| International assignments are important to the survival of global companies in the twenty-first century, and their numbers will continue to increase despite their high financial and human capital costs. This study addresses the high failure rate of American expatriates by examining how U.S. expatriates in Japan make meaning from their experience of adjusting to international assignments and how they deal with the cultural differences between their U.S. culture and the Japanese culture in which they are immersed. Mezirow's theory of transformative learning was used as a framework of inquiry into this phenomenon. Mezirow suggested that cultural context is a critical part of transformation learning theory. The context of expatriates in international assignments was used to understand the role that context plays in international assignments. The cross-cultural context in which the expatriates are immersed provides unique challenges and opportunities for learning.;Using Seidman's in-depth phenomenological interview method, eight American expatriates who had lived and worked in Japan were interviewed. The data were analyzed using a composite methodology consisting of a phenomenological approach and coding and thematic analysis to address the study's two main areas of inquiry. Moustakas's phenomenological approach was used to develop the essences of the phenomenon, and coding and thematic analysis were used to examine the significance of context in Mezirow's transformational learning theory in a cross-cultural setting.;Conclusions derived from this study include (1) that the expatriate context distinctively and intensely influences the content that expatriates learn and the strategies they employ, and (2) that learning about one's self and underlying structures of culture may prove as important as, or more so than, learning about the new culture. The study also concludes that the learning achieved through expatriate assignments provides valuable developmental experiences for management careers. Specific conclusions regarding transformative learning theory include (1) that Mezirow's theory does not adequately describe the role that culture plays in learning, and (2) that, while reflection and discourse are essential elements of learning in a cross-cultural setting, they combine with observation and occur somewhat differently than described in transformative learning theory. Additionally, this study found that discourse does not always include a critical assessment of assumptions, as Mezirow suggested. |
