A Social Network Perspective on International Assignments: The Role of Social Support

Abstract

The social environment of expatriates is a crucial factor for various desired outcomes of international assignments such as psychological well-being, cultural adjustment, job satisfaction, and performance. However, literature on expatriates’ social environment either considers social support as a theoretical link to explain the relationship between social network characteristics and performance or measures it on a global scale in contrast to a meaningful latent construct. By applying confirmatory factor analysis using data from 435 expatriates, this book chapter aims at providing guidance on how the construct social support should be employed in future studies. The book chapter contributes to the expatriate literature by developing a sound conceptual model regarding social support, recommending an appropriate measurement of the construct, and showing that social support should not be treated as one global construct. Instead, the results suggest to account for three different dimensions that should be measured separately in order to avoid a misdirected, short-falling application of the construct.

Appendices

North American Perspective

A Social Network Perspective on International Assignments: The Role of Social Support

• Arup Varma 

1. Department of Management, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

   Arup Varma

Host Country Nationals and Social Support

Over the last two or three decades, scholars have regularly called for closer examination of the role played by host country nationals (HCNs) in the expatriate adjustment process. In response to these calls, we have seen a few empirical studies examining the antecedents and consequences of the social support offered by HCNs to expatriates. Given the continuing growth of global corporations, and the resultant demand for expatriates, it is critical that we continue to investigate the HCN-expatriate interaction, so we may better understand the factors that impact HCN decision to offer social support to expatriates or withhold such support. As anyone who has worked and/or lived in another country can attest, the support of HCNs goes a long way in helping people adjust to the new city/country. Indeed, as I was reading the accompanying chapter, I started to think about my own experiences when I moved to the USA, from India, just over 25 years ago. While I had been lucky enough to travel across India, I had never left the country, and was indeed rather nervous, to say the least. Furthermore, in addition to moving thousands of miles away to start a new life, I was also making a major lifestyle change—going from working as an executive to starting graduate school. I landed at the small airport on a national holiday—the airport was literally ‘closed!’ As I sat on a bench rifling through my bag trying to find a quarter so I could call the university’s number (remember, this was before the internet and cell phones, etc.), I heard a voice asking me “are you Arup?” I looked up to see a friendly face—an Indian graduate student who had come to pick me up (the Department Secretary had requested that he receive me). Over the next few weeks, he proved to be very helpful in my adjustment to the new city/country—he drove me to the grocery store, invited me to his dorm room for dinner a few times and offered lots and lots of advice, and answered all my questions—and I had a whole bunch!

Over the next several weeks, I slipped into a routine (classes, library, student center activities) and got to know several other students, staff, and faculty members, who each helped in their own way, to different degrees. I have no doubt that my adjustment would have been that much more difficult if it were not for all these folks. However, I have wondered why each one of them helped me out. The first individual I had encountered was originally from India—is that why he decided to come to the airport to pick me up? For that matter, I often wondered why the secretary had asked him and not any of the other doctoral students. Then again, the handful of other folks that offered me social support were not from India, so why did they decide to befriend me? Was it something about me, or something about them? Did they expect something in return, or was the help offered without any expectations?

It is perhaps this experience that has led me to investigate the HCN role in expatriate adjustment. In my research, my colleagues and I have found that variables such as collectivism, dogmatism, ethnocentrism, and perceptions of value similarities can have a significant impact on HCN willingness to offer support. In other words, it seems that HCNs use a process of social categorization to determine if the individual expatriate is similar to them or different. Once they have made this determination, the expatriate in question is cast into their in-group or out-group, and it is this categorization that determines whether the expatriate will receive the required support.

Of course, not all HCNs are automatically motivated to help expatriates by offering social support. Indeed, in many cases, organization policies might actually cause HCNs to be suspicious or jealous of the expatriates, causing them to withhold information from the expatriates. As an example, in most cases, expatriates are paid much more than HCNs, often for doing the same job. Not surprisingly, this causes HCNs to be upset or angry at the organization, thus causing them to avoid the expatriates socially.

The question this raises is—how do we ensure that HCNs offered appropriate levels of social support to the expatriates to help with their adjustment, given that the longer the expatriates take to adjust, the slower they will be in getting up to speed on the assignment. Clearly, this is a very complex issue and requires multiple, comprehensive investigations, in numerous different environments and contexts, so we may better understand the factors that guide HCN willingness to offer social support.

