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Expatriate personality and cultural fit: The moderating role of host country context on job satisfaction

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  • Peltokorpi, Vesa
  • Froese, Fabian

Abstract

This study draws on the cultural fit hypothesis to examine interactive effects of host country context and four (Multicultural Personality Questionnaire) expatriate personality traits – Cultural Empathy, Social Initiative, Emotional Stability, and Open Mindedness – on job satisfaction. The cultural fit hypothesis maintains that it is not only the expatriate personality traits per se, but the cultural fit between expatriate personality traits and host country cultural values, norms, and prototypical personality traits that predict expatriate adjustment in host countries (Searle & Ward, 1990). Providing partial support for the cultural fit hypothesis, data derived from 191 expatriates in Brazil and Japan shows that the importance of two personality traits varies in these countries. Specifically, expatriates with high Cultural Empathy were more satisfied with their jobs in Japan than in Brazil, whereas Social Initiative was more important for expatriates in Brazil.

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  • Peltokorpi, Vesa & Froese, Fabian, 2014. "Expatriate personality and cultural fit: The moderating role of host country context on job satisfaction," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 293-302.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:iburev:v:23:y:2014:i:1:p:293-302
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2013.05.004
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    3. Hauff, Sven & Richter, Nicole Franziska & Tressin, Tabea, 2015. "Situational job characteristics and job satisfaction: The moderating role of national culture," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 710-723.
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    5. Peltokorpi, Vesa, 2020. "Host Country National Employees’ Prosocial Behavior toward Expatriates in Foreign Subsidiaries: A Common Ingroup Identity Model Perspective," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2).
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    13. Yaya Sun & Tao Wang & Xin Gu, 2019. "A Sustainable Development Perspective on Cooperative Culture, Knowledge Flow, and Innovation Network Governance Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-17, November.
    14. Miikka J. Lehtonen & Ainomaija Haarla & Masaaki Kotabe, 2020. "Beyond the inflection point: how and why individuals promote inventions in Japan," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(5), pages 505-529, November.
    15. Horak, Sven & Yang, Inju, 2016. "Affective networks, informal ties, and the limits of expatriate effectiveness," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 1030-1042.
    16. Sana Mumtaz & Sadia Nadeem, 2022. "Understanding the Integration of Psychological and Socio-cultural Factors in Adjustment of Expatriates: An AUM Process Model," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440221, February.
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    19. Cheng-Feng Cheng, 2020. "Revisiting Internal Marketing for the Determinants of Job (Dis)Satisfaction by Using Asymmetric Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-15, May.

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