Discussion
Managing Expatriate Adjustment Through Multiple Interfaces
The main objective of this critical review of the expatriate adjustment literature is to summarize the existing studies that consider the impact of other stakeholders on expatriate adjustment and performance. In completing this summary, it is possible for this review to also identify inherent, typically unspoken, assumptions associated with this type of research. As a result, new research directions that extend and complement the existing research streams can be highlighted. The intention of this review however is not merely to criticize existing studies, as there are practical limitations associated with expatriate studies that must be rec- ognized. For example, many of the assumptions highlighted in this review likely stem from difficulties in collecting expatriate and associated data. Given the relatively low response rates for expatriate studies using international surveys obtaining a large enough sample size becomes an even greater issue when attempting to collect additional source data from other stakeholders such as spouses or host country nationals. Thus, it has been natural for scholars to focus on expatriate employees themselves and examine the antecedents associated with them.
Similarly, sample size requirement may be one of the reasons that expatriate managers from parent companies have been the most commonly accessed population in expatriate research (Harrison et al., 2004). Furthermore, to secure enough variance at the firm level, researchers may need to secure cooperation from several dozen multinational firms to exam- ine the effect of parent company characteristics on expatriates, which may be difficult to achieve.
