Theory testing and replication studies in the global work domain

Expatriate adjustment and adaption theories

The most influential theory is Black et al.'s (1991) model of expatriate adjustment, which has dominated research on this topic for the last three decades. Drawing on the sensemaking (Louis, 1980), organizational socialization (Van Maanen & Schein, 1979), and work role transition literatures (Dawis & Lofquist, 1984; Nicholson, 1984), Black et al. (1991) proposed factors that explain the degree to which expatriates adjust to their work, interactions with host nationals, and the general cultural environment, as well as how they adjust (i.e., actively changing the environment or reactively changing themselves). Most tests of the model are devoted to assessing various individual, job, organizational, and nonwork inputs to adjustment, and several meta-analyses (e.g., Bhaskar-Shrinivas et al., 2005; Hechanova et al., 2003) strongly support this portion of the theory. In their meta-analysis, Bhaskar-Shrinivas et al. (2005) also extended the model to assess the influence of various forms of adjustment on job satisfaction, withdrawal cognitions and performance. Other aspects of the model, however, including the role of pre-entry or anticipatory adjustment on in-country adjustment and the mode of adjustment (actively changing the environment or reactively changing the self) have received much less attention.

Further replications of the antecedents of adjustment using data from expatriates and adopting Black and Stephens’ (1989) measure of adjustment are not needed, but it would be interesting to examine this model using different types of global employees as well as alternative measures of adjustment (e.g., Shaffer et al., 2016). Although Bhaskar-Shrinivas et al.’s (2005) meta-analysis included theoretical extensions of Black et al. (1991) model as well as an assessment of the trajectory of adjustment over time, more work is needed to further develop these ideas. Similarly, we encourage scholars to examine those other aspects of the model (i.e., anticipatory adjustment and modes of adjustment) that have been under-researched. We recognize that this is a significant challenge because such tests would require longitudinal studies that involve either collecting data before and after entry to the foreign country or at multiple times throughout the assignment to assess change in how expatriates modify their environments or selves. A useful example that we will return to below is Zhu et al.'s (2016) study, which accompanied expatriates over 10 measurement waves to directly assess changes in work adjustment.

Conceptualizing expatriate adjustment as a change process, Maertz et al. (2016) developed an episodic framework of expatriate-host national interactions. The focus is on the identity management and learning processes whereby expatriates experience functional adjustment, defined as the depth of experiences with host nationals. Interaction episodes with host nationals are conceptualized as an important linking mechanism between adjustment predictors and assignment completion and performance outcomes. Perhaps because of the complexity of the model, there have been no attempts to test it empirically. However, we suggest that much could be learned about cross-cultural interactions by at least testing portions of the theory. For example, one could assess the processing flows that occur in an expatriate-host national interaction and the influence of individual state and situational factors on the processing flows. Also, researchers could focus on the identity management or the learning process that facilitate functional expatriate adjustment. By at least testing portions of this theory, we would begin to have a better understanding of the dynamic interplay that characterizes cross-cultural interactions. Such studies do not have to focus only on expatriates, but they could apply to any cross-cultural interaction.

Another theoretical model also involving adjustment, but as an intervening mechanism rather than the dependent variable, was offered by Lazarova et al. (2010). Drawing on the job demands-resources theory, they developed a process model linking various resources and demands with work and family role performance. Based on contagion theory, they conceptualized this as a sequential mediating process involving cultural, work, and family role adjustment and work and family engagement. To date, only one study has conducted a partial test of this model. Reiche et al. (2023) examined the influence of expatriate and partner family role adjustment on expatriate work role engagement, mediated by expatriate family role engagement and moderated by self-efficacy. Although Lazarova et al.'s (2010) model is too large to be tested in its entirety, it is feasible to test various other relationships proposed in the model.

A more recent adaptation-related theory is by Fan et al. (2023) to explain how globally mobile employees battle loneliness. Drawing on conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989), they propose a resource management process model consisting of a cyclical and iterative process that is triggered by an assessment of the discrepancy between desired and perceived social relations. If there is a relational deficiency, globally mobile employees experience loneliness. In response, they then assess the personal and contextual social resources available for combatting the loneliness, and, depending on what is available, they follow one of three pathways to social integration: enhancement, protection, or underutilization. As this is a process model, tests of it would entail a longitudinal study. However, because social relations are often in a state of flux (e.g., good friends may move away), it is not necessary to focus only on global employees’ initial entry into the foreign country.

