Expatriates X And Y-The Role of Age in Adjustment

Various scientists have extensively studied expatriation and the adjustment process. Much research has been devoted to better understanding expatriation of the impact on mission outcome and its effects. Numerous studies have been devoted to expats’ adjustment to the cultural context or the motives of undertaking a foreign mission. However, only recent publications refer to age as a factor determining the process of adjustment of expatriates. Even so, the importance of expatriate age remains largely unexplored in expatriation literature. The expat age was widely used in research as a control variable, and in few research studies, it was treated as a potential predictor influencing foreign missions.

The author intends to present the pilot study results, which is part of the research project entitled „Adjustment of expatriates of different generations in international corporations”.

This study aimed to examine the relationship between individual, organizational and contextual factors and adjustment to life, work environment, and interaction with the local community. Moreover, an important aim of the pilot was to verify the applied research tool. For this purpose, using a quantitative method based on the theoretical model of expatriate adjustment by J.S. Black, M. Mendenhall, G. Oddou.