Psychological Adjustment and Social Capital: A Qualitative Investigation of Chinese Expatriates

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Psychological adjustment and social capital: a qualitative investigation of

Chinese expatriates
Article in Cross Cultural & Strategic Management · February 2019

DOI: 10.1108/CCSM-04-2018-0054
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Cross Cultural & Strategic Management
Psychological adjustment and social capital: a qualitative investigation of Chinese
expatriates
Beiting He, Ran An, John Berry,
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Psychological
Psychological adjustment and adjustment
social capital: a qualitative and social
capital
investigation of Chinese expatriates
Beiting He and Ran An 67
South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China, and
Received 19 April 2018
John Berry Revised 30 August 2018
29 November 2018
Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada and Accepted 26 December 2018
National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the psychological adjustment process of expatriates from
Chinese multinational enterprises, including how their social capital affects this process.
Design/methodology/approach – This qualitative investigation was based on semi-structured, in-depth
interviews with 26 Chinese expatriates. The grounded theory method was applied to guide the data collection
and analysis.
Findings – The psychological adjustment process of Chinese expatriates includes three periods: crisis,
self-adjustment and self-growth period. In addition, bonding capital (including organizational, family and
co-cultural colleagues’ support) is more conducive to Chinese expatriates’ psychological well-being than
bridging capital (e.g. host-nationals’ support). Finally, a separation acculturation strategy is more conducive
to psychological adjustment, rather than an integration strategy.
Research limitations/implications – This study focused on expatriates themselves. Future research
should consider other stakeholders (e.g. organizations, family), and examine expatriate adjustment from new
perspectives (e.g. strategic human resource management, work-family balance). This study had a small sample
and focused on only one organization. Future research could usefully add other Chinese multinational
corporations, and other Chinese expatriates to expand the generalizability of the current findings.
Practical implications – This study suggests the possible benefits of management practices for
expatriates. Organizations can develop an “expatriate bubble” to help structure basic life overseas.
Organizations could develop family-support programs and make them expatriate-supportive. Organizations
should also strengthen the connections between expatriates and local colleagues.
Originality/value – Few scholars have elaborated on how different support groups (based on their cultural
backgrounds) influence the psychological adjustment of expatriates. Until now, mainland Chinese expatriates
have received little attention. In addition, this research takes a significant step forward by illuminating the
psychological adjustment of Chinese expatriates from a social capital perspective.
Keywords Social capital, Organizational support, Grounded theory, Acculturation, Chinese expatriates,
Psychological adjustment
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Continuing globalization has led multinational companies (MNCs) to rely heavily on
expatriates in order to compete in the global marketplace (Harrison et al., 2004; Lee et al.,
2017). Expatriates are the key to MNCs’ core competencies, and have a significant impact on
the implementation of global strategies (Au and Fukuda, 2002; Bauer and Taylor, 2015).
However, expatriates have to adapt to unfamiliar, complex work and non-work contexts
overseas (e.g. different cultural customs, work practices), and such challenging assignments
may result in psychological discomfort (e.g. uncertainty, anxiety) (Black et al., 1991; Caligiuri
and Bonache, 2016; Gudykunst and Nishida, 2001; Morgeson and Campion, 2007).
Cross Cultural & Strategic
In addition, the disruption of original, domestic social networks by overseas transfer leads Management
expatriates to undergo great pressure, which seriously affects their psychological well-being Vol. 26 No. 1, 2019
pp. 67-92
(Baruch et al., 2016). This may result in psychological withdrawal from, or in extreme © Emerald Publishing Limited
2059-5794
cases the premature termination of, their international assignment (Kraimer et al., 2001). DOI 10.1108/CCSM-04-2018-0054
CCSM These further lead to many negative outcomes, include high financial and human costs,
26,1 such as damage to the enterprise’s reputation, loss of business opportunities and reduced self-
esteem and increased stress in expatriates (Bhaskar-Shrinivas et al., 2004; Takeuchi, 2010;
Tung, 1987). However, previous expatriation studies were mainly based on the theoretical
framework which was developed by Black et al. (1991). The psychological adjustment process
of expatriates has been far less examined (Fenner and Selmer, 2008). The existing
68 psychological adjustment literature mainly focuses on immigrants (Berry and Hou, 2016, 2017)
or international students (e.g. Zheng and Berry, 1991), and seldom pays attention to
expatriates (Gonzalez-Loureiro et al., 2015; Kealey, 1989). The concept of social capital has
come into adjustment research in recent years. Social capital refers to the social networks of
individuals (Putnam, 1995, 2007). Two types of social capital have been distinguished in the
literature: bonding capital (networks within an individual’s own group) and bridging capital
(networks between an individual and other groups). Among migrants, both bonding and
bridging capital have been shown to relate to psychological well-being (Berry and Hou, 2016,
2017). While the expatriates’ psychological adjustment has been recognized as having a
significant role in the international assignments, the topic of how expatriates experience
psychological adjustment and how their social capital affects that remains an under-explored
area. This paper attempts to address this deficiency by examining the psychological
adjustment of Chinese expatriates from the social capital perspective.
Most relevant expatriate adjustment studies were conducted with people from western
developed countries (Gonzalez-Loureiro et al., 2015; Nadeem and Mumtaz, 2018; Peltokorpi,
2008). In contrast, little is known regarding the experiences of expatriates from mainland China,
even though it is increasingly active in foreign direct investment (FDI) (Wang et al., 2013; Yao,
2014). Under the guidance of the Chinese Government’s policies of “going out” and “The Belt
and Road,” nearly 24,400 Chinese investors had established 37,200 FDI enterprises in
190 countries or regions of the world by the end of 2016 (Ministry of Commerce of the PRC,
2017). With the growth of Chinese multinational corporations (CMNCs), expatriates from
mainland China have shown a growing presence in the global market ( Jackson and Horwitz,
2017; Nadeem and Mumtaz, 2018). Numerous Chinese expatriates were sent abroad due to their
competitive advantage such as lower cost, higher productivity and hardship tolerance compared
to host-country counterparts (Rui et al., 2016). It is achieved through the CMNCs’ expatriation
management system characterized by integrated monetary and spiritual incentive, centralized
control and collective support (Rui et al., 2016). CMNCs’ expatriate ratio is significantly higher
than that of western MNCs (Oki, 2013). However, CMNCs’ extensive use of expatriates has
caused tensions and occasional violent incidents against them (e.g. BBC, 2010; The Economist,
2018). Chinese expatriates may experience numerous pressure even behave worse, and cause
mutual antipathy between the Chinese and locals. This goes against for CMNCs’ development,
and could prejudice the diplomatic relations between countries. Given that China’s speedy
economic increase and important political position in global market, the research on Chinese
expatriates’ adjustment is in high demand. Practically, it may have implications for CMNCs’
global expansion, and the transnational cooperation among other MNCs and CMNCs.
Moreover, Chinese expatriates may face numerous tensions besides the common challenges
experienced by expatriates from other countries, given the uniqueness of Chinese culture.
Chinese ways of thinking and behaving are guided by Confucianism, which is
based on high collectivism and harmonious interpersonal relationships (Hofstede, 2001).
Confucian ethics builds around patriarchal principles, which make Chinese individuals subsume
their will under paternal authority (Au and Kwan, 2009). The cultural norm of collectivism in
China legitimizes giving priority to work; therefore, it encourages extra work that may disrupt
family life temporarily but are expected to bring future benefits (Yang et al., 2000). Chinese
people are more tolerant of ambiguity (Hofstede, 2007); thus, they could be adaptable to
cross-cultural changes (Yao, 2014). In the overseas workplace, the west may value individual
human rights more, while the Chinese tend to defer to authority. Chinese expatriates may be Psychological
more tolerant of tough conditions and much flexible compared to the westerners. One major adjustment
limitation of previous expatriate adjustment research is the applicability of findings from studies and social
with western expatriates to other samples from different culture (Kim and Slocum, 2008). The
culture of origin could impact the adjustment (Waxin, 2004). Due to human complexity and the capital
