This document discusses factors that affect the success rates of expatriate workers. It argues that how well the families of expatriates adjust to the host country has the biggest impact on whether the expatriate completes their assignment. Families have difficulty adjusting when they lack social ties, support systems, and training. Providing counseling, international schools, and networking opportunities for families can help with adjustment and in turn improve expatriate success rates. Limitations include the difficulty of changing personality traits that influence adaptability.

1. Families and Success Rates of Expatriates
Sharese Nealy
Albright College

2. 2
Abstract:
This paper examines the reasons and factors of why some expatriates do not
successfully complete their overseas assignments. More specifically, it looks at the effect
of families and support systems on the success rate of expatriate workers. This paper also
looks more deeply into explaining how and why families play an integral role in the
success of the success of their expatriate relative. Later on, the author discusses possible
methods to help expatriates and their families adjust more comfortably to their new
surroundings.
Introduction:
Every year, millions of employees are relocated to different countries across the
globe in an attempt to complete various job assignments. A large majority of these
expatriates, roughly 70 percent, have families that they bring them along with them (Van
Der Zee, 2007). Sometimes, expatriates successfully complete their assignments while
other times they fail and prematurely return to their home country. Throughout extensive
research, it was discovered that one of the biggest reasons expatriates return to their
native country before their assignment is complete is due to the fact that their families do
not properly adjust to their new settings. By spending more time and energy on helping
families and children adapt, businesses can save money on turnover and improve the
success rates of expatriation within their company (Hogan, 2003). If companies can
improve the rate of success of their expatriates, they can then gain a competitive
advantage because their employees gain international experience that could then provide
the company with the global human resources and skills necessary to get ahead of the
competition (Hogan, 2003).

3. 3
Furthermore, when expatriates do not successfully complete their assignments it
can prove to be quite costly for the firms that sent them abroad. In fact, the direct cost
associated with expatriate adjustment failure has been estimated at $150,000 per
expatriate, while the indirect cost including training, relocation, and compensation have
been estimated at roughly $80,000 per expatriate (Lee, 2014). Naturally, it would be
more beneficial and prosperous for firms to not lose out on profits due to the lack of
success of their expatriate employees. A research gap that I discovered is that a lot of
articles explain why expatriates do not succeed, but they do not touch on how to fix that
or the benefits of proper training and programs designed to prepare expatriates before
they make the move to another country.
In this paper, I am going to examine the factors and character traits that inhibit
families from properly adjusting to their host countries. I will also discuss possible
solutions and methods that families, as well as the firms that send the families’ abroad,
can take in order to make for a smoother transition.
Why Expatriates Don’t Succeed
As mentioned above, there are many factors that cause expatriates to not complete
their overseas assignments. Some research variables that lead to expatriation failure
include: job dissatisfaction, lack of social ties to other expatriates, personality
characteristics, and of course the inability of the expatriate’s family to adjust while
overseas.

4. 4
It was discovered that how well the expatriates themselves adjusted to their new
environment had a huge impact on their families and how well they themselves adjusted.
Proposition 1: Expatriate success rate is positively influenced by how well the
family members of the expatriate adjust to their host country.
Out of the aforementioned independent variables, it can be argued that the ability
of families to adapt to their host countries has the greatest impact on the success rate of
expatriate workers. A recent study revealed that children are sensitive to parents’ work-
related emotions and often feel strained by their parent’s tiredness and bad mood after
work (Morales, 2015). Furthermore, over 90% of female expatriates in one study said
that the success or failure of their international assignment was directly related to the
happiness of their spouse (Linehan 2002).
Expatriate’s effect on families
In order for the spouses and children of expatriates to adjust, the expatriate must
successfully adjust first. According to Cole, expatriate adjustment comprises of three
dimensions: cultural adjustment, interactional adjustment, and work adjustment (Cole,
2011). Expatriates and their families must properly adjust in all three dimensions in order
to successfully complete their mission. The article written by Lee discusses the personal

