Skill utilization and underemployment among expatriates: A relative deprivation approach

While most research on expatriate adjustment has examined the problems associated with expatriate underqualification, this dissertation focuses on the problems of expatriates who are overqualified. Although anecdotal studies suggest that overseas assignments are highly stimulating, such accounts often speak more to the experience of living abroad than to the challenges associated with the work itself. This dissertation, then, examines the antecedents and consequences of expatriate underutilization.; Two samples were used in the research. The first consisted of 268 expatriates from six Fortune 500 multinational firms. The second consisted of 125 interns on six-month overseas assignments. Using three different operationalizations of skill underutilization, the research suggests that 10% of the expatriates were highly underutilized and 20% were moderately underutilized.; Individual differences, host organization factors, job assignment factors, and human resource management practices were investigated as potential antecedents to underutilization. The results suggest that expatriates given specific projects to complete are less likely to be underutilized than those sent overseas to familiarize themselves with international operations. Expatriates sent to units which were strategically important to the multinational corporation received more challenging assignments, while expatriates sent to units where host country nationals were unreceptive to expatriates were more underutilized. Assignment tenure, age, and on-site mentoring were also positively related to skill utilization.; Across both samples, underutilization was consistently associated with lower levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment, higher levels of “careerist” attitudes towards jobs and anxiety about repatriate assignments, and lower levels of general mental health. In the expatriate sample, underutilization was also associated with intentions to terminate overseas assignments prematurely. In the intern sample, individuals who were underutilized exhibited lower levels of day-to-day job performance and engaged in fewer citizenship behaviors.; Underemployment theory and relative deprivation theory were also used to understand reactions to skill underutilization. Both theories suggest that expatriates' reactions to their overseas assignments are determined relative to some standard (e.g., how the current assignments stack up with previous assignments or with the assignments to which expatriates feel entitled). The results generally support the proposition that underemployment and relative deprivation partially mediate key relationships in the model.