The effects of social support and transformational leadership on expatriate adjustment and performance

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to examine the significance of transformational leadership and social support for expatriate adjustment and performance. This study also extends relevant literature on expatriate management to examine the relationships among transformational leadership, social support, expatriate adjustment, and expatriate performance through a mechanism taking into account the moderating roles of cultural intelligence and socialization experience. Design/methodology/approach The sample was collected from 156 expatriate managers of Taiwanese multinational company (MNC) subsidiaries operating in China. Structural equation modeling (SEM) in AMOS 21 and hierarchical regression in SPSS 19 were used to test eight research hypotheses. Findings The SEM results indicated that transformational leadership and social support make significant contributions to expatriate adjustment and performance. The moderating roles of socialization experience and cultural intelligence were also confirmed in this study. Originality/value This study extends a theoretical model of transformational leadership and social support to examine expatriate adjustment and performance based on social learning and social exchange theories. Using a specific Chinese context, the current paper highlights the value and necessity of cross‐cultural adjustment for successful expatriation.

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