How expatriates adjust to new work environments

With increasing globalization, multinational organizations have regularly relocated employees to staff international subsidiaries. Numerous individuals take advantage of the opportunities afforded by globalization and choose to live and work outside of their country of origin. These international employees face many challenges in adjusting to the new country, from getting used to an unfamiliar work culture to integrating in the community. How do employees react to these challenges and what proactive steps do they take to adjust to a new environment? Mihaela Dimitrova, researcher at WU’s Department of Global Business and Trade, and a team of researchers in the United States investigates these questions.  

The adaptation to work and live in a foreign country is a dynamic, proactive, and social process, which unfolds over time. Newly hired employees engage in proactive behaviors, such as information and feedback seeking or relationship building, to understand and adjust to the new job and organization. However, being proactive may lead to unexpected negative consequences. Such missteps are more likely to occur in an unfamiliar cultural environment, where employees may inadvertently engage in culturally inappropriate behaviors or find it difficult to connect with locals. Thus, the goal of Mihaela Dimitrova’s research is to find out how international employees use proactive behaviors to adjust to foreign environments in and outside of work. Adjusting to a fast-changing and uncertain global environment is of great importance