Mentoring in international assignments: a personality traits perspective
| Pages | 1100-1130 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ER-09-2016-0180 |
| Date | 06 November 2017 |
| Published date | 06 November 2017 |
| Author | Tassilo Schuster,Judith Ambrosius,Benjamin Bader |
| Subject Matter | HR & organizational behaviour,Industrial/labour relations,Employment law |
Mentoring in international
assignments: a personality
traits perspective
Tassilo Schuster and Judith Ambrosius
Department of International Management, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg,
Nuremberg, Germany, and
Benjamin Bader
Department of Strategic Management and Organization,
Institute of Corporate Development,
Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Lüneburg, Germany
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of personality and mentorship on expatriates’
psychological well-being. The authors argue that certain personality traits (extraversion, agreeableness,
conscientiousness, emotional stability, and openness to experience) have positive effects on expatriates’
psychological well-being and that these personality traits enable them to derive a greater benefit from
mentorship. By doing so, this study identifies for which personality traits which type of mentoring (home or
host country mentor) is most beneficial.
Design/methodology/approach –Based on socioanalytic theory, the authors develop theory-driven
hypotheses and test them against data of 334 expatriates.
Findings –The study shows that several personality traits as well as home country mentorship have a
significant positive impact on psychological well-being, whereas host country mentorship shows no
significant positive effects. Moreover, the study indicates that home and host country mentorship partially
moderates the relationship between personality traits and psychological well-being.
Originality/value –Since the authors derive important implications for the selection process of expatriates
as well as for the implementation of mentoring in multinational corporations, this study is of value for
researchers and practitioners in the areas of human resource management and organizational studies.
Keywords Expatriates, Mentoring, Personality traits, International assignments, Psychological well-being
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The cost of expatriation ranges from US$300,000 to US$1,000,000 and is typically the
largest investment made by multinational corporations (MNCs) into an average employee
(Downes et al., 2010; Selmer, 2001). Yet, a certain percentage of international assignments
fail in the sense that expatriates are prematurely ordered back to their home organization,
perform poorly, voluntarily terminate the assignment before completion, or even leave the
company (Harzing, 1995; Harzing and Christensen, 2004; Reiche et al., 2011). In addition to
high direct costs (Hemmasi et al., 2010; Nowak and Linder, 2016; Yeaton and Hall, 2008),
MNCs often suffer from damaged relations with clients, local businesses, and government
officials, while the expatriates return home with decreased self-esteem, self-confidence, and
prestige (Gupta et al., 2012; Mendenhall and Oddou, 1985). MNCs, however, strongly rely on
expatriates’abilities to successfully deal with the complexities arising from their increasing
international activities (Harzing, 2001; Minbaeva and Michailova, 2004). For expatriates to
successfully interact in intercultural settings, it is crucial to be able to decode ambiguous
situations and overcome cultural and strategic challenges. Successfully overcoming these
challenges fosters the development of a global mindset, which in turn is beneficial for the
whole organization (Andresen and Bergdolt, 2017; Beechler and Javidan, 2007; Gupta and
Govindarajan, 2002; Levy et al., 2017).
Employee Relations
Vol. 39 No. 7, 2017
pp. 1100-1130
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0142-5455
DOI 10.1108/ER-09-2016-0180
Received 19 September 2016
Revised 7 April 2017
Accepted 9 June 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0142-5455.htm
1100
ER
39,7
Considering the highinvestment, collateral risks, and potential benefits, one might expect
that a company will do everything in its power to make the investment a success.
In this matter,psychological well-being hasbeen considered an important aspectof HRM, not
only in the domestic (Grant et al., 2013; Pawar, 2016), but especially in the international
context. Psychological well-beinghas been found to positively influenceexpatriates’intention
to stay (Black and Stephens, 1989; Cao et al., 2014;Mendenhall and Oddou, 1985),decrease the
chance of premature return (Black and Stephens, 1989; Caligiuri, 1997; Firth et al., 2014;
Shaffer et al., 2006),and increase task performance (Devonish, 2013; Firth et al., 2014;Kraimer
et al., 2001; Shay andBaack, 2006; Wang and Kanungo, 2004;Wright and Cropanzano, 2000).
Expatriation is a stressful event and psychological well-being is threatened by uncertainty
about the environment and culture as well as the loss of previous social networks. It is thus
especially important to foster expatriates’psychologicalwell-being in order to enable them to
carry out their overseas assignments effectively (Wang and Kanungo, 2004). Psychological
well-being is defined as an individual’s subjective sense of emotional well-beingand comfort
(Repetti, 1987). According to Ryff and Keyes (1995), it comprises self-acceptance, personal
growth, purposein life, positive relations with others,environmental mastery (the capacityto
manage effectively one’s life and surrounding world), and autonomy. By enhancing
expatriates’psychological well-being, companiescan secure their investment and increasethe
chance of success for international assignments. In order to do so, it is important to select
the right candidates( McNulty and De Cieri, 2016; Toh andDeNisi, 2005) and to support them
appropriately (Kraimer et al., 2001). Concerning the former, we see that morethan 90 percent
of MNCs still base expatriate selection primarily on task-related criteria, e.g. technical
expertise, know-how, and abilities (Peltokorpi and Froese, 2012; Swaak, 1995). However,
personality factors should be considered even more (or at least equally) important as
task-related skills, knowledge, and abilities, since they enableexpatriates to cope with stress
and make sense of their environment (Caligiuri, 2000a; Huff, 2013; Huff et al., 2014;
O’Sullivan,1999; Tung, 1987). Researchprovides evidence for the positiveeffects of expatriate
personality traits on desired outcomes, e.g. cultural adjustment (Caligiuri, 2000b), career
satisfaction (L ounsbury et al., 2003), effectiveness (Downes et al., 2010), and task performance
(Motowildo et al.,1997),whileexpatriates’psychological well-being is seldom studied in the
expatriate literature (Ren et al., 2016). By contrast various au thors have shown that
personality traits do influence psychological well-being in a domestic context (DeNeve and
Cooper, 1998; Ryff, 2013; Schmutte and Ryff, 1997). Concerning expatriate support during
international assignments, an increasing number of scholars and practitioners advocate the
instrument of mentoring (Pate and Scullion, 2010), and particularly outline the benefits of
home and host country mentors (Holtbrügge and Ambrosius, 2015; Mezias and Scandura,
2005). Considering MNCs’limited amount of resources and the high costs of international
assignments, it becomes extremely relevant to know precisely whether mentors are required
and, if yes, to whom they should be allocated in order to achieve the highest degree of
expatriate psychological well-being. While the existing literature outlines the manifold
benefits of mentorship for expatriates during their international assignments (e.g. Carraher
et al., 2008;Feldman and Bolino, 1999; Meziasand Scandura, 2005; Zhuanget al.,2013),noneof
the studies systematically connects mentoring with existing theories on expatriates’
psychological well-being and personality traits.
Based on the considerations above, we aim at bridging this research gap and answering
the following three interconnected research questions:
RQ1. How are personality traits of expatriates related to psychological well-being?
RQ2. What effects does home and host country mentorship have on psychological
well-being?
RQ3. Who benefits most from being mentored by which type of mentor?
1101
Mentoring in
international
assignments
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