Cross-Cultural Adjustment of Expatriates: Theory & Research Findings on American and Japanese Expatriates

Abstract

Theories and research findings on expatriate adjustment were examined to gain a better understanding of the adjustment process. Empirical studies have been hited to focusing on the failure rates of expatriates rather than their adjustment capacity in foreign societies. Few studies have attempted to assess the level of adjustment for both American and Japanese expatriates in the same cultural environment. Future studies need to investigate how much more well-adjusted one group of expatriates is over another in different cultural settings, the differences in their adjustment to the different facets of cross-cultural adjustment, and the factors that enable one group to outperform the other group.