| Each year a large number of individuals are recruited and sent to work in an organization overseas. Many of these expatriates, as they are known, are married and are accompanied by their spouse or partner. Although the majority of expatriate assignments are considered successful, many are not. According to the literature, lack of spousal adjustment is the primary reason for an expatriate's decision to return home prematurely.;The purpose of this applied research project was to explore the factors that help or hinder spousal adjustment when accompanying an expatriate on an assignment abroad. Furthermore, the intention was to provide an in-depth understanding of the spousal adjustment process in order that international human resource management might be better able to provide effective support to the expatriate spouse in the host country, thereby increasing the probability of success of an expatriate assignment. Although some recent research in this area of interest has been qualitative, most research to date has been quantitative in nature. The use of a qualitative research method for this project was specifically chosen in order to achieve a deep and rich understanding of the spousal adjustment. Eight women were interviewed, all lived in Silicon Valley, and came from a variety of nationalities. Their ages ranged from 30 to 38 and all were married, some with children and some without. the majority of the expatriate spouses experienced difficulty adjusting to the new culture. Although most found ways of coping with these challenges, many felt a strong need for someone to talk with about their feelings and stated that they would have benefitted from the support of a therapist or coach, at least during the initial period of adjustment. |
