Cross cultural adjustment - A catalyst to enhance psychological well being and work performance of Indian IT expatriates in USA

Abstract

Purpose – The present study is an attempt to analyse the impact of cross cultural adjustment on psychological wellbeing and work performance of the Indian IT expatriates working in the United States of America. Design/Methodology/Approach- This study adopts positivist deductive approach it, starts with clear variables which are derived from theory and based on these variables. The data for the study was collected through the structured questionnaire. Design/Methodology/Approach-This study adopts positivist deductive approach it, starts with clear variables which are derived from theory and based on these variables. The data for the study was collected through the structured questionnaire. The sample for the present study was collected from the Indian IT expatriates who are assigned to USA working in the four major IT cluster of USA i.e. California, Washington, New York, & Chicago. A total 634 questionnaires were received indicating a response rate of 52%. For the current research the questionnaire comprises of 44 items and Likert five poit scale is applied to get the response where formats used for all the measures ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. SPSS 21 and Microsoft excel are the statistical packages regression is the tools used in the present study Findings-A significant relationship was found between cross cultural work adjustment and expatriate psychological wellbeing and work performance. Cross cultural adjustment of the expatriates both to work and general adjustment play an important role in the work performance of the expatriate. A highly adjusted employee performance is better on work than and highly unadjusted employee. When an expatriate is well adjusted to the general environment, the level of psychological wellbeing will be high Originality/value-This study provides insightful findings in understanding the role of expatriate work and general adjustment in the individual level and work outcomes. This study also shows the importance of the demographic variables with impact expatriate adjustment. In spite of the limitations of the research, the study contributed to the international human resources management by exploring the Indian IT expatriates adaptation process in the western context.