Are expats more resilient employees?

“If you can't tolerate critics, don't do anything new or interesting.” – Jeff Bezos

Companies send individuals on expatriate assignments for the following main reasons: 

·       To facilitate the deployment of key employees in locations where their skills are required to meet important business objectives;

·       To transfer appropriate skills and knowledge to the local employees who are then able to perform these roles on an ongoing basis;

·       To increase cultural exchange and knowledge sharing, to develop a global mindset within the company;                        and

·       To provide development opportunities for employees who have been identified as “high potential” employees; 

There are as well many people who opt to relocate internationally of their own volition to pursue global careers. While expatriation can be an exciting and enriching experience, it can also be extremely challenging, requiring expatriates to remain persistent in the face of numerous stressors in the host country. In spite of many existing supporting services (e.g. cultural and language training) which contribute to an easier and faster adoption of the assignee and his/her family in the host country, not every transfer is a success. The most common reasons mentioned in literature for this failure are family problems. The employee, the spouse and/or the children cannot adapt to the new environment for instance, when the accompanying spouse cannot find an equivalent working position to the one she/he had before leaving the country and/or the children having difficulties to integrate into the original school system.

Expatriates and their families are as well confronted with communication difficulties (Selmer, 2006; Selmer & Lauring, 2015), social exclusion/discrimination (Bader, Stoermer, Bader, & Schuster, 2018), a lack of job role clarity (Stroh, Dennis, & Cramer, 1994; Takeuchi, 2010), or, in general, face the uncertainties of cultural novelty (Kraimer & Wayne, 2004). Thus, there is solid evidence that expatriation is a stressful endeavor (Silbiger & Pines, 2014) and that failure to cope with the aforementioned challenges can lead to the detrimental outcomes of poor cross-cultural adjustment, withdrawal intentions, and eventually turnover (Bhaskar-Shrinivas, Harrison, Shaffer, & Luk, 2005; Hechanova, Beehr, & Christiansen, 2003).[i]

Resilience is defined as an individual’s ability to bounce back from stressful events to remain effective in the face of adverse situations (Cooper, Flint-Taylo & Pearn, 2013). Resilience at work is defined as a positive development trajectory characterized by demonstrated competence in the face of, and professional growth after, experiences of adversity in the workplace. (Source: oxfordhandbooks.com 18/03/2021)

In their article “When the going gets tough: the influence of expatriate resilience and perceived organizational inclusion climate on work adjustment and turnover intentions”, Samuel E. Davies, Sebastian Stoermer and Fabian J. Froese[ii], explain that resilience can operate in two primary ways, both as a defense against stressors, and as an intrinsic source of positive value (Hobfoll, 2011). Firstly, from the point of view of stressors, resilience is argued to help individuals withstand, and recover from the most stressful aspects of life. In this respect, Hobfoll (2011) emphasizes resources are most saliently viewed as being valuable in the presence of particular stressors. To ground this in an example, due to a vertical hierarchical culture in some countries (e.g. Asian ones) in the event of unreasonable commands of supervisors, subordinates cannot acceptably engage in open disagreement with their supervisor (Park, Hwang, & Harrisonon, 1996), and therefore responses to supervisors must be internalized. This promotes the beneficial role of resilience as a personal resource and as a consequence resilient expatriates will be able to recover from internalized negative experiences with supervisors and hierarchy-related problems in the workplace. On the other hand, expatriates with low resilience may have less ability to recover from internalized stress related to their supervisors/vertical hierarchy, eventually hindering work adjustment. Further, resilience not only operates on a cognitive level, it also includes a physical ability to recover from stressors (Hobfoll, 2011). In many Asian countries, a reported source of both physical and mental stress are the long working hours in the workplace (Bader, Reade, & Froese, 2018; Kraeh et al., 2015; OECD, 2017). However, the authors argue that resilient expatriates can cope and adapt better to the physical and mental demands, until the long working hours become less onerous, and eventually part of their working routines. Yet, expatriates with low resilience might give in to physical exhaustion, and the mental blowback resulting from this, compromising their work adjustment. 

In consequence, from the point of view of resilience as a source of positive value, resilience could serve as a resource that allows individuals to ‘remain vigorous, committed, and absorbed in important life tasks, even amidst significant challenge’ (Hobfoll, 2011, p. 128) and a potential source of energization. This should allow expatriates to adapt more proactively to a new work environment and move forward with building important work relationships and establishing proficiency in their jobs more rapidly; rather than becoming overwhelmed by stressors. Further, it can be assumed that resilient expatriates will take a different look at stressors than non-resilient individuals, leading to a more positive perspective on the given challenges of the workplace. 

The question whether people who are choosing to pursue an international career are more resilient by nature, character and personality or whether they develop resilience in the cause of their international assignment remains open. However, it can be assumed that international mobile people who have been confronted in the context of their expatriation with a number of adverse situations and who managed to master them successfully, far away from their own comfort zone and a reassuring network, have added an additional layer of resilience to their competencies. 

The authors observe that individuals who know that they can recover quickly from stressful situations will be more likely to ‘focus on what they might gain, instead of what they might lose’ (Hobfoll, 1989, p. 519). As a result, these individuals will keep an optimistic outlook and will not ‘lose heart’ especially during the adjustment phase. 

[i] When the going gets tough: the influence of expatriate resilience and perceived organizational inclusion climate on work adjustment and turnover intentions Samuel E. Davies, Sebastian Stoermer and Fabian J. Froese Department of Business Administration, University of Goettingen, Goettingen, Germany THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 2019, VOL. 30, NO. 8, 1393–1417 https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2018.1528558

[ii]THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT 2019, VOL. 30, NO. 8, 1393–1417 https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2018.1528558