5. 5
factors necessary for an expatriate to fit in accordingly with his or her new environment.
Lee states that expatriates with a higher emotional and cultural intelligence are more
likely to successfully complete their assignments (Lee, 2014). Lee defines people with a
higher emotional intelligence as being able to understand their emotions better and
perform better in their overseas adjustment and commitment. This author also defines
cultural intelligence as being aimed to capture the ability to adapt, to understand, and to
act appropriately across cultures (Lee, 2014). The reason why expatriates with these traits
usually complete their assignments is due to the fact that people with a higher emotional
and cultural intelligence tend to have an “internal locus of control, are flexible,
demonstrate an interest in other people, and have a socially adaptable character (Lee,
2014).” Therefore, it is necessary for expatriate workers to adjust and adapt to their host
country quickly in order to set a positive example for their family members.
Adjustment Factors of Families
Before looking at ways to improve and facilitate the adjustment of expatriate
families into their new country, it is important to examine what factors play a role in how
well the families adjust. According to Van Der Zee, two key factors that affect
adaptability are family cohesion and family communication. This author refers to family
cohesion as “the amount of emotional bonding between family members (Van Der Zee,
2007).” Research conducted by Bowlby explains that the level of emotional bonding
within the family may impact family members’ ability to develop relationships beyond
the boundaries of the family unit. This could mean that expatriate children within a
family that exhibit little family cohesion would have more difficulty establishing and
maintaining friendships with other children (Bowlby, 1977).

6. 6
Van Der Zee then argues that through communication, families can create a
shared sense of meaning, develop and orchestrate coping strategies, and maintain
harmony and balance (Van Der Zee, 2007). Later on in the article, she hypothesizes that
the scores of expatriate children on five particular traits: cultural empathy, open-
mindedness, emotional stability, flexibility, and social initiative are positively related to
their intercultural adjustment (Van Der Zee, 2007). Kim Van Erp provides even more
reasons on why expatriates do not succeed. She cites evaluations from international
companies worldwide that reveal that spouse’s dissatisfaction and lack of spouse’s career
opportunities following the assignment are the most frequently mentioned reasons for
assignment failures and premature returns (Van Erp, 2011)
The Effect of Support Systems
There are some outlets and methods that can be used to aid families with their
ability to adjust to their new surroundings. When managers promote and establish
different forms of support for expatriates and their families to become accustomed to
their host country, everyone benefits in the long run.
Proposition 2: Counseling, training programs, and support systems for expatriate
families promote the success rate of expatriate workers.
One way to help the children and adolescents of expatriate workers adjust to their
host countries is to have them attend an international school. International schools, when
set up correctly, can aid students and their families with the adjustment process. Morales
explains that an international school is a school that is “specifically established to cater to
students from a wide variety of cultures who are likely to be internationally mobile as
their parents move from country to country (Morales, 2015).” The inclusion of

7. 7
adjustment programs and mentors can be viewed as quite beneficial to expatriate families
because it provides them with connections and social support from people that are in the
same or a similar situation as them (Morales, 2015). Organizational support is also
important because it can lower depression and work conflict for employees and also can
assist expatriates to feel well working in the organization (Lee, 2014).
Another important factor that contributes to families being able to properly adjust
is the significance of social ties. One particular reason on why social ties are valuable is
that they provide social support, which can help individuals deal with stress and anxiety
(Johnson, 2003). It makes sense for people to want to be able to interact with other people
in a similar situation as them. For this reason, it would be wise for firms to set up a
support system for expatriates and their families to fall back on in order to help with a
smoother transition. This would provide the spouses with the opportunity to talk to and
gain advice from other spouses of expatriates. Also, it could allow children and teens a
way to meet people going through similar life changes.
Many companies do not offer enough training prior to their departure. An article
in the Academy of Management Review found that the failure rate of American
expatriates between the years of 1965 to 1985 was around 40 percent (Hogan, 2003). In
contrast, the failure rate of Japanese expatriate workers was less than 10 percent within
those same years (Hogan, 2003). This can be explained by investigating the differing
attitudes and opinions between the two cultures in regards to pre-departure training.
Americans generally tend to think that pre-departure training and other programs are a
waste of resources and time because the assignment is temporary, whereas people in
Asian and European countries believe that acculturation is very important and preparation