culturally bounded nature of management (Hofstede, 2007), it is clear that the western-based
expatriate literature could not be applicable to Chinese expatriates. The increasing number of 69
Chinese expatriates and the uniqueness of Chinese culture make this research have certain
significance. Theoretically, it can enrich existing literature and make the theoretical picture of
the field more complete. Expatriates from mainland China deserve further attention
(Thite et al., 2012; Rui et al., 2016). Thus, this study examines expatriates’ experience from
this emerging economic “superpower.”
In designing our research, we consider two key issues. The first issue focuses on the
psychological adjustment process of Chinese expatriates. Given that psychological distress
varies over time, it is important to explore not only what changes during adjustment, but also
how and why changes occur (Berry, 2006; Ward et al., 2010). Most psychological adjustment
studies relied on quantitative methods; therefore, understanding of the adjustment process has
been rather limited (Abdul Malek et al., 2015; Tao et al., 2017; Zheng and Berry, 1991). Detailed
qualitative investigations into what and how expatriates experience psychological adjustment
will contribute to the literature (Caligiuri and Bonache, 2016; De Paul and Bikos, 2015).
Qualitative research has the advantage of facilitating deep understanding of complex
phenomena and behavioral processes within organizations (Creswell, 2007).
The second key issue focuses on the sources of social capital, and their critical role in the
psychological adjustment process. The quality of guanxi (networks or personal inter-
relationships) is one key characteristic of collectivism in China and it significantly influences the
Chinese workforce. Given that there are differences between western and Chinese expatriates in
the use of social capital (in Chinese it means guanxi), its significant impact on Chinese
expatriates’ psychological adjustment cannot be ignored. For example, social interactions with
host-country nationals (HCNs) are critical to western expatriates’ psychological well-being (Farh
et al., 2010), while Chinese sojourners tend to solve their problems from within their co-cultural
group (Chataway and Berry, 1989). Moreover, spouse/family adjustment has been confirmed as
the most important factor affecting cross-cultural adjustment in western expatriates (Takeuchi
et al., 2007; Bauer and Taylor, 2015). However, through an investigation of 180 Chinese
expatriates, Wang and He (2014) found that only 3.9 percent of them were accompanied by their
family during expatriation. Historically, Chinese businessmen did not bring their family with
them during overseas work.
The purpose of this study is to explore the psychological adjustment process of Chinese
expatriates and how their social capital affects that, based on inductive qualitative analyses.
This research contributes to the existing literature in several ways. First, we extend
the knowledge of psychological adjustment by utilizing a unique and under-researched sample
of Chinese expatriates, and by providing detailed explanations regarding the Chinese context in
particular. Second, we explored the expatriates’ psychological adjustment process and extend
the current research by explaining why and how do detailed changes occur. Third, we explored
the psychological adjustment of Chinese expatriates from the social capital perspective which
could shed some new light to the current topic.
Literature review
Psychological adjustment and expatriates
Acculturation is broadly defined as the set of cultural and psychological changes that follow
the contact between two cultural groups and their members (Berry, 2005). A distinction
between psychological adjustment and sociocultural adaptation has been proposed in
CCSM the acculturation literature (Searle and Ward, 1990). The former refers to a person’s
26,1 subjective well-being and life satisfaction within a new cultural situation; while the latter
refers to the person’s ability to “fit” in the new culture (Ward and Kennedy, 1993). The two
domains are interrelated, but the magnitude of the relationship may be affected by
interactions with the host-culture (Ward et al., 1998). Psychological adjustment is best
understood and interpreted within a “stress and coping” framework with emphasis on the
70 negative psychological consequences of cross-cultural contact and changes (Berry, 1997,
2006; Ward and Rana-Deuba, 1999). These changes may produce acculturative stress, which
primarily presents as a decline in mental health (especially anxiety, tension and depression),
and increased physical symptoms (Berry, 2006; Berry et al., 1987). The concept of
psychological adjustment encompasses a problem-oriented view, which focuses on
attitudinal factors in the adjustment process (Fenner and Selmer, 2008).
The process of psychological adjustment has generally been divided into four stages (namely,
the honeymoon→crisis→transition→adjustment stage) in most extant studies (e.g. Black and
Mendenhall, 1991), as the U-curve has assumed a central position. The well-known U-curve
theory was provided by Lysgaard (1955) and advanced by Oberg (1960). It depicts the
adjustment process along a time continuum. The cross-cultural transition begins with a
“honeymoon” stage of enthusiasm with a new culture; then follows a “crisis” in which one feels
lonely, unhappy, distress and withdrawal; then follows a transition stage which is characterized
by gradual adaptation and learning how to behave appropriately; finally is a period of
adjustment where the expatriates is able to function effectively within the host-culture (Black and
Mendenhall, 1991). Though for more than 30 years the U-curve has assumed a central position in
theory and research on adjustment, Ward et al. (1998) and some other scholars (e.g. An and
Chiang, 2015; Church, 1982) have concluded that psychological adjustment did not demonstrate
the popular U-curve, because the individual experienced the most immediate life changes upon
entry to a new culture and the psychological distress should be encountered at that time. Some
comprehensive cross-cultural transition reviews have concluded that support for the U-curve
hypothesis is limited (e.g. Anderson, 1994) and that the evidence for U-curve is weak, inconclusive
and overgeneralized; Lysgaard and Oberg offered no theoretical explanation or any statistical
tests to support the U-curve (Church, 1982). The greatest criticism on U-curve perhaps is that it is
more a description of phases of adjustment than a framework of how and why individuals move
from one stages to the next; thus, a detailed theoretical discussion of cross-cultural adjustment
process is needed (Black and Mendenhall, 1991). In addition to U-curve, guanxi seems to provide
an important framework for understanding interactions with Chinese staff, thus consideration of
these relationships and how they affect expatriation may be important in understanding Chinese
expatriates’ psychological adjustment (Wood and Mansour, 2010).
Moreover, how expatriates are acculturating can be examined by their sense of belonging to
their home-country and to the host-country. These strategies are based on the intersection of two
basic issues that all acculturating individuals need to deal with (Berry, 1980): a sense of
maintaining the group’s culture and identifying with their home-country; and a desire to engage
in daily interactions with members of the larger society (Berry and Hou, 2016). The generally
positive or negative orientations to these issues intersect to define four ways of acculturating:
“Assimilation” is the strategy whereby expatriates have an exclusive link with the foreign
culture. “Integration” can be seen as a strong link to both groups, which involves double
engagement with, and maintaining a balance between the two cultures. “Marginalization” takes
place if expatriates link with neither group. “Separation” occurs if expatriates have an exclusive
link with the home-group (Berry and Hou, 2016).
Most psychological adjustment research to date has focused on immigrants and international
students, rather than expatriates (e.g. An and Chiang, 2015; Berry and Hou, 2016; Ward et al.,
2010). In general, expatriates are senior managers or professional personnel hired by a MNC’s
headquarters in the home-country or in third-party countries and dispatched on assignments to
overseas subsidiaries (Brewster et al., 2005), with a specified time. A growing number of studies Psychological
provide evidence regarding the inefficiency of, and highlight difficulties for expatriates in host- adjustment
countries (Caligiuri and Bonache, 2016). Expatriates experience acculturation-related stress while and social
executing international assignments (Baruch et al., 2016). However, since expatriates live abroad
temporarily and are highly task-orientated, they may face lower level of acculturative stress, capital
compared with permanent immigrants. The main reason is that expatriates have an organization
(e.g. parent company) as support. Previous research has demonstrated that organizational 71
support is critical for expatriates (e.g. Gillet et al., 2012; Tahir, 2018; Varma and Russell, 2015).
Perceived organizational support acts as a buffer for their emotions, which helps to improve their
psychological adjustment, and reduces the pressure felt by expatriates (Baran et al., 2012; De
Paul and Bikos, 2015). Thus, expatriates may experience different patterns of psychological
adjustment than groups typically studied. Accordingly, this qualitative study explored the
psychological adjustment of organizational expatriates.
Social capital and expatriates’ psychological adjustment

