A Social Network Perspective on International Assignments: The Role of Social Support

The social environment of expatriates is a crucial factor for various desired outcomes of international assignments such as psychological well-being, cultural adjustment, job satisfaction, and performance. However, literature on expatriates’ social environment either considers social support as a theoretical link to explain the relationship between social network characteristics and performance or measures it on a global scale in contrast to a meaningful latent construct. By applying confirmatory factor analysis using data from 435 expatriates, this book chapter aims at providing guidance on how the construct social support should be employed in future studies. The book chapter contributes to the expatriate literature by developing a sound conceptual model regarding social support, recommending an appropriate measurement of the construct, and showing that social support should not be treated as one global construct. Instead, the results suggest to account for three different dimensions that should be measured separately in order to avoid a misdirected, short-falling application of the construct.