8. 8
should be extensive. In a study done by Hogan, it was found that of the 40 multinational
companies headed by Americans, fewer than 25 percent offered any type of pre-departure
training program and none of those training programs had required attendance (Hogan,
2003). In Japan, companies announce overseas assignments a year prior to departure in
order to allow the expatriate proper time to prepare (Hogan, 2003). During that year, the
expatriate devotes company time to studying the culture and language of their destination
country; the expatriates are also assigned a mentor that is there to help reduce any
pressure and stress that the expatriate and his or her family might experience (Hogan,
2003).
Conclusions and Limitations
In conclusion, there are various factors that can inhibit an expatriate from
successfully completing his or her assignment. One of the main factors that enable this
failure is the inability of families to adjust to their new environment. When families do
adjust well, it is beneficial to everyone. For example, it will help expatriates to
concentrate on their work assignment and can improve the success of the foreign
assignment (Lee, 2014). Methods to increase expatriate success overseas include focusing
on what could cause these problems and then discovering ways to overcome them. Some
ways to overcome families’ adjustment problems could include going to therapy, working
more cohesively as a family unit, and having children attend international schools with
programs aimed to aid children with adjusting to new cultures and environments.
Although the traits that lead to adjustment failure of expatriates and their families
have been identified, there are still limitations to this study. It was found that families
who are less open-minded with less emotional stability were the least likely to adjust

9. 9
properly to their new settings. However, as these factors reflect personality types, it is
difficult or nearly impossible to change those characteristics. Different methods can be
introduced to help people adjust more, but it is very hard to alter peoples’ true
personalities. Although international schools and therapy have been proven to help
families adjust, there are not a lot of significant studies to prove just how well they work.
I would like to see more research on how significantly these things affect adjustment.

10. 10
Works Cited
Bowlby, J. (1977). The making and breaking of affectional bonds. British Journal of
Psychiatry, 130, 201�210.
Hogan, Gary & Jane Goodson. (2003). The Key to Expatriate Success. Training and
Development Journal, 44 (1).
Johnson, Eric & Amy Kristof-Brown. (2003). Expatriate Social Ties: Personality
Antecedents and Consequences for Adjustment. International Journal of Selection
and Assessment, 11 (4). Retrieved from
http://web.ebscohost.com.felix.albright.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=cd312
7fe-804e-4e7c-901f-78dfadd02e87%40sessionmgr4002&vid=1&hid=4107.
Lee, Li-Yueh. (2014). The influence of individual, family, and social capital factors on
expatriate adjustment and performance: The moderating effect of psychology
contract and organizational support. Expert Systems with Applications, 41 (11).
Retrieved from
http://www.sciencedirect.com.felix.albright.edu/science/article/pii/S095741741400
1067.
Morales, Antonio. (2015). Factors Affecting Third Culture Kids’ (TCKs) Transition.
Journal of International Education Research, 11. Retrieved from
http://www.cluteinstitute.com/ojs/index.php/JIER/article/view/9098/9099.
Van Der Zee, Karen. (2007). Determinants of effective coping with cultural transition
among expatriate children and adolescents. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping, 20 (1).
Retrieved from
http://web.a.ebscohost.com.felix.albright.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=dc8e
14d1-57f7-4b89-b176-7341d7233142%40sessionmgr4002&vid=4&hid=4204.
Van Erp. (2010). Expatriate adjustment: The role of justice and conflict in intimate
relationships. Journal of the International Association for Relationship Research,
18. Retrieved from
http://web.b.ebscohost.com.felix.albright.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=9fe3
6955-bc46-4f8f-b5e7-90ac411c61dd%40sessionmgr110&vid=13&hid=107.