Social capital refers to the social networks of individuals (Putnam, 1995). Both types
(bonding and bridging) are important social resources for expatriates. Bonding capital
usually derives from expatriate’s original society and from people with similar backgrounds
or cultural heritage, including family and friends. Bridging capital is usually derived from
new friends of diverse backgrounds in the context of a new society (Portes and Landolt,
2000). These two forms of social capital are clearly related to the two underlying dimensions
of the acculturation strategies framework. Integration involves both bonding and bridging
capital; assimilation only involves bridging capital; separation only involves bonding
capital; and marginalization involves neither form of social capital.
Much research has considered the relationship between expatriates’ support networks and
expatriate adjustment (Au and Fukuda, 2002; Osman-Gani and Rockstuhl, 2008; Tahir, 2018;
Schuster and Bader, 2017; Wang and Kanungo, 2004); and some has speculated on the
importance of social support for expatriate adjustment (e.g. Bader, 2017; Kraimer et al., 2001).
When transferred overseas, expatriates undergo the disruption of old networks and are forced to
seek out new support systems (Adelman, 1988). Successful reestablishment of social ties can
buffer psychological distress and social isolation. Research has predominately examined the
social support provided to expatriates by HCNs (Bader, 2017; Johnson et al., 2003). Social
interactions with HCNs are critical to expatriates’ psychological well-being (Farh et al., 2010;
Nardon et al., 2015; Sobre-Denton and Hart, 2008). Through interactions with HCNs, expatriates
can learn the local culture, customs, work norms and other information, which can reduce
uncertainty and stress ( Johnson et al., 2003; Tahir, 2018).
Expatriates’ relationships with home-country nationals are under-researched (Shen and
Kram, 2011). Little is known regarding how home-cultural peer expatriates influence their
psychological adjustment. Although several studies have demonstrated that support from co-
workers fosters the adjustment of expatriates (Chen et al., 2010; Lee and Kartika, 2014), other
studies have found no effect (Laken et al., 2016) or even negative effects (Claus et al., 2015). These
mixed outcomes are potentially due to the wide variety of co-workers one may have. It is
important to differentiate between support from co-worker groups according to their cultural
backgrounds (Laken et al., 2016) or nationality (Gorp et al., 2017). Thus, this study explored the
different sources of co-worker support, while differentiating co-cultural colleagues and host-
national colleagues.
Differences in eastern and western social capital

There are differences between easterners and westerners in the use of social capital. To a
greater extent, easterners rely on in-group attachment and benevolence, while westerners
favor impersonal/universal rules. Social affect and cognition are more intertwined in
CCSM Chinese than in American professional relationships (Chua et al., 2009). Chinese culture
26,1 values harmonious connections with people, while western culture is characterized by
self-interest and personal benefits more than relationships (Chuang et al., 2015). In contrast
to western research that highlights the advantage of weak ties in advancing careers (Burt,
1992), the Chinese tend to rely on helpers with whom they have strong ties (Bian, 1997; Xiao
and Tsui, 2007). Chinese individuals tend to solve problems from within their small social or
72 familial group; that is, to be “insular” (Chataway and Berry, 1989).
Chinese culture is acknowledged for their uniqueness throughout the world (Nadeem and
Mumtaz, 2018; Chuang et al., 2015). Especially guanxi distinguishes Chinese way of living
and working from people of other countries. As noted in the introduction, guanxi is “a
network of personally defined reciprocity” (Redding, 2005), and a special relationship that
develops among members within a team (Tsui and Farh, 1997). As many researchers
(e.g. Pearce, 2000; Wong and Chan, 1999) have pointed out, guanxi is one of the most striking
features of Chinese culture (Dong and Liu, 2010). For Chinese, the distinction between the
in-group (with whom one has strong guanxi) and the out-group (with whom one has weak
guanxi) is particularly important within an organization (Li et al., 1999). Thus, bonding
capital may be more important for Chinese expatriates than bridging capital. Accordingly,
this study explored not only the bridging capital (i.e. with HCNs) assessed in previous
studies, but also bonding capital (i.e. with family, home-national expatriates, organization),
in order to determine how each affects the psychological adjustment of Chinese expatriates.
This review of the literature allows us to integrate three theoretical areas (i.e. psychological
adjustment, social capital and Chinese expatriates) into one coherent framework. Figure 1
proposes that psychological adjustment of Chinese expatriates is important to explore; that social
capital may play a critical role; and that Chinese cultural attribute of guanxi may make the
relationship rather different (as discussed in the introduction and literature review).
In summary, the purpose of this study was to explore the psychological adjustment process
of expatriates from one CMNC and the role of their social capital in this process. The research
questions included:
RQ1. How do Chinese expatriates experience psychological adjustment?
Through thick description, we examine what specific psychological adjustment periods they
may experience, and how and why these changes of each period occur:
RQ2. How do Chinese expatriates use their social capital?
We explore both the bridging (with host-country nationals) and bonding (i.e. family,
home-national expatriates, organization) social capital of Chinese expatriates to describe
their detailed characteristics:
RQ3. How and why does their social capital influence the adjustment process?
We try to explain the mechanism how, and reasons why social capital impacts Chinese
expatriates’ psychological adjustment.
How and Why?

Psychological
Social capital
adjustment
Figure 1. How? How?

Chinese expatriates’
psychological
adjustment and
social capital: a Chinese expatriates
theoretical perspective (guanxi)
Method Psychological
We used the qualitative approach to develop a nuanced and in-depth understanding of how adjustment
Chinese expatriates experience their psychological adjustment, and why and how the social and social
capital affects that process. We collected data through in-depth interviews, which enable us to
understand their fresh experiences and the meanings of these experiences (Given, 2008, p. 423). capital
The in-depth interview is an important tool for qualitative research because it can be used to
collect rich practical data (Lindlof and Taylor, 2002). We applied the grounded theory method 73
developed by Strauss and Corbin (1998), Corbin and Strauss (2008) to analyze the data, which
represents a methodologically systematic approach to qualitative inquiry that uses progressive
coding and analytic memos. This approach moves beyond description to generate a theory; it
provides an abstract analytical schema of a process. It is characterized by constant comparison
“in order to explain the process under investigation and generate theory that is grounded in the
relationship between the data and the categories into which they are coded” (Barker, 2015).
Participants
Interviewees are from the private enterprise named HW. In the international market, HW is one
of the companies from mainland China which is currently the largest and has the most extensive
number of expatriates. At the end of 2015, it has operated in more than 170 countries/regions,
and more than 16,000 Chinese expatriates have been assigned around the world. The extensive
expatriates management experience from HW may provide some inspirations for other
enterprises. It is a rare opportunity to conduct research on expatriates from HW. The lack of
research on Chinese expatriates has been mainly due to the difficulty in accessing the research
object (Fang, 2009). Getting access to HW is difficult for a number of reasons. First, HW has
always tended to keep quiet when communicating with the outside world. Even if HW has
gradually opened itself in recent years, deep contact and communication with the HW
expatriates still is difficult. Second, although it is possible to have contact with the expatriates,
due to the interviewees’ busy work, as well as the distance, the investigation is very difficult.
Interviewees were selected based on a theoretical sampling procedure. According to the
principle of theoretical saturation, we stopped data collection when new interviewees no longer
provided new important information. Interviews began in December 2015 and ended in
November 2016. In total, we contacted 44 potential interviewees, but some refused to participate
in the study because they were busy with work. Finally, 26 expatriates (see Table I) participated
in this study. The interviewees are generally young, with an average age of 32. Their length of
residence (dispatch) is generally relatively long: nearly 38 percent of them had worked overseas
for more than three years, and nearly 85 percent for more than one year.
Data collection
Prior to the formal interviews, we arranged the time and place of the interviews with the
interviewees. Because of the time differences and their high-intensity work, they were
typically only available on weekend. Interview locations were arranged to be convenient for
the interviewees, and to make them feel comfortable and relaxed, so the conversation were
friendly and informative. The interviewees are located around the world, and given the high
cost of overseas research, telephone and internet-based interviews were conducted in
addition to face-to-face interviews. Currently, WeChat[1] is a major tool for social contact
among Chinese individuals; therefore, WeChat video was used as the primary means
of interviewing in this study. Telephone interviews were also used because certain
interviewees had poor internet in their expatriate countries or preferred using the phone.
Interviews ranged from 40 to 150 min, depending on interviewees’ schedule.
A semi-structured and open-ended interview format was adopted. The interviewing question
protocol included three major aspects: The interviewees described their psychological
adjustment experience, to whom and how they mainly interact with during their expatriation
CCSM No. Name Gender Age Marital status Position Dispatch location Dispatch time
26,1
1 LW M 32 Y Supply chain specialist Brazil 4.5 years
2 WPX M 27 N Operation manager Egypt 2 years
3 LJJ M 29 N Sales manager Iran 8 months
4 GDG M 30 Y Sales manager Angola 2 years
5 QL M 31 Y Operation manager Indonesia 2 years
74 6 AZGa M 33 Y Supply chain specialist South Africa 9 months
7 SS F 28 N Operation manager Algeria, Tunisia 1.5 years
8 HC M 36 Y Training manager Mexico 3.5 years
9 LY F 35 Y HR Supervisor Austria 1 year
10 ZHAa M 33 Y Sales executive Austria 2 years
11 ZHO M 35 Y Operation quality Denmark 3 years
12 QXH M 40 Y Sales director CIS 7 years
13 GXS M 34 Y Finance supervisor Austria 3 years

