Keywords

expatriate mentoring, mentoring, expatriate employees

Abstract

Sending employees overseas for international work assignments has become a popular practice among today's multinational corporations, albeit one fraught with challenges. These expatriate employees, individuals who relocate internationally for work assignments, face many difficulties ranging from problematic adjustment to inadequate preparation. Mentoring has been proposed as one strategy for alleviating the challenges faced by expatriates and for providing the support expatriates need before, during, and after their assignments (Harvey & Wiese, 2002; Mezias & Scandura, 2005). In fact, expatriates that report having a mentor are more likely than expatriates without mentors to have positive career outcomes such as increased job satisfaction and organizational socialization (Feldman & Bolino, 1999; Feldman & Thomas, 1992). Yet, research on expatriate mentoring is still in its infancy as very little empirical research has been conducted. This study will extend past research by 1) investigating the effects of having a mentor and the amount of mentoring provided, 2) exploring the isolated impact of both career development and psychosocial support on expatriate outcomes, and 3) examining the unique impact of mentoring provided by home and host country mentors. The results revealed that the number of mentors that an expatriate reported having was not related to expatriate socialization, cross-cultural adjustment, job satisfaction, intent to remain for the duration of the assignment, or intent to turnover. The results also showed that for the expatriates having two or more mentors, having a diverse group of mentors, that is, at least one mentor from the home country and one mentor from the host country, was not related to any of the expatriate outcomes examined. Further, the results indicated that home and host country colleagues provide unique mentoring functions that predict expatriate outcomes on overseas assignments. Theoretical and practical implications based upon these findings are discussed.

Notes

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Graduation Date

2007

Semester

Summer

Advisor

Smith-Jentsch, Kimberly

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree Program

Psychology

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

CFE0001648

URL

http://purl.fcla.edu/fcla/etd/CFE0001648

Language

English

Release Date

April 2008

Length of Campus-only Access

None

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access)

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Included in

Psychology Commons

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