In my own research, I have found, not surprisingly, that expatriates need social support from HCNs to adjust to the new location. The type of support needed can vary—from needing help with identifying good schools for expatriates’ children to finding appropriate housing, HCNs can help expatriates in numerous ways. While these findings corroborated earlier findings and supported our predictions, we also found several surprising results when investigating this phenomenon. For example, in one study, we found that both male and female HCNs from India would prefer to work with female expatriates from the USA than male expatriates from the USA. In another study, we found, that contrary to our predictions, Chinese HCNs expressed preference for Indian expatriate colleague over those from the USA.

Where Do We Go from Here?

What is clear is that the expatriate-HCNs relationship is rather complex and defies easy generations. As such, comprehensive investigations of this relationship are required, so we may better understand the dynamics of the relationships. In this connection, the accompanying study is a good first step in that direction. As Schuster and Bader note, social support is a multi-dimensional construct and should be operationalized accordingly in future empirical investigations. After all, we cannot expect that all expatriates require the same type of support—for that matter, not all HCNs might be equipped to offer all types of support. This, if we are to “open the black box” of social support, we need to start peeling away the layers, so we can better understand this multi-dimensional, complex construct.

While the emerging research has begun to show promise in terms of “opening the black box” of social support, it is clear that further studies are needed in order to help us better understand the complex HCN-expatriate relationship. In addition to understanding the various dimensions of social support, there are several related issues that should also be examined. For example, there are different types of expatriates, not just those who work for multinational corporations—self-initiated academics, nurses, students, and so on. Ironically, the bulk of expatriate research has concentrated on MNC expatriates. It is important that other types of expatriates are also brought under the purview of this stream of research. Relatedly, the type of role the expatriate plays in his/her host country might have a significant impact on HCNs willingness to offer social support. As an example, a teacher may receive much higher levels of social support and be integrated into the community much faster, as opposed to an investment banker or an actor. Finally, the HCNs’ own behavior and attitudes are likely to play a significant role in determining whether they receive the required social support.

Overall, it is clear that expatriates need social support and will continue to do so—however, the type of social support needed may be different, and the willingness of HCNs to offer support may also very significantly.

Appendix D.1: Divergent Operationalization of Social Support in the Expatriate Management Literature

Wang ( 2001 ): [Dimensions were not considered by Wang (2001)]

Instrumental

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors helped you out in a crisis situation at work, even though they had to go out of their way to do so.

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors loaned you or gave you something that you needed at home/work.

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors helped you out when too many things needed to get done.

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors helped you to take care of your family when you were busy or away.

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors gave you tangible help in settling down in the local country.

Emotional

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors listened to you when you needed to talk about your private feelings during the overseas assignment.

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors are people with whom you can totally be yourself.

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors were concerned about your well-being in your overseas assignment.

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors could be counted on to console you when you were very upset at work.

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors helped you feel better when you were very irritable working in the local situation.

Informational

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors gave you information about local entertainment activities.

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors gave you information about local customs.

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors gave you information about where you can buy what you need for home/work.

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors gave you information about how to get things done at your work in the local situation.

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors gave you information about how to deal with interpersonal relationships with local people.

Appraisal

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors would let you know that you did something well at work with local people.

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors told you that what you did does not comply with local customs.

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors made it clear what was expected of you at work.

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors gave you objective feedback about how you were handling your problems at work.

Your friends, colleagues, and supervisors told you that what you wanted to do at work was right.

Black and Gregersen ( 1990 )

Work related social support

To measure social support at work a four-item Likert-type scale was utilized which measured how accessible and helpful organization members were to the individual. (No more information on the concrete items are provided)

Non-work related:

Measures concerning the frequency of interaction

(6 = annually; 5 = semiannually; 4 = quarterly; 3 = monthly; 2 = weekly; 1 = daily)

Johnson et al. ( 2003 )

To what extent did you obtain non-work information, business information, and social support from each person listed

(1 = not at all–5 = to a great extent)

Caplan et al. ( 1975 )

1. He/she goes out of his/her way to make my work life easier.

2. He/she is easy to talk to.

3. He/she can be relied on when things get tough at work.

4. I can express my feelings freely to him/her.

(1 = not at all–5 = to a great extent)

Ong and Ward ( 2005 )

