In this study my focus/aim/main concern is the successful or unsuccessful adjustment of non- Libyans from across the world who have worked in Libyan oil companies. I want to know what factors create success. To help me to do this I also ask some Libyan managers (who have worked out of Libya) what they think makes for success. From this data, I have derived a model which identifies the differences between all the other process models for expatriate success and my own Libyan contextual model. The study of socio-cultural and psychological adjustment in the literature on cross-cultural adjustment has maintained that there is a difference between these forms of adjustment, however I wanted to investigate the possibility that there might be a close relation between the two. My study is relevant as international mobility and cross-cultural adjustment is becoming a common experience for a growing number of employees sent on long-term international assignments. The methodology used initially starts with the collection of quantitative data then moves toward a more interpretive stance; with the collection of qualitative data therefore I adopted an interpretivist paradigm using numbers and words. In my study a questionnaire was distributed to a group of participants because of quantitative analysis of the data collected a subsequent group were identified who are at either end of the cross-cultural adjustment scale and they were invited to take part in an interview. Because of the qualitative analysis of data gathered from these interviews an exploration was carried out using thematic analysis to discover whether managerial, organisational or societal factors have had an impact on these individuals’ feelings of adjustment. A key aim was to clearly identify the factors that affect adjustment. My process model for an Arabic nation is based on the adjustment of expatriate managers working in the Libyan oil industry and highlighting the key factors that influence their ability to adjust. My findings indicate that a manager coming from an individualised society to a more collective one or vice versa, may have difficulty in adjusting or feeling they are a part of the group. Such feelings are related to the theories of social identity and social categorisation. There has been very little previous expatriate adjustment research carried out using an interpretivist methodology, which I have conducted to find out these managers’ actual perceptions hence can talk about their levels of adjustment and the need for experience.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:721464 |
| Date | January 2016 |
| Creators | Elobeidi, Fathi A. |
| Contributors | Williams, Sue ; Adshead, Penny |
| Publisher | University of Gloucestershire |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/4806/ |
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