14 ZHJa M 34 Y Product manager Philippines 4 years
15 FAN M 37 Y Supply chain specialist Iraq 4 years
16 XU F 34 Y Finance supervisor Germany 4 years
17 LFL M 27 N Operation manager Cameroon 6 months
18 ZTZ M 26 N technical services Malaysia 1 year
19 FQQ F 30 Y HR supervisor Nigeria 2 years
20 LZG M 34 Y HR director Ghana, Nigeria 5 years
21 HK M 31 Y Service supervisor Mexico, Nigeria 3 years
22 LJa M 36 Y International marketing Nigeria, America 8 years
23 YH F 33 Y Finance director Uzbekistan, Turkey 8 years
24 ZY M 35 Y Customer manager Germany, Turkey 8 years
25 LSW M 32 Y Customer manager Ghana 3.5 years
26 CWGa M 32 Y Product manager Sri Lanka, Thailand, 7 years
Table I.
Demographic Notes: F, female; M, male; Y, married; N, unmarried; CIS, Commonwealth of Independent States. To protect
characteristics of the privacy of interviewees, all names are anonymous. The interviewee with “a” means that they have family
the participants accompanied overseas
and the specific measures that the company has taken to help employees adapt to the foreign
environment (see the Appendix for the interview outline). The interviews were organized around
these issues, and further questions were asked about any new concepts and themes that
emerged from the interviews. The authors have had rigorous training in in-depth interview
techniques to ensure that data collection is effectively completed. All interviews were conducted
in Chinese[2]. We recorded interviews after obtaining the interviewees’ permission, then all
interviewees were transcribed verbatim; the final transcripts contained over 200,000 Chinese
characters. During the whole research process, we kept writing memos to facilitate the data
analysis, and finally the memos accumulated almost 50,000 Chinese characters.
Data analysis strategy

The data analysis was conducted using three-level (open, axial and selective) coding, as outlined
by Strauss and Corbin (1998). This approach was deemed most appropriate because of its
systematic coding process which can facilitate the inductive analysis of mass data (Barker,
2015). The coding was conducted manually, by memoing and highlighting the overall
transcripts. The first and second authors completed the entire coding process independently; the
intercoder reliability was almost 80 percent. We discussed the differences in the coding, and
ultimately agreed. The analysis starts with open coding. We read each interview transcript
several times and assigned a code presenting the theme or concept to any sentence which
reflected the same meaning. This process is based on decomposing and reorganizing all the
collected data, to classify and visualize the ideas and meanings contained in the data through
constant comparison (Strauss and Corbin, 1998, p. 102). The codes that had common or similar Psychological
elements were merged to form the major categories; and these were continually compared and adjustment
analyzed. Then we proceeded with axial coding, which aimed to logically establish linkages and social
among the categories that emerged from the open-coding process. A hierarchical framework
was developed linking different subcategories to the general themes. Finally, selective coding capital
was conducted. Information from axial coding was organized according to the inter-
relationships among categories, namely, to form the “story line.” Thus, propositions or 75
statements that interrelate the categories were generated, and the database was reviewed to
further understand the meaning and explain them (Creswell, 2007, p. 161).
Ethical considerations
This study strictly followed the ethical principles of qualitative research. First, we described
the study to each interviewee, emphasized that participation was fully voluntary and
informed participants that they could interrupt or withdraw from the study at any point.
Second, the interviewees approved the use of recording equipment. Third, the anonymity of
interviewees was preserved to protect their confidentiality.
Credibility and trustworthiness

To ensure the credibility and trustworthiness of this study, the criteria for qualitative
studies proposed by Creswell and Miller (2000) were adopted: member checking,
triangulation, peer review and inquiry. First, after each interview, we quickly sorted and
summarized the content, and provided feedback to the interviewee regarding the core
findings to be confirmed. Second, we collected other data from Tianya Forum[3] and
Xinsheng Forum[4] online and books on relevant topics. We organized these related text
materials manually, then read and coded them to conduct triangulation. Third, the
differences of coding opinions were resolved by discussions with the other research team
members during the study report meeting until they came to the same decision.
Analysis and results

We derived 520 initial codes, which were summarized as 22 subcategories and further
refined as 9 categories. The specific categories and their linkages are presented in Table II.
The systematic coding revealed the intricate process of Chinese expatriates’ psychological
adjustment. And it also explained how social capital affected that. The 22 subcategories
were identified to illuminate the essential sense of this process and social capital. Based on
the entire coding, there was a clear “story line.” Namely, Chinese expatriates’ psychological
adjustment went through three stages, which included “crisis period,” “adjustment period”
and “growth period.” During this whole process, the social capital (i.e. links with the
organization, co-workers and family) would help them to adapt to the new environment.
Therefore, we selected “psychological adjustment and social capital” as the core themes
according to the categories and linkages that emerged from the data.
Psychological adjustment of Chinese expatriates: the three periods

More than two-thirds of the interviewees described that there was a common pattern for the
psychological adjustment process which varied with time. On initial entry, they experienced
immediate life changes and various pressures; thus, the psychological problems appeared
to be the most serious. They needed to self-adjust, in order to complete their assignments.
After a period of time, they relaxed and became immersed in work. The following quotes
described this dynamic process clearly:
HK: In the beginning, maladjustment existed. I felt that time passed too slowly. And then, a month
later, I was used to [it]. I calmed down slowly, and did not have bad moods, which were
CCSM Subcategory (Ax) Category (AAx) Linkages
26,1
A1. Stressful work (19, 22) AA1. Work pressure (25, 54) Crisis period (causal conditions)
A2. High-intensity work (25, 32)
A3. Work-family conflict (15, 26) AA2. Life pressure (17, 62)
A4. Language problems (11, 19)
A5. Life differences (9, 17)
76 A6. Lacking sense of belonging (6, 19) AA3. Social pressure (19, 63)
A7. Feeling difficult to integrate (17, 44)
A8. Deep feelings of loneliness (11, 20) AA4. Loneliness (23, 70)
A9. Closed life (17, 50)
A10. Lower psychological expectations (7, 14) AA5. Self-adjustment (16, 79) Adjustment period (actions/
interactions)
A11. Early-stage preparations (13, 24)
A12. Learning actively (6, 9)