Socio-emotional support

1. Comfort you whenever you feel homesick.

2. Listen and talk with you whenever you feel lonely or depressed.

3. Share your good and bad times.

4. Spend some quiet time with you whenever you do not feel like going out.

5. Spend time chatting with you whenever you are bored.

6. Accompany you to do things whenever you need someone for company.

7. Visit you to see how you are doing.

8. Accompany you somewhere even if he or she doesn’t have to.

9. Reassure you that you are loved, supported, and cared for.

Instrumental support

1. Provide necessary information to help orient you to your new surroundings.

2. Help you deal with some local institutions’ official rules and regulations.

3. Show you how to do something that you didn’t know how to do.

4. Explain things to make your situation clearer and easier to understand.

5. Tell you what can and cannot be done in Singapore.

6. Help you interpret things that you don’t really understand.

7. Give you some tangible assistance in dealing with any communication or language problems that you might face.

8. Explain and help you understand the local culture and language.

9. Tell you about available choices and options.

(1 = no one would do this–5 = many would do this)

Appendix D.2: Items Used to Measure Social Support and Perform the Analysis

Emotional Support

Item	Question: To what extent do you agree with the following statements concerning your social network (friends, colleagues, and supervisors)?	Mean	S.D.
EMO1	People in my social network listen and talk to me whenever I feel lonely and depressed.	3.747	1.045
EMO2	People in my social network share good and bad times with me.	3.731	1.012
EMO3	People in my social network spend some quiet time with me whenever I do not feel like going out.	3.103	1.170
EMO4	People in my social network spend time chatting with me whenever I am bored.	3.288	1.111
EMO5	People in my social network comfort me whenever I feel homesick.	3.185	1.232
EMO6	People in my social network accompany me to do things whenever I need someone for company.	3.387	1.104
EMO7	People in my social network visit me to see how I am doing.	2.976	1.146
EMO8	People in my social network accompany me somewhere even if he or she doesn’t have to.	3.031	1.145
EMO9	People in my social network reassure me that I am loved, supported, and cared for.	3.605	1.132
EMO10	People in my social network give me the impression that I feel safe and secure during the foreign assignment.	3.752	1.100

1. Cronbach’s alpha: 0.916

Informational Support

Item	Question: To what extent do you agree with the following statements concerning your social network (friends, colleagues, and supervisors)?	Mean	S.D.
INF1	Through information of people in my social network I feel safe during my assignment.	2.942	1.169
INF2	People in my social network give me information on how to do and act appropriately.	2.988	1.102
INF3	People in my social network said things that made my situation abroad clearer.	2.938	1.118
INF4	People in my social network suggested some action I should take.	2.964	1.087
INF5	People in my social network give me information about the safety issues during my foreign assignment.	3.058	1.222

1. Cronbach’s alpha: 0.925

Instrumental Support

Item	Question: To what extent do you agree with the following statements concerning your social network (friends, colleagues, and supervisors)?	Mean	S.D.
INST1	People in my social network provide necessary information to help orient me to my new surroundings.	3.969	0.929
INST2	People in my social network help me in dealing with some local institutions’ official rules and regulations.	3.827	1.024
INST3	People in my social network show me how to deal with new issues that occur during my foreign assignment.	3.736	0.967
INST4	People in my social network give me explanations to make my situation clearer and easier to understand.	3.700	0.964
INST5	People in my social network tell me what can and cannot be done during my foreign assignment.	3.427	1.051
INST6	People in my social network help me to interpret situations that I don’t really understand.	3.615	0.967
INST7	People in my social network give me some tangible assistance in dealing with any communication or language problems that I might face.	3.549	1.118
INST8	People in my social network explain and help me to understand the local culture and language.	3.596	1.095
INST9	People in my social network tell me about available choices and options.	3.538	0.971
INST10	People in my social network help me in dealing with safety issues.	3.554	1.112

1. Cronbach’s alpha: 0.938

Appraisal Support

Item	Question: To what extent do you agree with the following statements concerning your social network (friends, colleagues, and supervisors)?	Mean	S.D.
APP1	People in my social network tell me that I am doing good work.	2.815	1.198
APP2	People in my social network give me feedback if I do something that is not in accordance with local principles.	2.903	1.107
APP3	I get feedback from people in my social network concerning my worries and fears.	2.935	1.090
APP4	People in my social network give me suggestions on how to deal with problems.	2.930	1.108

1. Cronbach’s alpha: 0.861