Self-initiated expatriates' cross-cultural training and adjustment: a closer look at norwegian engineers : what kind of cross cultural training does self-initiated expatriate engineers in Norway receive and does this affect their cross cultural adjustment? Are the theories related to company expatriates applicable?

Abstract

Today many people move on their own initiative to foreign countries to work as a result of increased globalization and human mobility. At arrival in the new culture the self-initiated expatriate m meet a culture that might be different from what they are used too. Cross-cultural training can provide the expatriates with tools and information that can enable the self-initiated expatriates to more easily adjust. This thesis aims to gain more knowledge on what kind of cross-cultural training self-initiated expatriate engineers get in Norway. Also we want to find out if this cross-cultural training has any effect on the self-initiated engineers’ cross-cultural adjustment. The theoretical foundation is based on past research which has been done on company expatriates since the 1960s. In-depth interviews of self-initiated expatriate engineers were conducted to gain more information on the self-initiated expatriates and their cross-cultural training and adjustment. The interview sample consisted of eight self-initiated expatriates who worked as engineers in two international oil and gas companies in Kristiansand: National Oil Well and Aker Solutions. The self-initiated expatriates originated from Sweden, India Syria, Poland Portugal and Iran. Through the study we found that the self-initiated expatriates received interaction training, language training, didactic training and experimental training. This was both provided by the company and the expatriates themselves. We also found that the cross-cultural training did not have a big effect on the self-initiated expatriates’ cross-cultural adjustment. But some of the expatriates said that cross-cultural adjustment could enable the expatriates to become cross-cultural adjusted a little faster. At the end we identified were the theory did not correspond with our findings.