Models of global leadership effectiveness and expatriate managerial behavior

Moving away from individuals’ adjustment, a few recent theories that conceptualize global leadership effectiveness and outcomes of expatriate managerial behavior would benefit from empirical testing. One recent theory that has not yet been tested but offers fertile ideas for empirical studies is Reiche et al.'s (2017) contextualization of four ideal types of global leadership roles: incremental, operational, connective, and integrative. They theorize how these roles differ depending on their levels of both task and relationship complexity, and how these two contextual dimensions influence global leaders’ ability to fulfill the expected roles associated with each ideal type of global leadership. Although this model has not been tested, the authors offer several suggestions for conducting empirical research that will validate the model and result in the development of scales to measure the proposed constructs (variety, flux, boundaries, and interdependence) that coalesce to form the ideal types of global leadership roles.

A few studies have looked at the dark side of expatriation (see Bader et al., 2016), yet this is still a very nascent topic with little theory to guide exploration. An exception to this is a recent conceptualization of expatriate managerial misbehavior by Ljubica et al. (2023). Drawing on social cognitive and fraud triangle theories, they theorize that the decision to engage in misbehavior begins with recognized discrepancies between the home and host country environments and between expatriate managerial and parent-company performance expectations. These discrepancies then trigger a complex cognitive self-regulatory process that leads expatriate managers to develop the motivation, justification, and opportunities for misbehaving. Although tests of this model in its entirety would be challenging, it would be fruitful to at least assess some parts of it.

Further, there are theories that conceptualize broader characteristics and outcomes of expatriate—and expatriate leader—behavior. One example is Reiche et al.'s (2009) cross-level model whereby international assignees’ individual host-unit social capital influences both inter-unit social capital and individual intellectual capital. In turn, these two forms of capital culminate in inter-unit intellectual capital. Recognizing the complexities of these flows of capital, the authors propose several contingency factors including home- and host-unit power, absorptive capacity, turnover rates, and top management philosophy as well as the assignees’ nature of the employment relationship, communication with the home unit, and the success of repatriation to the home unit. While it would be difficult to test the entire model, scholars could focus on relevant parts of it. For example, studies collecting data from international assignees who are relocated to different units of a multinational company could examine how assignees’ individual host-unit social capital translates into inter-unit structural social capital, and how home- and host-unit power as well as the nature of assignees’ employment relationship moderate this cross-level effect. Alternatively, researchers collecting time-lagged data from multinational companies with new foreign subsidiaries could investigate how newly formed inter-unit structural social capital relates to inter-unit relational and cognitive social capital, and how these in turn generate inter-unit intellectual capital. The organization-level moderators suggested by Reiche et al. (2009), including top management philosophy, would serve to illuminate the conditions under which this relationship is more or less likely to occur.

Frameworks of global career consequences

The global work domain has seen an increased attention to studying the career consequences of global work. While full theoretical models remain scarce in this area, there are highly cited reviews and frameworks that also offer roadmaps for future research and serve as another good source of ideas for replication studies. Two review articles on global careers are especially noteworthy and provide solid bases for empirical research on this topic. The first is by Shaffer et al. (2012) who focused on the individual choices, challenges, and career consequences of various forms of global work experiences. Based on an extensive review of the literature, they developed a taxonomy of global work experiences based on three key global work demands: international travel, cognitive flexibility, and nonwork disruptions. They then outline a future research agenda to encourage empirical studies to consider how the demands of the global work itself influence global employees. In testing some of these suggested avenues for research, Kraimer et al. (2022) found that the three global work demands had direct and interactive effects on burnout and work-to-family conflict and on thriving and work-to-family engagement, via the appraisals of global work as hindering and/or challenging.

