The Multicultural Personality Questionnaire 1 A study of the adjustment of Western expatriates in Taiwan ROC with the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ)

The present paper examined the validity of the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ). As criteria of validity three levels of adjustment were used. The study took place among a sample of expatriates (N = 102) during their assignment in Taiwan. The MPQ has scales for cultural empathy, open-mindedness, social initiative, emotional stability and flexibility. The MPQ-scales appeared to be positively related to expatriates' personal, professional and social adjustment. In all three domains, emotional stability appeared most consistently as predictor of adjustment. Social initiative was an additional strong predictor of psychological well-being, and so was cultural empathy of satisfaction with life and of the amount of social support in the host country. Flexibility was a predictor of job satisfaction and social support. The study also examined the effects of marital status on adjustment. Married expatriates showed higher levels of adjustment than expatriates who were single or separated. The Multicultural Personality Questionnaire 3 A study of the adjustment of the adjustment of Western expatriates in Taiwan ROC with the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) When one examines the research literature on expatriate adjustment, one will quickly find that a rather grim picture is being painted. Many authors indeed mention high failure rates (e.g. Black & Gregersen, 1999). It has become, as Harzing (1995) points out, almost traditional over the last three decades to open an article on expatriate management by stating that expatriate failure rates are high. Remarkably, she states that there is almost no empirical foundation for the existence of high expatriate failure rates when measured as premature re-entry. With respect to that criterion they are probably not much different from domestic failure rates. Nevertheless, there are quite a few compelling reasons why we should pay attention to expatriate adjustment. From the standpoint of the expatriate enormous changes are brought on by accepting the overseas assignment. The expatriate has to leave friends, relatives, and colleagues behind in search of a new life in a country that he or she often knows little about. When spouses and or children are involved, they too will have to cope with drastic changes in their lives. On top of that, the overseas assignment is binding in the sense that one cannot easily quit the job and return home. In addition from the standpoint of the employer, huge costs are involved in overseas assignments. Obviously, the ability to predict expatriate adjustment is of great interest not only for selection purposes, but also for assessing possible training needs. The Multicultural Personality Questionnaire 4 What do we mean by expatriate adjustment? In the literature, a distinction is made between personal and sociocultural adjustment (Searle & Ward, 1990). Personal adjustment refers to internal psychological outcomes such as mental health and personal satisfaction. Sociocultural adjustment refers to external psychological outcomes that link individuals to their new context such as the ability to deal with daily problems, particularly in the areas of family life and work (See Segall, Dasen, Berry, & Poortinga, 1999). In the present study in addition to personal adjustment we focused on two areas of sociocultural adjustment: professional adjustment referring to the amount of satisfaction with the new work environment in the host country, and social adjustment referring to satisfying social relationships in the host country. Together, these three domains provide a useful framework for studies on expatriate adjustment. So, how can expatriate adjustment be predicted? The Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ: Van der Zee & Van Oudenhoven, 2000, 2001) was developed as a personality instrument aimed at measuring the dimensions that underlie multicultural effectiveness of expatriates. The instrument has scales for cultural empathy, openmindedness, social initiative, emotional stability and flexibility. In contrast with general personality questionnaires, the MPQ-scales are tailored to cover more narrowly those aspects of traits that are relevant to multicultural success. In large, the MPQ-questions refer to behavior in multicultural situations, making the relation between test behavior and the aspired international position transparent to its respondents, thereby enhancing the acceptability of the instrument. The instrument may be used for the selection and training of international employees, that is, employees who have a job with an The Multicultural Personality Questionnaire 5 international scope, whether in an expatriate assignment, or in a job dealing with international issues more generally (Schaeffer, 1985). The MPQ scales Cultural empathy, also referred to as 'sensitivity' (e.g., Hawes & Kealy, 1981), is probably the most frequently mentioned dimension of multicultural effectiveness (Arthur & Bennet, 1995). This dimension refers to the ability to empathize with the feelings, thoughts, and behaviors of members of different cultural groups. Second, openmindedness refers to an open and unprejudiced attitude towards outgroup members and towards different cultural norms and values (Arthur & Bennet, 1995; Hammer, Gudykunst, & Wiseman, 1978; Ronen, 1989). Third, social initiative is defined as a tendency to approach social situations in an active way and to take initiatives. Several researchers have pointed at the relevance of the ability to establish and maintain contacts with people from the host country and of making friends among the locals. (Hawes & Kealy, 1981; Kets de Vries & Mead, 1991). More convincingly, empirical evidence underlines the relevance of this dimension (Abe & Weisman, 1983; Hammer et al., 1978). The dimension of emotional stability refers to a tendency to remain calm in stressful situations versus a tendency to show strong emotional reactions under stressful circumstances (e.g., Abe & Weisman, 1983, Caligiuri, 2000, Church, 1982). The final dimension is flexibility. Several authors have stressed the importance of this dimension (Arthur & Bennet, 1995; Ruben & Kealey, 1979; Torbiorn, 1982). The international employee has to be able to switch easily from one strategy to another, because the familiar ways of handling things will not necessarily work in a new cultural environment. The Multicultural Personality Questionnaire 6 In earlier studies of the MPQ among student samples, support was obtained for the reliability and validity of the instrument. Relationships with related personality constructs were in the expected direction (Van der Zee & Van Oudenhoven, 2000, 2001). Moreover, two longitudinal studies showed that the instrument could predict psychological well-being and social support among international students (Mol, Van Oudenhoven, & Van der Zee, 2001; Van Oudenhoven & Van der Zee, in press). So far, the MPQ has not yet been applied to expatriate employees. The study that is presented below, was aimed at establishing the predictive value of the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire against the adjustment of expatriates living and working in Taiwan. Taiwan offers an interesting situation because the country definitely has an eastern culture whereas most of the expatriates come form western nations. Due to the horrific logistics of conducting a predictive study amongst expatriates, a concurrent design was chosen in which the independent variables (the MPQ scales) were assessed at the same time as the dependent variables. A distinction was made between personal, professional and social adjustment in the host country. Personal adjustment was operationally defined in terms of satisfaction with life, physical health, and psychological health. Professional adjustment was assessed by respondents’ job satisfaction. Social adjustment was measured by social support by peers in the host country. Our main prediction was that expatriates with high levels of cultural empathy, open-mindedness, social initiative, emotional stability, and flexibility would be better adjusted to their foreign assignment. Finally we looked at marital status. We checked whether married people had a higher level of well-being than expatriates who were single or separated. This distinction The Multicultural Personality Questionnaire 7 is particularly important in view of the role of expatriates’ spouses (e.g. Caligiuri, Hyland, Joshi & Bross, 1998). Their role becomes increasingly crucial for the success of foreign assignment due to the professional ambitions of many young spouses in particular. Our expectation – in line with the general literature on intimate relations – that married people would be better adjusted.