Expatriate Adjustment in International Assignments
Summary
Expatriate adjustment refers to the process by which individuals stationed abroad adapt to the multifaceted demands of living and working in a foreign environment. This process encompasses psychological well-being, job performance and interpersonal integration, unfolding over distinct phases: pre-departure planning, initial cultural adaptation and long-term role integration. Key influences include individual dispositions such as resilience and cultural intelligence, organisational factors such as preparatory training and perceived support, and contextual elements such as host-country cultural distance and language proficiency. Family dynamics and spousal adjustment also exert a crucial effect, with partner support often serving as a buffer against isolation and stress. Successful adjustment yields enhanced task effectiveness, career development and personal growth, whereas poor adaptation can lead to social withdrawal, reduced performance and premature repatriation. In an era of global mobility and frequent crises—from political upheaval to pandemics—the capacity to foster expatriate resilience, manage resources and build social networks has assumed heightened practical and strategic importance for multinational enterprises and international policymakers alike.
Research from Nature Portfolio
No recent Nature Portfolio content available.
Expatriate Adjustment in International Assignments publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in expatriate adjustment in international assignments across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Expatriate adjustment: The multidimensional process by which individuals adapt psychologically, socially and vocationally to a foreign assignment.
Cross-cultural adjustment: The specific adaptation to host-country cultural norms, values and interactions, often distinguished into work, interaction and general adjustment.
Organisational support: The degree to which an employer provides resources, training and assistance to facilitate expatriate performance and well-being abroad.
Social capital: The network of relationships expatriates form in the host environment, providing access to information, emotional support and practical assistance.
Conservation of resources theory: A psychological framework positing that individuals strive to obtain, retain and protect valuable resources, influencing how they cope with stress and integration challenges.
References
- Resilience and well‐being among expatriate entrepreneurs: Envisioning life after a global crisis. Global Business and Organizational Excellence (2023).
- Missed connections: A resource-management theory to combat loneliness experienced by globally mobile employees. Journal of International Business Studies (2023).
- Work and non-work-related antecedents of expatriates' well-being: A meta-analysis. Human Resource Management Review (2022).
About these summaries
This Nature Research Intelligence Topic summary is created with the cited references and a large language model. We take care to ground generated text with facts, and have systems in place to gain human feedback on the overall quality of the process in line with our AI principles. We strive to create accurate and useful summaries for people unfamiliar with the research topic and that supports this goal. These pages are a beta release and will be updated as we learn how best to help people gain value from a research topic summary.
Turn complex research questions into confident strategic decisions
When you're under pressure to set direction, justify investment, or understand your competitive position, you need more than raw data — you need trusted insights you can act on.
Benchmark your performance against global peers using robust, methodologically sound analysis.
Combine quantitative metrics with qualitative expert insight to uncover strengths, gaps and emerging opportunities.
Gain tailored, decision-ready recommendations aligned to your strategic priorities.
Talk to us to learn more about our data dashboards and bespoke strategy reports.
Grow research skills, confidence and careers with training built for every stage of the research lifecycle.
Developed with Nature Portfolio journal Editors and internationally renowned experts. Discover three ways to learn:
Self-paced, online courses in convenient bite-sized units, covering key skills across scientific writing, publishing, grant writing, data analysis, and more.
Expert trainer-led workshops with hands-on exercises and real-time feedback across core research skills, delivered via interactive group sessions.
Editor-led workshops combining core principles in writing and publishing, personalised 1:1 feedback from Nature Portfolio Editors and hands-on exercises.
Explore course catalogues and workshop agendas, enquire about the options or request institutional pricing.