In the second review of global careers, Baruch et al. (2016) introduce an ecosystem theory of careers to provide a framework for the management of expatriates and repatriates. In doing so, they take into consideration various issues and factors, policies and processes, and outcomes relevant to expatriates and repatriates at the individual (e.g., role of the family, personal development, future career impact), organizational (e.g., selection, training, talent flow management), national (labor market, tax regime, brain drain/gain), and regional/global levels (cross-border mobility, ease of capital movement). These researchers also offer several interesting suggestions for empirical work that is needed to better understand this phenomenon. While Shaffer et al. (2012) focus on the role of global work demands, the review by Baruch et al. (2016) highlights the various levels of analysis that influence the management of global careers. However, both sets of scholars advocate for a better understanding of the individual choices, challenges, and career consequences associated with various types of global employees.

Although global careers research has mainly focused on the experiences of expatriates, scholars have increasingly taken into consideration repatriation as an important phase of the process. Two articles in particular warrant empirical testing. The first is a conceptual paper by Lazarova and Tarique (2005), who present a framework for the successful reverse transfer of knowledge and competencies by repatriates. The core of this framework is based on the fit between repatriates’ readiness to transfer knowledge and the organizations’ receptivity to knowledge stemming from foreign subsidiaries. Contributing to the micro-foundations literature, they advocate for more studies that investigate how the ability, motivation, and career aspirations of repatriates relate to the successful reverse transfer of knowledge within the organization. Elaborating on this model, Oddou et al. (2009) offer a more detailed model of the factors that facilitate and inhibit the repatriate knowledge transfer process. Despite the call by both sets of scholars for empirical research that looks at how the fit between the repatriate and the organization influence the knowledge transfer process, little progress has been achieved.

Deductive tests of inductively developed models

Inductively developed mid-range theories of global work are a rich source of ideas for replication studies. While such mid-range theories evolve from global employee samples, they can easily be extended to domestic employees who also face uncertainty and ambiguity. Two notable examples of this are recent work by Reiche and his colleagues and a third, earlier article is by Shaffer and Harrison (2001).

In one article, Reiche and George (2023) adopt a prospective research design that allows them to probe the identity work of global professionals who experience a major disruption (i.e., the global pandemic) to their global work role. Contrary to most literature on identity work, they found that the influence of the global pandemic on global professionals’ own identity work depended on the identity tensions they faced before the disruption and whether they saw the disruption as a threat or an opportunity for their identity. In another article, drawing on French and Raven's (1959) sources of power, Neeley and Reiche (2022) used data (qualitative and archival) from global leaders to theorize about how, when, and why global leaders who have limited expertise, influence, and networks relative to their subordinates will use downward deference strategies when interacting with them. Their findings indicate that global leaders with intensive international experience are more likely to respond to subordinates with greater expertise, networks, and influence by engaging in behaviors that reduce their perceived social distance or give way to their subordinates’ expertise. Scholars could deductively test these inductively developed process models by formulating specific hypotheses grounded in the relevant theory (e.g., identity theory or theories of power) and drawing on different samples of global employees and global leaders, or consider different contextual conditions, such as different organizational environments, contrasting origin cultures, or types of work role disruptions.

In a study that combined both inductive and deductive approaches, Shaffer and Harrison (2001) inductively developed and then tested a comprehensive model of spouse adjustment that included individual factors (e.g., general self-efficacy), attributes of interpersonal relationships (e.g., extended family support or depth of support from host country nationals), and environmental conditions (e.g., cultural novelty). Scholars could replicate Shaffer and Harrison's (2001) model but may also incorporate additional predictors such as the type of assignment of the spouse's expatriate partner. It is possible that a self-initiated assignment might make spouse adjustment more difficult given that self-initiated assignees generally obtain fewer organizational resources. It would also be interesting to study whether spouse adjustment changes over time, and which conditions may prompt positive or negative changes. For example, to the extent that spouses’ social networks with host country nationals or their career embeddedness in the host country increase, their adjustment may benefit accordingly.

