Pursuing higher education abroad is a golden opportunity for any student’s personal development; however, international students’ cross-cultural adjustment (CCA) can be onerous in a foreign country. The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the roles of perceived lecturer support and host country national (HCN) support in international students’ CCA in three dimensions, i.e. general, academic, and interaction. Adopting the purposive sampling technique, survey data was collected from a sample of 124 first-year international students in a Malaysian university. The results of the partial least squares structural equation modelling analysis showed that both perceived lecturer support and HCN support are influential in international students’ general, academic, and interaction adjustment. These findings suggest that higher education institutions should amplify the role of lecturers and HCNs to help international students adjust to the various cultural aspects in Malaysia. This study contributes to the literature by applying the anxiety and uncertainty management theory to validate the influence of support on CCA in the international student context.

PurposeInternational assignments are an effective tool to develop employees' cultural competencies, yet expatriate failure rates remain high. This paper aims to examine salient stakeholders' (i.e. organisations, host country nationals (HCNs) and spouses) support as antecedents of expatriates' work adjustment and task performance. It also explores work adjustment as a mediator between support and task performance.Design/methodology/approachAdopting the quantitative approach, survey data were collected from 112 expatriates who were married and based in organisations in Malaysia. Partial least squares-structural equation modelling was employed to analyse the data.FindingsThe findings validate the direct influences of perceived organisational support (POS) on work adjustment, HCN support on work adjustment, and spousal support on task performance. The indirect effect of HCN support on task performance through work adjustment was also established. When expatriates' work adjustment improves as a result of receiving HCN support, their task performance is enhanced.Practical implicationsThis study evidences that expatriate-hiring firms should provide suitable support for expatriates when they work overseas. Local employees and spouses should likewise be tasked to help expatriates maximise their full potential in achieving successful performance in their assignments.Originality/valueThe contribution of this study is the exploration of the relationships between support, work adjustment and task performance among expatriates. It also adds to the limited knowledge on the role of specific stakeholders in the expatriate context.

Expatriates face more challenges when they are exposed to hostile environments in a foreign country. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most expatriates are stranded abroad without adequate support mechanisms. The aim of this paper is to empirically investigate the role of perceived organisational support (POS) and resilience in predicting expatriates’ perception of non-work constraints and work adjustment, and in turn, their withdrawal intention. Using the convenience sampling, questionnaire data was collected through social networking platforms from 205 expatriates across various industries in Malaysia. Partial least squares-structural equation modelling was employed to test the hypotheses. The results revealed that POS is influential in expatriates’ resilience, but not in their perceived non-work constraints and work adjustment. Spillover effects occur when perceived non-work constraints influence withdrawal intention. However, perceived non-work constraints are not significantly related to work adjustment. Further, work adjustment has a negative relationship with withdrawal intention. The results indicate that organisations should customise their human resource policies to improve expatriates’ resilience through webinars and counselling services during the COVID-19 crisis, which are likely to impact their work outcomes. The contribution of this study is its application of the conservation of resources theory to enrich the sparse literature on expatriation in a hostile environment.