On this page you find more information about my PhD project In Touch with the Dutch. A longitudinal study of the impact of a local host on the success of the expatriate assignment, which I defended on the 27th of February 2012 at Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands. You can download the thesis itself (in English), or read the summary blog posts I’ve written about all the publications that came out of the project.
In Touch with the Dutch: A longitudinal study of the impact of a local host on the success of the expatriate assignment
More and more people work abroad and encounter all kinds of challenges, such as adjustment to the culture of the host country. This longitudinal study examined whether contact with a local host contributed to this adjustment and to expatriate performance. Contact with a local host had positive effects: compared to expatriates without host (n = 32) expats with host (n = 33) communicated more easily with locals, received more social support from locals, and remained openminded and socially active. However a local host did not lead to better expatriate performance. The quality of the contact was important: expats with high quality contact seemed to benefit more than expats with low quality contact. Geographical proximity and similarity in age and interests had a positive impact on the quality of the contact. This research shows that organisations could increase the chance of success of expatriate assignments through putting their expatriates in touch with a local host.
- Impact of a local host on adjustment and performance (blog post)
- Impact of a local host on the intercultural competence of expats (blog post)
- Expatriate contact with a local host: an intervention to increase social support (blog post)
- Developing a high quality intercultural relationship: Expatriates and their local host (blog post)
- The importance of relationship quality: Maximizing the impact of expatriate contact with a local host (blog post)
- English summary: In Touch with the Dutch
- Full PhD thesis: Bakel, M.S. van (2012) In Touch with the Dutch
Summary in Dutch
Steeds meer mensen werken in het buitenland en staan daar voor allerlei uitdagingen, zoals aanpassing aan de cultuur van het gastland. In dit longitudinale onderzoek is nagegaan of contact met een lokaal gastgezin (host) helpt bij die aanpassing en leidt tot beter professioneel functioneren van de expatriate. Contact met een host bleek een positief effect te hebben: vergeleken met expats zonder host (n = 32) communiceerden expats met host (n = 33) gemakkelijker met mensen uit het gastland, kregen ze meer sociale steun van hen, waren ze sociaal initiatiefrijker en bleven ze meer openminded. Een host leidde echter niet tot beter professioneel functioneren van de expat. De kwaliteit van het contact met de host was belangrijk: expats met hoge kwaliteit contact leken meer baat te hebben bij het contact dan expats met lage kwaliteit contact. Geografische nabijheid en overeenkomst in leeftijd en interesses beïnvloedden de kwaliteit van het contact positief. Het onderzoek laat zien dat organisaties de kans op succes van een uitzending kunnen vergroten door expats in contact te brengen met een host.