A13. Balancing mentality (16, 32)
A14. Ability improvement (13, 24) AA6. Self-growth (16, 56) Growth period (results)
A15. Broadening vision (12, 20)
A16. Globalizing mindset (7, 12)
A17. Optimizing representative offices’ AA7. Organizational support Bonding SC and bridging SC
environment (18, 43) in general (25, 84) (influencing factors)
A18. Encouraging families to accompany
expatriate (10, 22)
A19. Ensuring expatriates’ physical and
psychological health (7, 19)
A20. Home-country colleagues’ support AA8. Home support (17, 44)
(14, 32)
Table II. A21. Family support (7, 12)
Categories and A22. Host-national colleagues’ support (4, 8) AA9. Local support (4, 8)
linkages among Notes: SC, social capital. The former number in parentheses means the number of interviewees, while the
categories latter number in parentheses means the frequency of codes
caused by maladjustment. I thought such was life; there was also my circle of relationships [guanxi
quanzi] – I became calm.
SS: It was particularly uncomfortable on initial entry. I felt a great psychological gap, [and thought] what
a broken place! All I felt was uncomfortable. However, you could not leave, [because] it was not good [for
career development]. And then, a week later, I felt much better, maybe because I knew some people.
Anyway, it needed a process to adapt, and [I] had to learn to adapt to the loneliness of this process.
We noticed that their time to adjust was relatively short, ranging from weeks to months,
generally less than one year. “Because the work overseas was pressing, I had to face [it].” as
WPX stated. LJJ also expressed similar ideas. According to the detailed data analyses, we
found that psychological adjustment emerged in three periods.
Period 1: crisis period. In the crisis period, the interviewees experienced the most
immediate life changes. Almost all the interviewees claimed that they felt uncomfortable and
stressful when they experienced unfamiliar environment, different living habits and other
intercultural changes. There was a series of problems. First, work pressure was particularly
high because of the high-intensity task, the need to expand business rapidly, and the strict
performance evaluations. Work overload while overseas was typical, so the expatriates felt
very tired. Second, there was considerable life pressure. Among the 21 married interviewees,
only 5 of them brought their family while overseas. The long separation from families resulted
in serious work-family conflict. In the words of LW, “A long-term separation makes married
couples divorce sooner or later, and the unmarried face various problems.” In addition,
“language barriers” and “life differences” made life difficult in the new country. Third, there
existed social pressure. An unfamiliar foreign environment and the disruption of domestic Psychological
social networks forced expatriates into a socially isolated situation. Thus, they lacked the adjustment
sense of belonging. They desired new social interactions, but the reality was that they lived and social
relatively “closed” lives. They had lost their intimate connection with their home-country, and
“it is difficult to integrate into the host-country” (LJJ). Due to the multiple pressures, the capital
interviewees experienced a crisis period. The following quotes exemplified this period:
QL: Going into an unfamiliar place, eating, language, cultural environment, and the local people are 77
all different. That is, where you live makes you feel uncomfortable; especially [you] want to return
home. Because you have just arrived overseas, you are unfamiliar with the place, and [have] no
friends: that is suffering.
FAN: Away from home, we bear both physical and spiritual pain. Harsh performance appraisals,
and the high-intensity work; we are in sub-health. The spiritual pain is mainly [caused by]
separating from the family.
Finally, 23 interviewees said that they experienced “a deep feeling of loneliness.” When
overseas, they faced sudden cross-cultural transitions, followed by a series of stress. Far
away from home and the disruption of old social network made them lack of a sense of
belonging and in-depth interpersonal relationships. As SS explained, “the main
maladjustment was loneliness, namely you could not find people to communicate with
[…] when I was in Tunisia, no friends, no one to chat [with], it was especially uncomfortable!
I thought that [the first] three months is simply a nightmare.” Loneliness was the most
serious problem in the crisis period. “This maladjustment was not because you do not adapt
to the actual environment, but there were no Chinese. It was too lonely” as HC stated. In
addition, most of them share that the high-intensity work, language and cultural barriers
made their lives relatively closed. They were not only out of touch with domestic life, but
also could not integrate into the host-country. All of these caused a deep sense of loneliness.
Period 2: self-adjustment period. A total of 16 interviewees claimed that they decreased
psychological stress by proactively self-adjusting. Living in a strange country, with various
pressures, they must force themselves to learn with an open mind to enrich themselves. QXH,
who was expatriated for more than seven years, explained, “During HW’s internationalization, it
constantly promotes its own growth; its self-updating is very fast.” This organizational culture
affected its staff: expatriates generally uphold the learning, inclusive mentality, which made their
adjustment relatively easy. In addition, the work overseas was demanding, and the performance
appraisals were strict. As HK noted, “because the work pushed you, you had to move on.” This
work atmosphere, in which colleagues were all working hard, affected each employee such that
they were constantly trying to move forward, and not fell behind. “We have to push ourselves
forward” (CWG). Moreover, they entertained themselves to kill the suffering time:
ZHP: The overall experience of expatriation that gives me the greatest feeling is that you should
positively face the various circumstances and situations, and actively adapt to the local customs –
you have to learn and be open.
WPX: I think the expatriates are of relatively sunny disposition; most of us are more aggressive and
willing to do some positive things to adjust.
LW: It’s important to develop a hobby. You need to kill the boring time. For example, many
colleagues like photography, so they buy good cameras, and go out to take pictures. I like reading
on weekends. Entertain yourself, you must not be bored.
Early-stage preparations help to lower psychological expectations. Before dispatch, half of
the interviewees did some preparations and understood the basic situation within the target
countries, via their colleagues, and the company’s internal platform. Accordingly, they form
psychological expectations, which further affect the adjustment. It is noteworthy that nearly
CCSM one-thirds of the interviewees suggested that they generally had low expectations of
26,1 expatriation. HW’s internationalization began with underdeveloped areas. In general, most
expatriates are first assigned to areas which are usually economically poor. Moreover,
overseas assignments represent high-intensity work and a difficult life; therefore,
expatriates’ psychological expectations are generally low, which facilitates their adjustment:
LJJ: First, the company has a platform from which you can query the basic situation; second, you
78 will certainly take the initiative to learn about the overseas location; third, you can ask colleagues to
learn some precautions to take. So, you can probably know what the overseas location is like, and
will not have high expectations.
WPX: In fact, my psychological expectation was quite low. Later I found that Egypt was very good.
I was very satisfied, and there is likely nothing to complain about.
Due to the impetus of work and the influence of the organizational atmosphere, the
interviewees decreased their psychological stress by self-adjusting. They kept actively
learning, balancing their mentality, preparing in advance, lowering their psychological
expectation and further developed relatively proactive adjustment.
Period 3: self-growth period. Almost two-thirds of the interviewees said that they had
basically adapted to overseas work and life after the self-adjustment period. They had
achieved self-growth, which was primarily expressed as broadened vision, improved ability,
and the adoption of a more inclusive mentality. In the words of LZG, “I think this experience
has upgraded my vision. Because I have met so much, I know what the world is like. My
worldview has greatly changed.” In particular, one-thirds of the interviewees claimed that
they had a “global mindset.” “I saw different cultures and different colored people. My
personal abilities were enhanced; meanwhile, my psychological resilience and mentality
have been exercised” stated ZHJ, who had worked for four years in Philippines. CWG, who
is now in Sri Lanka, expressed similar sentiments: “I have met many people, and went to
many places. I can understand how different people in the world live.”
Social capital
Organizational support in general. A total of interviewees claimed that the organization
had done a lot to provide an effective and convenient platform for the expatriates.
It had attempted to create an “expatriate bubble” to provide a familiar atmosphere.
The company continually optimized the representative offices’[5] environment. Regarding
the company’s strategic orientation, HW’s founder has emphasized many times, “To
improve the work and living environment in tough areas continuously – the purpose is to
focus on performance […] internal conditions can continue to improve, and we should
provide high-quality logistics support […] buy a house, next buy a piece of land for building
basketball courts, swimming pools.” Therefore, HW gradually built overseas representative
offices by unified arrangement of expatriates’ accommodation and daily life. This reduced
sociocultural adaptation problems and further reduces the psychological stress felt by
expatriates, as the following quote clearly showed:
WPX: I think our company is very powerful because after nearly twenty years’ development, it has
effectively built offices in nearly two hundred countries. The local administrative facilities have
been built up, such as the dormitory, canteens, offices, and living facilities, all kinds of fitness
equipment; basically you do not need to worry about anything […] so, it is really very convenient to
go overseas […] I have some friends working in a small company, they just go to overseas to
develop markets, it is miserable. They have to solve their own basic necessities of life.
The high-intensity overseas work required expatriates to be in good physical and
psychological health. HW adopted various measures to improve the expatriates’ health. For
example, it “sets up an infirmary to prevent malaria and ensures that staff maintained good Psychological
health” (FQQ). It also organized team-building activities to promote physical exercise among adjustment
employees. “There are many recreational activities in our spare time. We have a life and social
association whose role is to organize us to do some activities together, such as playing
basketball, swimming, and watching movies” as ZHO stated. These measures helped to capital
relax the expatriates after their long and tense workdays. HW also paid considerable
attention to expatriates’ psychological health, primarily via the use of experienced mentors, 79
who could communicate with expatriates in a timely manner and engage in psychological
counseling. These mentors also helped expatriates to familiarize themselves with
international assignments as soon as possible. LZG has worked in West Africa as the
human resource director for almost five years. In his words, “when we work overseas, the
company will arrange a mentor. We can consult them regarding assignments, but also
various other problems.” The following quote also exemplified the similar meaning:
FQQ: The company has done a lot, in order to make employees have more sense of belonging. It
hired old experts, who are similar to psychology professors in universities, including executives
from enterprises and government. They do psychological counseling with the expatriates to ensure
their mental health.
HW also encouraged the expatriates to bring family overseas. After having been dispatched
for a long time, most interviewees missed their families in particular and were eager to be
accompanied by them. “Long separations may cause various problems, like work-family
conflict,” given this, HC rejected a second expatriation. There were many similar cases.
Therefore, HW encouraged expatriates to bring their family, thereby reducing their work-
family conflicts, loneliness and homesickness. If family accompanied expatriates, improved
housing was supplied. “The accompanied family members also have some food subsidies”
(CWG). “The company encourages family to accompany expatriates, because it is conducive
to family stability and make [the] expatriate concentrate on work” as LZG stated.
Family support
Expatriates with family. Families are the most important support for Chinese expatriates.
Almost all the five interviewees who were accompanied by their family expressed that,
“It avoided the pressure of separation, also afforded emotional support.” Extant research
has shown that family is important in expatriate adjustment (Takeuchi et al., 2007). In
particular, spousal support provides expatriates with assistance in adapting to the stressful
new environment (Kraimer et al., 2001). The 19 percent of interviewees who brought family
generally recounted that family support reduced their psychological pressure and
contributed to their adjustment. ZJH, his wife quitted her job and accompanied him when he
was assigned overseas, stated that “she really helped me a lot.” When LJ was sent to Nigeria,
he went by himself. When he was assigned to USA, he brought his wife and child.
Comparing the two experiences, he stated “the psychological pressure was much smaller in
the USA, because I could avoid the pain of work-family conflict.” AZG expressed the similar
feeling, “when my wife and son came over, I did not feel [things are] tough.” Life overseas
was difficult, but family support improved matter, particularly with respect to emotional
fulfillment. Thus, family companionship was important for expatriates. Though their work
and life pressure was still high, the social pressure and loneliness relieved a lot.
Expatriates without family. Those interviewees who were not accompanied by their family
tried to access emotional support through regular internet-based contact. However, influenced
by the Chinese culture of filial piety, they often chose to report only positive aspects of their
experience, while concealing unpleasant things from their family. To spare parents from worry,
most of them preferred to endure loneliness, bitterness and fatigue silently, and gave up
CCSM receiving support from their parents. SS was the only child in her family; although her parents
26,1 supported her work, they were nevertheless worried about her. To comfort her parents, “I do a
weekly report of my life overseas and tell them I am fine” she stated. When FAN was assigned
to Iraq, he did not tell his parents because most elderly Chinese believe Iraq to be poor and
dangerous. FAN thought his parents were too old to bear the reality of his overseas work: “If
they knew, they [would] keep worrying about me” as he explained.
80
Colleagues’ support
Co-cultural colleagues’ support. Co-cultural colleagues’ (i.e. Chinese peer expatriates)
support could provide social accompany for the interviewees. This has been evidenced by
14 interviewees. As HC stated, “It was not the environment, but there were no Chinese
colleagues, [and] that made you uncomfortable.” The expatriates felt lonely because they were
away from home, living in a foreign country. In this context, Chinese expatriate colleagues
became an important support resource. They gave the interviewees feelings of belonging and
met their needs for deep social interactions. In addition, HW’s collective dormitories also
provided a physical environment that naturally promoted building intimate relationships
among peer expatriates, thus eliminating loneliness. SS was first assigned to Tunisia, then to
Algeria. It was interesting that, though the living conditions in Algeria were worse than in
Tunisia, she felt much happier in Algeria. The reason was that “there were many Chinese
companions in Algeria.” The co-cultural colleagues were not only work colleagues, but also like
family/close friends. The following quotes exemplified such a sense of resonance:
LZG: Fortunately, several Chinese colleagues at that time were particularly good; anyway, we were
all in the same situation, and did not feel bitter.
HK: After all, everyone is away from home. We are more like family. Because we live together every
day, and have lots of similar experiences in one place.
Host-national colleagues’ support. Host-national colleagues’ support of the Chinese expatriates
was essentially auxiliary, and mainly manifested as information support. Most of the
interviewees claimed that they had little interaction with the local colleagues outside of work.
Only four interviewees said that they had relatively close relationship with the locals. Due to
cultural differences and language barriers, interactions between expatriates and local employees
were not frequent. In countries whose official language was not English, the Chinese staff
usually asked their local colleagues for help. LFL worked in Cameroon, whose common
language is French. He could not speak French, while his client could not speak English. Thus,
“when I visit the customers, I need local employees to translate.” “Usually if I do not know how
to say something when I buy things, I call them for help” (YH). It seemed that the interviewees
asked the local staff for help based on their instrumental demands, such as “visiting a customer”
or “buying things.” In most cases, relationships with host-colleagues were work based.
When making a distinction between strong emotionally supportive relationships with
home-country peer expatriates vs instrumental support from host-country colleagues, it
became clear that more expatriates in this study maintained strong connections with
home-county colleagues (14 out of 26) than with host-country colleagues (4 out of 26).
In summary, the analyses reveal differences between expatriates in terms of the extent to
which they relied on two forms of social capital: most relied on bonding with home nationals,
while fewer relied on host-nationals for their support with respect to psychological well-being.
Discussion
Based on the above analysis, we developed the theoretical frameworks shown in
Figures 2 and 3. These research findings contribute to the understanding of Chinese
expatriates’ psychological adjustment, in terms of its process and related influencing
Psychological Psychological
Self-growth
adjustment
GM
adjustment
and social
BV AI capital
Self-adjustment Social capital