Expand to other types of global workers or meaningful new variables

Concerning the second type of replication, several seminal studies in the global work domain have focused on parent country expatriates but whose insights would inform other types of international assignments such as self-initiated assignees or international business travelers. Kraimer and Wayne (2004) investigated the three-dimensional nature of perceived organizational support (adjustment, financial, and career) within an integrative stress model of expatriate success, conceptualized in terms of task performance, contextual performance, and the intention to complete their assignment. The authors predicted that the three dimensions of perceived organizational support, together with supervisor support and a range of role and situational stressors would predict expatriate success via the mediators of expatriate adjustment, organizational commitment to the home unit, and organizational commitment to the foreign subsidiary. Drawing on a sample of 230 expatriate-supervisor dyads, Kraimer and Wayne (2004) found support for a partially mediated model and demonstrated that the dimensions of perceived organizational support differentially related to the facets of expatriate success. Future studies could assess whether the mediated relationships hold for other types of international assignments. For example, it is plausible that commitment to the foreign subsidiary is a more salient mediator for international assignees who are on longer relocations compared to short-term assignees or international business travelers. Similarly, we may expect that adjustment-related organizational support is more important for assignees who will stay in the host country for an extended period.

A highly cited study by Chang et al. (2012) examines how three dimensions of expatriates’ knowledge transfer competencies—the ability, motivation, and opportunity seeking to solve difficulties in the transfer process—translate into subsidiary performance by increasing subsidiaries’ receipt of knowledge. Integrating the ability-motivation-opportunity framework and the absorptive capacity perspective, the authors document that expatriates’ knowledge transfer competencies affect a subsidiary's performance through the knowledge received by the subsidiary, and that this indirect effect is stronger when subsidiary absorptive capacity is greater. A clear strength of this study is that it draws on three distinct data sources, including expatriates, local human resource and line managers, as well as archival databases. It would be informative for the domain to replicate this study with other types of assignees. For example, self-initiated assignees may have fewer opportunities to solve difficulties in the knowledge transfer process because they may have fewer intraorganizational relationships outside the foreign subsidiary to search for and utilize the necessary resources. At the same time, assignees that are more mobile (e.g., international business travelers, short-term assignees) might be able to access a wider range of weak ties which might help source novel knowledge. Given the rise in virtual global mobility (Selmer et al., 2022), scholars could examine whether the effects hold under conditions of limited face-to-face contact between expatriates and subsidiary staff.

We note that constructive replications do not have to be limited to quantitative research. For example, Molinsky (2013) uses a grounded theory approach and longitudinal qualitative data from 50 foreign-born master's students to explore the psychological dynamics of cultural retooling, defined as smoothly and swiftly incorporating new behaviors into one's cultural repertoire. He finds that the retooling process unfolds over three distinct phases (conflict, ambivalence, and authenticity) and that students vary in their trajectories across these phases. It would be informative to compare findings from these early-career individuals with more seasoned global professionals. By contrast, Neeley and Reiche's (2022) study on global leaders’ downward deference behaviors could be replicated with less experienced global leaders to add nuance to our understanding of global leader behaviors.

Existing empirical studies could also be constructively replicated by adding meaningful other variables. Chang et al.'s (2012) study of the relationship between expatriates’ knowledge transfer competencies and subsidiary performance mentioned earlier could be replicated by testing the salience of the ability-motivation-opportunity framework relative to other theoretical mechanisms. For example, it is possible that assignees who are granted higher levels of status from their subsidiary colleagues—beyond their knowledge transfer competencies—are more likely to influence subsidiary performance because subsidiary employees are more likely to accept, pay attention to, and receive assignees’ knowledge and advice. In general, to identify relevant additional variables, we would encourage global work scholars to venture into adjacent fields. Choudhury's (2022) review of the literature on geographic mobility across the domains of management, organizational science, sociology, economics, and law is an example. Similarly, Dimitrova et al. (2023) draw on the literature on the adjustment of organizational newcomers to expand the conceptual foundations of expatriate adjustment.

Alternative methodological approaches

A third avenue for replication studies concerns the use of alternative or novel methodological approaches. In a longitudinal study of 70 expatriates during the first 4 months of their international assignments, Firth et al. (2014) examined how and why expatriate work adjustment evolves over time. Using data across four time points, the authors showed that cross-cultural motivation and psychological empowerment was positively associated with initial levels of adjustment, and indirectly and negatively related to work adjustment change. Challenge stressors positively related to changes in work adjustment over time. Further, changes in work adjustment significantly related to expatriates’ assignment satisfaction and premature return intention above and beyond average levels of work adjustment. Similarly, in a clever but challenging study referred to earlier, Zhu et al. (2016) accompanied 179 expatriates from pre-departure through the first nine months of their international assignments. With ten measurement waves, the authors were able to examine changes in work adjustment in fairly granular fashion. Their results challenged classic U-shaped perspectives of expatriate adjustment and instead suggested a gradual increase in work adjustment over time. Zhu et al. (2016) also showed that expatriates’ previous culture-specific work experience and their core self-evaluations moderate the trajectory of work adjustment. Further, the trajectory of adjustment predicted expatriates’ career instrumentality and turnover intention after nine months, as well as job promotion 18 months later.

