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In today’s global economy there is a need for effective expatriates who are able to succeed in their host national environment (Brookfield, 2014). A survey of over 1,200 CEOs globally found that “bridging the global skills gap” was one of the top concerns for their firms’ strategic growth and that deploying “more staff to international assignments” was a leading solution to this concern (PriceWaterhouseCooper’s14th Annual Global CEO Survey, 2011, p. 19). As a talent management practice, international assignments have also been used as a part of global leadership development programs in many multinational organizations (The Korn Ferry Institute, 2009). Thus, successful expatriates are important for strategy execution and future strategic growth.
The level of social support expatriates are able to garner from the host country work environment can facilitate expatriates’ performance on the assignment (Bruning et al., 2012; Chen et al., 2010; Johnson et al., 2003; Toh and DeNisi, 2007). In an expatriate context, there are three conditions needed for social support to occur (Farh et al., 2010). One, the expatriates must be receptive to support and feedback from those in the host national work environment. Two, colleagues in the host nation must perceive the expatriates’ willingness to be supported and to receive feedback. Three, colleagues in the host nation must be willing to offer support and provide feedback. The latter, past research has examined the host nationals’ willingness to offer support to their expatriate colleagues (Toh and DeNisi, 2005; see also Aycan, 1997; Florkowski and Fogel, 1999; Hailey, 1996; Templer, 2010; Varma et al., 2012). The expatriates’ willingness to receive and to act upon the support and feedback offered by host nationals, however, is less understood. Our study seeks to understand whether expatriates’ individual differences in cultural humility and ethnocentrism interact with the support available in the host national work environment to influence their performance.
Support in the host national environment affecting expatriate performance
Research suggests that support and feedback from colleagues in the host country helps reduce uncertainty and stress by providing information about cultural norms and socially accepted behaviors, tangible assistance with language and broader communication problems, and help with job-related tasks. Such support enables expatriates to make sense of and become comfortable in the new work...