Determinants and Consequences of Expatriate Adjustment:A Review of Existing Studies

The internationalization of business within the last fifty years has led to a growing importanceof international human resource management (IHRM) (see, for example, Dowling et al. 1994,Desatnick and Bennet 1977, Evans et al. 2002 or Harzing/van Ruysseveldt 1995). Especiallythe role of international assignments – mainly with the aim to control and coordinateinternational activities – has increased significantly. Furthermore, they are often judged ascritical to the development of global leaders and the implementation of corporate culturesworldwide. While international assignments are an efficient mechanism to managemultinational corporations their use is not without costs. It has been estimated that the firstyearcosts of sending expatriates to foreign assignments are at least three times the basesalaries of their domestic counterparts (Shaffer et al. 1999)....