Strong 81
LPE BM Bonding capital
Driven
Bridging capital
ESP LA Weak
Multiple pressure sources

Loneliness Social
Life Work
Time
Notes: LPE, lower psychological expectations; BM, balancing mentality; ESP, Figure 2.
early-stage preparations; LA, learning actively; BV, broadening vision; AI, ability The psychological
adjustment process of
improvement; GM, globalizing mindset. The figure shows the three periods on the Chinese expatriates
vertical axis and time in the country on the horizontal axis
Bonding Capital
Organizational support
Emotional support
encouraging families to keep Psychological Adjustment
accompany
Instrumental support Self-growth period Bridging Capital
creating expatriate bubble;
ensure physical and mental health Host-national
colleagues’ support
Family support Self-adjustment period Instrumental support
Emotional support language assistance;
social accompany; providing information
affective interaction
Crisis period
Co-cultural colleagues’ support
Emotional support
social accompany;
belonging and deep interaction
Instrumental support
mentors; work counseling
Figure 3.
Notes: The figure shows that how bonding and bridging social capital influence the psychological Psychological
adjustment in detail. Under the influence of Chinese guanxi cultural attribute, bonding capital adjustment and social
capital of Chinese
plays a bigger role in the psychological adjustment than bridging capital. Thus, the arrow on the expatriates
left is much bolder than in the right
factors from the perspective of social capital. By applying an inductive approach, this
research contributes to the development of context-specific knowledge about expatriates’
psychological adjustment experience.
Key findings and theoretical contribution