Collecting data across various time points to study how adjustment changes is crucial given that adjustment by nature is a dynamic process, something that the early adjustment literature had already highlighted (Black et al., 1991). However, Firth et al.'s (2014) and Zhu et al.'s (2016) studies continue to focus on variable-centered approaches to conceptualization and data analysis, which consider relationships among variables (e.g., the relationship between cross-cultural motivation and initial adjustment level). An alternative way to conceptualize and operationalize change over time is through person-centered approaches that could examine different trajectories of assignees’ adjustment over time (Howard & Hoffman, 2018). A few studies have recently used intensive longitudinal designs to explore sub-groups of assignees based on commonalities on a particular variable and track the sub-groups’ evolution over time. Using such person-centered approaches not only requires a sophisticated research design that allows for multiple measurement points, but also calls for alternative data analytical approaches. For example, Takeuchi et al. (2019) draw on a four-wave, archival data set of expatriates and latent class growth analysis techniques to identify four distinct change patterns of expatriate job performance, which are driven by three types of prior work experience (international, job, organizational): a U-curve, a learning-curve, a stable high-performing pattern, and a stable low-performing pattern.

Person-centered approaches would allow scholars to examine whether different adjustment trajectories exist and whether they evolve in distinct ways over time. Researchers could also test whether time-invariant antecedents such as previous culture-specific work experience or core self-evaluations as studied by Zhu et al. (2016) predict whether assignees will form part of one or another adjustment trajectory. Finally, this methodology would allow scholars to explore whether trajectory membership relates to the relevant outcomes—including premature return intention, assignment satisfaction or subsequent job promotion (Firth et al., 2014; Zhu et al., 2016)—in significantly different ways.

However, person-centered approaches do not necessarily require longitudinal research designs because identifying salient subgroups of global workers with similar substantive characteristics would be in and of itself beneficial to be able to put existing findings into context. For example, Nguyen and Andresen (2023) collected data from 707 international assignees and adopted a person-centered approach along with latent class analysis to identify four distinct forms in which assignees may become embedded during their relocations. The authors then examined the relationships between these embedding types and the desire to remain in their current employer organizations and countries, and how personal initiative affected the emergence of these embedding types.

Taken together, person-centered approaches to the global work domain may help us better replicate existing research, for example, by identifying and delineating more homogenous groups of global workers. However, these approaches would also allow us to explore novel research questions, such as: What are emergent subgroups of assignees’ or global workers’ well-being and how do they evolve over time? What are emergent subgroups as defined by assignees’ work role adjustment, international experience, or host-country embeddedness, and how do they relate to their effectiveness over time? How do assignees different configurations of culture-specific and culture-general identities evolve over time?

Novel measures

A final opportunity to replicate existing empirical studies is to draw on novel measures. The literature on expatriate adjustment is a case in point. While empirical studies have traditionally adopted Black and Stephens’ (1989) conceptualization and measurement of adjustment as consisting of adjustment to work, interacting with host country nationals, and the general cultural environment, this measure has not been without criticism. As a result, subsequent work has developed both more comprehensive conceptualizations of adjustment that reach beyond the affective nature of Black and Stephens’ (1989) conceptualization of adjustment to also include cognitive and behavioral facets (e.g., Haslberger et al., 2013). Scholars have also developed alternative theory-based measures that draw on role theory and distinguish between adjustment to different role domains such as work and family (Shaffer et al., 2016) or the person-environment fit perspective (Hippler et al., 2014). It would be insightful to replicate past adjustment studies with these alternative measures to advance our understanding of key correlates and predictors of expatriate—and partner—adjustment and examine whether and to which extent these measures differ in their explanatory power.