (1979), “Selecting and preparing personnel for overseas transfers”, Personnel Journal,
Vol. 58, pp. 42-6.
McSweeney, B. (2002), “Hofstede’s model of national cultural differences and their consequences:
a triumph of faith – a failure of analysis”, Human Relations, Vol. 55 No. 1, pp. 89-118.
Mendenhall, M. and Oddou, G. (1985), “The dimensions of expatriate acculturation: a review”,
Academy of Management Review, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 39-47.
Nicholson, N. (1984), “A theory of work role transitions”, Administrative Science Quarterly,
Vol. 29, pp. 172-91.
Parker, B. and McEvoy, G.M. (1993), “Initial examination of a model of intercultural adjustment”,
International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 355-79.
Searle, W. and Ward, C. (1990), “The prediction of psychological and socio-cultural adjustment
during cross-cultural transitions”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 14
No. 4, pp. 449-64.
Selmer, J., Chiu, K.R. and Shenkar, O. (2007), “Cultural distance asymmetry in expatriate
adjustment”, Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, Vol. 14 No. 2,
pp. 150-60.
Seward, J. (1975), “Speaking the Japanese business language”, European Business, Winter,
pp. 40-7.
Shay, J.P. and Baack, S.A. (2004), “Expatriate assignment, adjustment and effectiveness:
an empirical examination of the big picture”, Journal of International Business Studies,
Vol. 35 No. 3, pp. 216-32.
Shay, J.P. and Tracey, J.B. (1997), “Expatriate managers: reasons for failure and implications for
training”, Cornell Hotel & Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 38, pp. 30-5.
CR Torbiorn, I. (1982), Living Abroad: Personal Adjustment and Personnel Policy in the Overseas
Setting, Wiley, New York, NY.
22,4 Tung, R.L. (1981), “Selecting and training of personnel for overseas assignments”,
Columbia Journal of World Business, Vol. 16 No. 1, pp. 68-78.
Tung, R.L. (1982), “Selection and training procedures of US, European, and Japanese
multinational corporations”, California Management Review, Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 57-71.
328 Tung, R.L. (1987), “Expatriates’ assignments: enhancing success, minimizing failures”, Academy
of Management Executive, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 117-26.
Van Mannen, J. and Schein, E. (1979), “Toward a theory of organizational socialization”,
in Staw, B.M. (Ed.), Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 1, JAI Press, Greenwich, CT,
pp. 209-64.
Ward, C. and Kennedy, A. (1992), “Locus of control, mood disturbance and social difficulty
during cross-cultural transitions”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 16
No. 2, pp. 175-94.
Ward, C. and Kennedy, A. (1993), “Where’s the culture in cross-cultural transition? Comparative
studies of sojourner adjustment”, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Vol. 24 No. 2,
pp. 221-49.
Ward, C. and Kennedy, A. (1996), “Crossing cultures: the relationship between psychological and
socio-cultural dimensions of cross-cultural adjustment”, in Pandey, J., Sinha, D. and
Bhawuk, D.P.S. (Eds), Asian Contributions to Cross-Cultural Psychology, Sage, New Delhi.
Ward, C. and Searle, W. (1991), “The impact of value discrepancies and cultural identity on
psychological and socio-cultural adjustment of sojourners”, International Journal of
Intercultural Relations, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 209-25.
Waxin, M.F. and Panaccio, A. (2005), “Cross-cultural training to facilitate expatriate adjustment:
it works”, Personnel Review, Vol. 34 No. 1, pp. 51-67.
Yavas, U. and Bodur, M. (1999), “Correlates of adjustment: a study of expatriates in an emerging
country”, Management Decision, Vol. 37 No. 3, pp. 267-78.

Corresponding author
Deepak K. Srivastava can be contacted at: [email protected]

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: [email protected]

Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints
Copyright of Competitiveness Review is the property of Emerald Group Publishing Limited and its content may
not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written
permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.