Working Abroad and Expatriate Adjustment: Three Disciplinary Lenses for Exploring the Psychological Transition Cycle of International Employees

Abstract

Abstract Millions of people are working abroad in countries other than their native ones. Among the largest group are those relocated for temporary assignments by their employers. Expatriate employees go through a psychological transition cycle as they prepare to leave their home country, arrive, adapt, and work in the host country, depart, return and re‐adjust to their home country. Three social science disciplines, psychology, intercultural communications studies, and international management, have examined this progression of cultural transitions, recommended coping solutions and advanced our understanding of the process of working abroad. These literatures on expatriate adjustment are summarized in this article. An interdisciplinary approach is suggested which would pose research questions aimed at pragmatic solutions to the transition crises experienced by international employees.

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