The psychological adjustment process of Chinese expatriates. The psychological adjustment
process of Chinese expatriates consisted of a “crisis period,” a “self-adjustment period” and a
“growth period.” When they had just arrived overseas, the pressure was the greatest.
CCSM Through relatively positive self-adjustment, they eventually achieved self-growth. This
26,1 process does not confirm to the U-curve hypothesis because the adjustment problem was
the greatest at the entry point. The finding is a strong empirical evidence to criticize
the U-curve, as it explains the detailed mechanism for how each phase changes, while it to
some extent supports the “stress–adaptation–growth” model proposed by Kim (2001). That
is, expatriates face considerable difficulties initially in the new culture, then they overcome
82 the external stress, in an ascending trajectory of gradual growth. It expands Kim’s model by
explaining how and why do the changes of each period occur.
According to the extant literature, the first year is a critical period for cross-cultural
adjustment, especially with respect to emotional stability (e.g. An and Chiang, 2015).
Psychological problems appear to increase during initial cultural contact and then decrease
with some variation over the first year post-arrival (Ward et al., 1998). While the length of each
stage may vary from one person to another, the overall process of adjustment in a new culture
lasts about one year (Ruben and Kealey, 1979). It is interesting that the critical process of
Chinese expatriates’ psychological adjustment took less than one year. As the interviewees
expressed, this process “ranged from weeks to months.” This is inseparable from the
organizational culture. “HW’s culture is open and inclusive” (Tian and Wu, 2015). Facing
cultural differences, it emphasizes learning with an open mind to enrich the self. Thus,
expatriates generally uphold the learning, inclusive mentality and push themselves forward.
Moreover, the expatriates are often selected elite. “They are familiar with the work business,
but may not know much about the local situation. They may just takes a few months to get
familiar with the situation at overseas, and then they can start working very quickly”(LZG).
In addition, it benefited to a large extent from the various forms of organizational
support: including instrumental support (i.e. optimizing environment, ensuring expatriates’
physical and psychological health), and emotional support (i.e. encouraging families to
accompany the expatriate). It created an “expatriate bubble” in which many things were
similar to the domestic environment, and necessities were provided. This reduced many
sociocultural adaptation problems, and further made their psychological adjustment
relatively easy. Thus, the overall process is typically shorter than one year. This is in line
with research which shows that organization support is important to psychological
adjustment (e.g. Baran et al., 2012; Gillet et al., 2012). And it goes further to explain how
organizational centralized and collective support affects this process in detail. This finding
shows the features of CMNCs’ expatriate management system and their positive effects on
expatriates’ psychological adjustment, which may provide some inspiration for other MNCs.
Bonding capital is more crucial to psychological adjustment than bridging capital. This
study has shown from where the Chinese expatriates received social support and how it
functioned at the micro level: bonding capital is crucial to the adjustment of Chinese
expatriates. This finding enriches the existing literature. An important question is whether
this reliance on bonding capital, and the availability of an expatriate bubble, is unique to
Chinese expatriates, or whether it is also the case for expatriates from other cultures. Social
capital has significantly influenced the psychological adjustment of expatriates because they
were embedded in the social networks that they formed. Previous research has examined the
importance of social support for expatriate adjustment (Kraimer et al., 2001; Claus et al., 2015).
Expatriates with good social capital found that it was easier to adjust to new environments
(Lee and Qomariyah, 2016). Most studies have concentrated only on relationships with HCNs
(bridging capital) (e.g. Farh et al., 2010; Nardon et al., 2015; Shen and Kram, 2011), but have
ignored the fact that expatriates spent considerable time associating with other co-cultural
expatriates in the host-country (bonding capital) ( Johnson et al., 2003; Laken et al., 2016).
The present study goes further to explore expatriates’ relationships with both HCNs and co-
cultural colleagues. We found that co-cultural colleagues’ support was more conducive to the
expatriates’ psychological well-being than HCNs’ support. Collectivists depend on long-term, in- Psychological
depth relationships in which the nuances of a partner’s reactions convey important information adjustment
(Thomas, et al., 2003). Because Chinese expatriates’ psychological maladjustment generally and social
presented as loneliness and lack of belonging, they desired deep social communication. Language
barriers and cultural differences made it difficult for expatriates to form meaningful relationships capital
with HCNs. For the most part, Chinese expatriates only formed relationship with the host-
national colleagues at work. This contractual relationship is relatively more instrumental, rather 83
than emotionally supportive.
Moreover, as discussed in the literature review, Chinese individuals tended to solve
problems within their familial group; they tended to be insular and form relationships using
bonding capital (Chataway and Berry, 1989; Xiao and Tsui, 2007). Co-cultural expatriates
shared a common experience, and in the foreign country, it was easier to form deep
relationships among these individuals rather than with HCNs. The co-cultural colleagues were
not only work colleagues, but also acted as family/close friends. By interacting with Chinese
peer expatriates with the same “affliction,” empathic information exchange could help to
remove anxious thoughts. Although family support was the most important and effective, few
expatriates (only 19 percent) were accompanied by their family. Furthermore, they preferred to
communicate with co-cultural expatiates regarding negative emotions. Thus, the social
support of Chinese colleagues was important for expatriates to alleviate loneliness.
In addition, when expatriates work overseas, they need support and guidance from the
organization, because it is difficult to obtain sufficient support from the local community
(Varma and Russell, 2015). Expatriates have lost their home social networks, which
necessitates the organization playing a more important role in helping individuals to adapt
to the new environment (Grant-Vallone and Ensher, 2001). Previous research has
demonstrated that organizational support reduces the pressure felt by expatriates and helps
improve psychological adjustment (De Paul and Bikos, 2015; Gillet et al., 2012). This study
further supports these findings through the thick description of organizational support.
In summary, we conclude that for Chinese expatriates, bonding capital (especially
including co-cultural expatriate colleagues, family and organizational support) is more
conducive to psychological well-being than bridging capital (with HCNs). Especially the
pivotal role that the co-cultural peer expatriates and organizational support play is
noteworthy. This is closely related to Chinese collectivist guanxi cultural attribute, thus
provided detailed explanations regarding the Chinese context in particular.
Is the separation acculturation strategy more conducive to psychological adjustment than

