Expatriates’ challenges in the globalised world

Mubasher Naseer

With the increasing globalisation, a blend of people, cultures, and languages continuously encourages global work talent to learn their successful ways of functioning in a multicultural and multilinguistic environment. Contact between two or more cultural groups and their members involves various forms of mutual accommodation, leading to longer-term psychological and sociocultural adaptations, known as acculturation (Berry, 2005). Expatriates are individuals who leave their home country to live and work in another country non-permanent (Ward et al., 2001). They are generally highly skilled workers with limited need to adjust to local culture but rather maintain a degree of flexibility and freedom in their career choice, work location, and family work balance, and they usually belong to the upper middle class to the upper class of the host society (Adams & Van Der Vijver, 2015; McNulty, 2023, 2014).

Research on international work experience has documented several types of expatriates, such as corporate expatriates, who are sent to an international assignment by their company (Takeuchi, 2010), self-initiated expatriates, who take the initiative and rely on their finances to move abroad for work (Doherty et al., 2013), flexpatriates (employees on brief international assignments, leaving their family and personal life behind, short-term assignees (employees on international assignments that are longer than business trips yet shorter than typical corporate expatriate assignments usually less than one year), and international business travellers (employees on multiple short international business trips to various locations without accompanying family members (Shaffer et al., 2012). Emerging research points to multiple forms of non-traditional expatriates, such as female breadwinners, single parents, semi- retirees, lesbians and gays, split families, single expatriates, and blended families, who are also engaged in business expatriation and have distinct circumstances that standard global mobility policies typically do not address (McNulty, 2014). International work experience and accompanying lifestyle impact expatriates’ identity so that they become more multicultural with a global mindset (Altweck & Marshall, 2015). Expatriates tend to perceive their experiences as mainly beneficial; they appear competent in intercultural communication but lack a clear sense of belonging (Moore & Baker, 2012).

A study by McNulty, 2015, focused on the considerable causes and consequences of expatriate divorce, including bankruptcy, homelessness, depression, psychosomatic illness, alienation from children, and suicide. One of the causal factors for these emotional challenges is the acculturation process. Indeed, the acculturation process involves various cultural and psychological changes that may lead to cultural conflict and acculturative stress, potentially resulting in emotional distress (Berry, 2005; Silbiger & Pines, 2014). Lack of successful adjustment to a new environment may increase stress and worsen mental health for expatriates (Filipic Sterle et al., 2018). Compared to the domestic population, expatriates seem to be at greater risk of internalising problems (depression, anxiety, sleep issues, traumatic stress, and suicide, and externalising problems (attention deficit, hyperactivity, and impulse control (Truman et al., 2012). More specifically, empirical evidence documented elevated psychological distress (Silbiger & Pines, 2014), decreased mental well-being and a worse subjective work environment (Andersen & Arnetz, 1999), depression (Magdol, 2002), and increased alcohol and substance use (Truman et al., 2012).

Expatriates and Psychotherapy

When experiencing emotional distress, expatriates can turn to mental health professionals in the host country for help with the adjustment challenges associated with their work, schooling, and interpersonal matters (Nelson-Jones, 2002). As the world is becoming increasingly multicultural, considering cultural aspects in psychotherapy is indispensable. Both therapists and clients are part of the cultural system to which they have attributed their meaning (Sue & Sue, 2003). Further, it has been shown that psychotherapists’ personal experiences of expatriation and familiarity with the specifics of the expatriate way of life can significantly contribute to the effectiveness of clinical interventions (Bushong, 2013). However, these specific features, for example, the importance of the cultural and linguistic context, constant changes and adjustments, their approach to seeking help, and response to frequent goodbyes, may not always be visible and apparent (Bushong, 2013). Therefore, psychotherapists need to pay special attention to the emotional challenges particular to expatriates in order to provide a safe and emphatic space in therapy and to be able to show an understanding of the significance of their expatriate situation (Mortimer, 2010). Besides developing multicultural skills, knowledge and understanding of different cultural issues, psychotherapists need to consider the nature of the expatriate experience (Qureshi & Collazos, 2011). In the multicultural counselling literature, the authors Owen et al. (2011) introduced a distinction between multicultural competence and multicultural orientation of a psychotherapist. Multicultural competence is understood as the ability of the therapist to implement her or his multicultural awareness and knowledge while conducting psychotherapy. Multicultural orientation mainly refers to the “way of being” with the client. It is associated with a psychotherapist’s values about the importance of cultural factors in the lives of psychotherapists and clients. Clients who perceive their therapists as oriented towards cultural issues experience them as more credible and comfortable in the therapeutic process, confirming that psychotherapists’ multicultural awareness and knowledge positively impact their psychological well-being (Owen et al., 2011).

In other words, clients’ trust that the therapist is attuned to and willing to focus on multicultural issues positively impacts the working alliance and genuine relationship with the psychotherapist, regardless of whether cultural issues are explicitly brought up and discussed in the therapy.

