Emotional intelligence and British expatriates’ cross-cultural adjustment in international construction projects

Konanahalli, Ashwini; Oyedele, Lukumon

Abstract

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Today’s internationalized business demands global mindset, intercultural sensitivity and the ability to skilfully negotiate through cross-cultural interactions. Therefore, the overall aim was to investigate the influence of emotional intelligence (EI) on cross-cultural adjustment (CCA) of British expatriates working on International Architectural, Engineering and Construction assignments in Sub-Saharan Africa, China, Middle East and Indian Sub-Continent. Specifically, the causal relationship between EI and three facets of CCA i.e. work, general and interaction adjustment was explored. A sequential exploratory mixed methods design was adopted. These include extensive review of existing literature, eighteen unstructured interviews, and questionnaire survey of 191 British expatriates operating in 29 different countries from the four regions under investigation. Structural equation modelling was used to assess the causal relationship between EI and CCA. Results show that EI accounted for 91, 64 and 24% of the variance in work, interaction and general adjustment respectively. Overall, the model was able to explain 60% variance in CCA, suggesting that EI competencies play a huge role in facilitating an expatriate understand and adapt to host country culture. The findings would help decision-makers (HR managers) during expatriate selection process, in understanding that along with technical skills, it is the emotional competencies that are crucial in assisting expatriates adjust to foreign way of life.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 11, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Aug 19, 2016
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Oct 24, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 19, 2017
• Journal: Construction Management and Economics
• Print ISSN: 0144-6193
• Electronic ISSN: 1466-433X
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 34
• Issue: 11
• Pages: 751-768
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/01446193.2016.1213399
• Keywords: emotional intelligence (EI), cross-cultural adjustment, international assignments, British expatriates
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/909840
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01446193.2016.1213399
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Construction Management and Economics on 19th August 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/01446193.2016.1213399
• Contract Date: Oct 24, 2016