According to Prof. Kumpikaitė-Valiūnienė, self-initiated expatriates and migrants constitute the largest part of international employees worldwide.
Potential research gaps were indicated
In the study, conducted by KTU and the University of Bamberg, Germany, scientists, a total of 222 articles spanning from 1990 to 2022 were subjected to analysis. They studied the abstracts of the papers from the Web of Science Core Collection database aiming to track the field’s evolution over time and, by examining covered topics, to pinpoint new possible research directions.
Besides the above-mentioned lack of research regarding migrants and self-initiated expatriates, several other scientific knowledge gaps were indicated. For example, most study samples comprised individuals moving between Asia, Europe, and North America, overlooking Africa with high migration flows.
“Moreover, our study highlighted the factors of international employee adjustment which can help businesses understand how they can contribute to the better adjustment of their international employees within the organisation and outside it. The successful adjustment would increase not only international employees’ well-being but also their productivity which might have a positive effect on the organisation’s competitive advantage,” says Irma Banevičienė, a co-author of the study and a researcher at KTU School of Economics and Business.
According to Kumpikaitė-Valiūnienė, organisational support should include not only information on work-related matters but also on living in the country (transport, shopping, healthcare) and the necessary facilities. The support provided by host country nationals is also important, helping international employees to understand the local environment, both at work and in the country.
“Although these studies were predominant among expatriates sent by organisations, support is important for all workers, not least for self-initiated expatriates, who find their jobs themselves,” emphasises Kumpikaitė-Valiūnienė.
In the articles analysed, individual factors were researched most frequently (155), followed by organisational (95) and country-related (78) factors. However, only 14 articles investigated how demographics might affect international employee adjustment.
Curiosity and open-mindedness are useful traits for adjustment
Although this study does not investigate cultural differences among international employees, Kumpikaitė-Valiūnienė says that, based on the previous research, certain tendencies can be observed.
“To use Hofstede’s most popular classification, countries can be divided into individualistic vs. collectivistic, short-term oriented vs. long-term oriented, and so on. Those, coming from individualistic countries, are more focused on their personal achievements and gains, as opposed to people from collectivistic countries who are focused on cooperation and society,” says the KTU professor.
She singles out a certain cultural intelligence as the most helpful individual characteristic for international employee adjustment: “Curiosity, interest in different countries, travel, knowledge of foreign languages and a positive attitude will open the door to more successful cultural understanding and adjustment.”
Curiosity, interest in different countries, travel, knowledge of foreign languages and a positive attitude will open the door to more successful cultural understanding and adjustment.
According to Kumpikaitė-Valiūnienė, global mobility will not likely decrease and more and more companies will face the need to employ staff from abroad – the demand for the workforce is growing, especially in rapidly ageing European countries. Although such countries as the USA and Germany remain the most attractive for employees from overseas, migration flows affect all.
“In our recent study, we noticed that Lithuania and Estonia have shifted their status from migrant-sending countries (as they have been since regaining independence in 1990) to migrant-receiving countries. Although at a national level, these countries are not yet fully prepared to receive international employees – there is a lack of information in different languages and basic guidelines – there is a lot of support for the international employees at the organisational level,” says Prof. Kumpikaitė-Valiūnienė.
The paper “Assessing the status quo of international employees’ adjustment research, 1990–2022: a review and future research agenda” was published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications and can be accessed here.