Expatriates’ Family Adjustment

A vast research literature on expatriate adjustment has focused on the individual adjustment of an expatriate employee (James et al., 2004). Despite recent research on successful outcomes of expatriate family adjustment and the growing awareness that expatriate families need to receive special attention before and during the assignment, organisations and families still need to address the challenges of the international assignment (Lazarova et al., 2015). This is remarkable as family members’ inability to adjust to foreign environments has been noted as one of the most critical causes of expatriate failure (Halsberger & Brewster, 2008). Expatriate success has been the critical focus of the management perspective on expatriation, traditionally studying corporate expatriates supported by the company. Stress and coping Literature identified several stressors and hardships of expatriate life (Brown, 2008), and social capital theories tried to explain what kind of social support should be provided by the host country (Lauring & Selmer, 2010). Family systems theory was generally used as a theoretical background to study the adjustment of expatriate families and expatriate children (Rosenbusch & Cseh, 2012). In the context of international work experience, acculturation is a dual process of cultural and psychological change that occurs due to contact between two or more cultural groups and their members and involves various forms of mutual accommodation (Berry, 2005).

The outcome of acculturation is a longer-term psychological and socio-cultural adjustment, in other words, relatively stable changes in an individual or a group in response to external demands (Berry, 2005). Black and Stephens (1989) defined adjustment as a degree of fit or psychological comfort and familiarity that individuals feel with different aspects of a foreign culture. Shaffer and Harrison (2001) described personal adjustment as identity reformation, where personal and social roles are redefined when attachment and routines established in one’s home country are broken, thereby adding a link between culture and personality changes in the context of expatriate adjustment. Adjustment is also understood as a process that involves managing change, new experiences, and new challenges. As a positive outcome, it can enrich expatriates’ lives (Kempen et al., 2015); however, failure to successfully deal with the challenges can result in mental health consequences (Brown, 2008). The underlying stressors are expatriates’ adjustment to a new job together with a move abroad, a partner giving up a job, children attending a new school, long periods of separation from their loved ones, occupying a new residence, changing family routines, a change in financial status, cultural differences, and role conflict (Bahn, 2015). Some of the stressors caused by adapting to life in a new environment may remain unresolved, which results in increased psychological distress (Silberg & Pines, 2014), depression (Magdol, 2002), increased alcohol and substance abuse (Anderzen & Arnetz, 1997), decreased physical and mental health, lower marriage satisfaction, and worsening work performance (Larazova, 2015).

Confrontation with the stressors and challenges described above will trigger expatriates’ application of stressors and coping behaviours (Patterson, 1988). Studies have found several individual characteristics that modify stress response and foster the expatriate’s adjustment to a foreign environment, such as internal locus of control, self-esteem, education, good command of languages, past foreign experiences, cultural awareness, communication ability, extraversion, agreeableness, and open-mindedness (Lin et al., 2012).

Practical Implications

The research review on expatriate individual and family adjustment recommends various practical and clinical implications. For example, individuals and families can benefit from pre-departure cross-cultural and language training (Copeland, 2004). During this training, specifics of the host culture, past foreign expatriate experience, language skills, intercultural competencies, and personal resources of the whole family can be targeted (Van Erp et al., 2014). The preparation part should also emphasise the importance of family members’ perception of and motives for the international relocation (Dickmann et al., 2008). Companies sending families on international assignments should be encouraged to include all family members in the pre-departure training (Shaffer & Harrison, 2001), during which their different roles and expectations should be considered. Family counselling can forewarn upcoming changes, clarify family roles and family functioning, and may alleviate stress (Rosenbusch & Cseh, 2012). Additionally, more emphasis should be put on explaining the motives behind relocation and its positive aspects.

A Case Vignette

Susan is an expatriate. Her family moved to six countries on three continents while she was growing up, and she lived in the host country for five years before she sought professional help. Although her presenting problem initially was not directly linked to expatriation, her life abroad has significantly affected her emotional well-being. In the opening session, Sonia admitted feeling out of place and expressed reservations about seeking help. The therapist acknowledged Sonia’s apprehensions but encouraged her to discuss why she decided to seek professional help. The discussion highlighted several aspects of Susan’s life as an expatriate who felt always “on the go” and had a sense of non-belonging. The successive experiences of living in different foreign countries prevented Susan from establishing strong bonds with peers and a sense of cohesive identity. Different academic environments and languages posed significant performance-related challenges. Her family also endured considerable stress dealing with international relocations, and her parents and siblings exhibited similar difficulties in adjusting to new cultures, languages, and self-identity. The therapist assisted Susan in recognising how her life story resembled expatriates’ key struggles, highlighting that relocating from one country to another is a complex psychosocial process that affects an individual and family in a variety of complex ways and navigating the challenges associated with this process may require seeking professional help. The therapist’s empathic attitude helped Susan establish a rapport and therapeutic alliance, and she opened up about her experiences with alienation, self-doubt, security, and loss. The lack of belonging emerged as a significant theme in her therapeutic work, and she made considerable inroads into understanding challenges associated with expatriates’ lives and developed a secure identity.