| Over the past few decades, with the exponential growth of globalization, there has been a rapid upsurge of studies on expatriates and the impact of cross-cultural training (CCT) prior to the employment transition. However, the majority of this research centers on training for business expatriates who are placed in international assignments by their organization. An estimated 214 million people undertake international mobility. A large number of expatriates overseas are self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) who chose to relocate and find employment on their own without the support of a home organization. One group of SIEs are academic expatriates, who teach overseas. Yet, few studies describe how CCT can help such academic SIEs learn how to cope with the difficulties they face in global positions, such as culture shock, job dissatisfaction, and social alienation, helping them have a more fulfilling international position. This study contributed to the research on academic SIEs by examining the effect CCT has on sociocultural adjustment and turnover intentions of English-language teachers in China. In this quantitative causal-comparative study, I compared two groups of English-language teachers currently employed in China on their degree of cultural adjustment and intention to fulfill employment contracts. |