the integration strategy?
Previous literature has generally shown that the integration strategy appeared to be both
the most preferential and successful, and it had a positive relationship with people’s
psychological adjustment (e.g. Berry, 1997, 2005; Grigoryev and Berry, 2017; Gui et al., 2016;
Nguyen and Benet-Martinez, 2013). It was interesting that our study found that the positive
separation strategy was preferred by the Chinese expatriates, and this was conducive to
their psychological adjustment.
For Chinese expatriates, their acculturation strategy was context specific. Generally, Chinese
expatriates maintained close relationships with bonding capital, and had few interactions with
HCNs outside of work. They remained in an expatriate bubble, and felt difficult as well as did
not want to integrate into the host-country. In order to reduce the stress caused by cross-cultural
transition, they often did not want to develop relationships with host-nationals beyond
contractual relationships. “We subconsciously could not remember to communicate with them
[the local colleagues] outside of work,” as GDG stated. XU also shared the same idea, “we will not
become very good friends [with the locals]; such a happening is rare.” Although LJ and CWG
CCSM who were expatriated for almost eight years, they still stayed in the “Chinese circle.” This was a
26,1 subjectively positive separation strategy, which aimed not to avoid interaction with other
cultures, but to avoid conflict and reduce stress.
However, they have to interact with the HCNs for information assistance. Despite this,
Chinese expatriates preferred to ask for help from bonding capital rather than bridging
capital, when they encountered psychological problems. They maintained strong
84 emotionally supportive relationships with home-country peer expatriates, while
instrumental support from host-country colleagues. Because expatriates were working
overseas temporarily, their motivation to integrate was weak. Moreover, the organizational
support weakened their willingness to integrate into the local community.
In summary, we conclude that for Chinese expatriates, the separation acculturation
strategy is more preferred and more conducive to psychological adjustment than is the
integration strategy. This finding may be an example of the relationship between ones
preferred strategy and most successful strategy. In short, Chinese people living overseas
often have a kind of cultural bubble that exemplifies the concept of guanxi.
Practical implications
With regard to implications for international human resource management, the findings
suggest several pathways. First, organizations support can make expatriates’ psychological
adjustment relatively easy, and thus promote expatriate performance. Organizations can
develop an expatriate bubble. By providing a large house in which all expatriates live
together, hiring a domestic chef to cook in order to avoid food maladjustment and
optimizing the work and living areas so that expatriates do not need to solve these basic life
events, and thereby can focus on work. In addition, arranging mentors for them is also
helpful. Experienced mentors can either provide career support or act as a therapist.
Second, organizations could focus on bonding social capital and make it expatriation
supportive. As the work-family conflicts is serious if they worked overseas alone without
family accompanied, and spouses/families appear to be the important support providers,
organizations could encourage employees’ core family to accompany. Organizations could
develop a form of family-support program by offering different kinds of support, such as
visa applications, children’s education, language classes, etc.. We found that co-cultural
colleagues provided expatriates with considerable support. Organizations could also
organize activities to foster the opportunity to create informal, family-like relationships.
Finally, organizations should take relationship concerns and challenges into account
when creating the expatriate bubble, and consider taking additional care to encourage
expatriates to develop relationships with the HCNs. To some extent, an expatriate bubble is
conducive to psychological adjustment. However, it is not conducive to long-term
development of these international talents. The bubble can weaken expatriates’ willingness
to integrate into, and reduce opportunities to learn from the locals (Hendrickson et al., 2011).
Local experience and the diversified social networks were conducive to successful boundary
spanning activities, which was then found to enhance the psychological consequences of
expatriates (Au and Fukuda, 2002), and international assignments require them to navigate
a series of expatriate–HCN interactions (Wang and Varma, 2018). Thus, organizations
should strengthen the connections between expatriates and local colleagues.
In addition to implications for the focus of the Chinese Government on expatriates and
CMNCs, the findings suggest several pathways. First, the Chinese Government should
control the number of expatriates sent abroad. The increasing number of Chinese people
overseas may cause mutual antipathy, which may not contribute to the diplomatic efforts.
Second, the Chinese Government should encourage CMNCs to carry out localization
management. Encouraging CMNCs to accelerate their internationalization and truly become
global companies helps the host-country to solve the employment problem and develop the
economy together. Third, given that the Chinese Government is now engaged in grand Psychological
diplomacy, the interaction between the Chinese and the locals should be greatly encouraged, adjustment
while respecting the host-culture. That is, a shift toward promoting integration and away and social
from separation may prove to be the better strategy in the long run.
capital
Limitations and suggestions for future research
This study is not without limitations. First, a large sample would allow a more in-depth 85
investigation of the differences and similarities between having and not having strong host-
connections on expatriation. Moreover, future research can also benefit from comparing
married and unmarried expatriates’ psychological adjustment.
Second, this study focused on expatriates. The results indicated the relevance of
stakeholders who can affect expatriates’ psychological adjustment, such as the core family,
the organization and co-workers. This suggests opportunities for future research. Exploring
the applicability of expatriate adjustment with respect to each of the stakeholders could
provide new theoretical perspectives. For example, one might examine expatriate
management practices from the organization’s perspective, and the work-family problems
from both the expatriates and their family.
Finally, the focus of this study was to explore an under-researched aspect of Chinese
expatriates psychological adjustment and social capital. An in-depth analysis of interviews
from a selected and relatively small sample was appropriate for this exploratory study.
However, this study had a small sample size and only focused on one company. Future
research could usefully add other CMNCs to expand the generality of the current findings.
Conclusion
Based on the qualitative approach, this study has provided insight into the process of
Chinese expatriates’ psychological adjustment, and why and how the social capital affects
that process. Overall, Chinese expatriates’ psychological adjustment process included three
periods: crisis, self-adjustment and self-growth period. This critical process took less than
one year and was relatively positive under the influence of organizational support. The
bonding capital was more conducive to their psychological well-being than bridging capital.
The results also suggested that a positive separation acculturation strategy was conducive
to psychological adjustment, rather than the integration strategy. These findings provide
specific guidelines for future research as well as for practitioners. It takes a significant step
forward by illuminating the psychological adjustment of Chinese expatriates from a social
capital perspective, while also providing empirical evidence to better guide and manage
Chinese expatriates in adjusting to international assignments.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Professor Kevin Y. Au and the two anonymous reviewers
for their insightful suggestion and kind help. The authors would also like to thank all the
respondents who participant in this research for sharing their valuable experience. The
work of Beiting He and Ran An on this paper was supported by the Center of Public
Diplomacy and Intercultural Communication Research of Guangdong Provincial
Humanities and Social Sciences Grant (No. 2014WGJHZ001). The work of John Berry on
this paper was carried out within the framework of the HSE University Basic Research
Program and funded by the Russian Academic Excellence Project “5-100”.
Notes
1. WeChat is one of most popular instant messaging apps in China; it is similar to Skype.
2. Interviews were originally conducted in Chinese and translated by the authors for this paper.
CCSM 3. Tianya Forum is one of China’s most influential online communities, where people can share
26,1 ideas freely.
4. Xinsheng Forum is an online communication community where HW people can share
anonymously real-life experience and ideas.
5. HW prefer to use “the representative offices,” which is similar to the subsidiaries.
86
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Appendix. Interview questions
Introduction/basic information
(1) When and where did/do you work overseas? Could you please talk about your detailed
expatriate experiences?
(2) What is your position in the parent company before this international assignment?
And what is the position in the representative office (namely, the subsidiary company) during
the expatriation?
(3) Are you married or not? Is your family (i.e. wife, child or parents) living abroad with you?
CCSM Psychological adjustment
26,1 (1) Why did/do you want to be dispatched overseas? Could you please talk about the reasons for
your willingness to be sent to work abroad in detail?
(2) Could you please talk about your mental status during this whole expatriation? Could you
please give some detailed examples?
(3) What kind of pressure or difficulties do you encounter during this whole expatriation? Could
92 you please give some detailed examples?
(4) How do you solve these pressure or difficulties that you encounter during this whole expa-
triation? Could you please give some detailed examples?
(5) What have you got/learned in the process of coping these stresses or solving these problems?
(6) What impresses you most in the whole expat process? And why? Could you please give some
detailed examples?
(7) Have you ever wanted to terminate the assignments in advance because of the psychological
discomfort? If yes, could you please talk about the detailed things? If no, what kind of reasons
might cause you to leave your job? And why is that?
(8) What will motivate you to stay in your job? Why is that?
Social capital
(1) What are your main social activities outside of work during the dispatch?
(2) Who do you normally interact with overseas? And how you mainly interact with them? Could
you please give some detailed examples?
(3) How often do you contact with the local foreign employees outside of work? How is the private
relationship with local staff?
(4) How many foreign friends are close to you? How many of them are working colleagues?
Why is that?
(5) Do you like to associate with Chinese expatriate colleagues or with foreign colleagues?
Why is that?
(6) Could you please share your views on the impact of your family’s on the expatriation?
(7) How about your psychological stress if they are with you abroad? And how about if they are
in the domestic?
(8) How does your company select the expatriates?
(9) What and how does your company do the related training before the dispatch?
(10) What specific measures have been taken by the company during the dispatch to help the
expatriates adapt to the foreign environment?
(11) Would you please talk about your company’s compensation policy for expatriates?
(12) Would you please introduce the company’s relevant policies on the accompanied family of
the expatriates?
Corresponding author
Ran An can be contacted at: sieanran@scut.edu.cn
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psychological adjustment of organizational expatriates.

Social capital and expatriates’ psychological adjustment

Differences in eastern and western social capital

How and Why?

Figure 1. How? How?

13 GXS M 34 Y Finance supervisor Austria 3 years

Data analysis strategy

Credibility and trustworthiness

Analysis and results

Psychological adjustment of Chinese expatriates: the three periods

A12. Learning actively (6, 9)

Self-adjustment Social capital

Multiple pressure sources

Key findings and theoretical contribution

Is the separation acculturation strategy more conducive to psychological adjustment than

International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 183-204.

Review, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 291-317.

Appendix. Interview questions

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