Expatriate Research Project

[Expatriate Research]

Dear Expatriate,

My name is Stefan Mol and I am a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Psychology of the Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands. At this moment I am conducting a large-scale longitudinal study, with which I hope to uncover the personal characteristics of expatriates that make them successful in their jobs. Could it be that high performers on expatriate jobs all have certain personality factors in common, or is there no such thing as the “ideal overseas type”?

Participation will involve completing a number (as many as you like) of online questionnaires, which are aimed at assessing your personal characteristics (such as cultural flexibility) and job performance. Upon completion of my data collection I will be sending you a personalized feedback report, comparing and contrasting your personal characteristics and job performance to expatriates worldwide. In addition you could also win 100$ gift certificates from one of the Amazon.com sites for each of our questionnaires that you complete.

If you would like to take part in this groundbreaking study or would like to learn more about it, please email me at [email:2do6s909]expatriateresearch@fsw.eur.nl[/email:2do6s909]. I would be very grateful if you could help me with my research.

Yours sincerely,


Stefan Mol

there are plenty of unsuccesful expats out there too but i guess you don' find them as intresting? :P

[Expatriate Research]

Actually, I am interested in examining what distinguishes the successful expatriates from the unsuccessful and would thus like to obtain as diverse a sample as possible. Anyone who is currently on expatriate assignment or applying for an expatriate position is welcome to apply for participation in my study.

and this kind of reserch will be used for... ??

[Expatriate Research]

With this study, and three other studies that I am currently conducting, I expect to obtain my PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology in June 2006.

let me rephrase.... What is the point of studying expats and how would this benefit anyone?

[Bert Vierstra]

Let me guess...

It may be usefull for employers to be able to pick the right candidate to send overseas.

And Stefan may get his Ph.D.

how would this benefit anyone?

Should it?

Maybe we should ask Stefan to make the Bali Expatriate quiz, wich I would be happy to program and put online.

So people can see their "Bali Survival" score.

1. Why do you want to live in Bali?

a) Its cheap
b) They send me
c) The girls
d) I am here to save Bali from itself
e) The boys
f) NO RULEZ !
g) Oh its Magic
h) The be cured from the discease called "THE WESTERN LIFESTYLE"
i) Bali needs me
j) To make loads of money
k) The sun
j) Surfing !
k) The Balinese Humor, heheheh

2 Do you think Bali is a safe place?

a) Who Cares?
b) I will stay inside all the time , no worries
c) Satpams are nescessary
d) I'll take my guns, or buy one
e) Asides from earthquakes, yes
f) Aides from the big muslim threat yes
g) YES
h) I am friendly to the Balinese so they will not be angry with me
i) I have enough money to buy the police
j) I'll take a good lawyer



etc

[Expatriate Research]

Basically, there are three parties that stand to gain from this research; academics, organizations employing expatriates and expatriates themselves. In the first place, I would like to contribute to the academic literature on expatriate management. Academics have been studying expatriates for about five decades now, and in my opinion, a lot remains to be desired within this field. Secondly, this research will benefit the employers of expatriates in deciding whom to select for their overseas assignment vacancies. The techniques I am using in conducting this research have a proven track record in the selection of domestic employees, but have never been applied to the expatriate context. With expatriate assignments costing organizations between USD 300.000 and 1.000.000 annually, I think there is plenty of reason to want to improve expatriate selection practices from their viewpoint. Finally, the expatriate community stands to benefit from this research. In the end, an unsuccessful overseas assignment and or early termination has the biggest impact on the expatriate and his or her trailing family. Improved selection should preclude these adverse consequences, at least in some instances. Prevention is better than cure.

[Bert Vierstra]

"Anyone who is currently on expatriate assignment or applying for an expatriate position is welcome"

Self employed people?

I guess that there are not so many on assignment here, at least not on this forum. In Jakarta you have a better chance, is my guess.

Did you try other forums, and did you got some reactions?

[Expatriate Research]

Thanks for the suggestion I will look into it. I have posted on other forums worldwide, and am in the process of posting to more. I have also received quite a few replies from people interested in participating. Any other suggestions for other forums that seem relevant would be highly appreciated!