Does cross-cultural adjustment coincide with career capital growth? Evidence from Vienna, Austria

Abstract

Using a sample of 154 employed expatriates, who have lived in Vienna, Austria, for up to 10 years, this paper explores if and to what extent career competency growth and cross-cultural adjustment coincide. Cognitive and affective aspects of cross-cultural adjustment to relationships, day-to-day interactions and general living conditions are analysed. The study uncovers details about the relationship between the cognitive and affective dimensions of cross-cultural adjustment and the development of knowing-how, knowing-whom and knowing-why. The most important result is that principally the affective dimension of cross-cultural adjustment relates to gains in career capital.

Keywords:

• career capital
• cross-cultural adjustment
• expatriate

Notes

1. Behavioural adjustment is a variable that is best measured independently by asking third persons. Asking third persons, who know the expatriate, adds significantly to the costs of research. Unfortunately, this was beyond the scope of the underlying project. Therefore, the discussion excludes the behavioural aspects of adjustment.

2. The study by Dickmann and Mills (2005, 2010) does not unfortunately report factor analysis results.

3. The factor analysis to select the items used was carried out iteratively until only items remained that scored 0.5 or higher on the relevant factor and less than 0.4 on any secondary factor. In the end, 11 items remained forming three factors.

4. The acceptance of one low alpha on theoretical grounds is deemed acceptable. The widely recognised GLOBE study included some scales with alphas as low as 0.4 for theoretical reasons (Hanges and Dickson 2004).

5. Since causality was not established, an alternative interpretation would be that career gains have a positive effect on affective adjustment.