Expatriation, alcohol and drugs: antecedents and consequences of substance use in expatriation

Abstract

Purpose Expatriation is known to be stressful. The purpose of this paper is to examine stress as an antecedent of substance use (SU) during expatriation and related effects on expatriates’ work adjustment. Moreover, the study sheds light on individual-level moderators (i.e. gender and prior international experience) and organizational-level moderators (i.e. organizational social support) that might condition the stress–SU link. Design/methodology/approach This work adopts a quantitative survey approach. It is based on two studies, one of 205 expatriates and one of 96 expatriate–supervisor dyads. The data were collected through personal networks and with the help of multinational companies. Findings This research shows that stress at a medium- to high-level increases SU among male expatriates, but not among female expatriates. Expatriates with substantial prior international experience were identified as being more prone to react to stress by resorting to SU. It also provides evidence that SU to aid coping harms professional adjustment. Moreover, some implications relating to professional adjustment are discussed. Research limitations/implications SU was self-reported; this may have deterred users from accurately reporting their consumption levels. Moreover, convenience samples have been used. Preventive actions limiting SU, such as well-being programs, could be sponsored by local human resource managers in order to limit this phenomenon. Originality/value This work is one of the first to analyze SU among expatriates. It shows that some expatriates are more at risk than others of resorting to such use to cope with the hardships of expatriation.

Highway to Hell? Managing expatriates in crisis

“…To explain how severe crisis events might occur for expatriates, we position them as arising primarily from acculturation stress or behavioural maladjustment, including contextual or cultural lack of knowledge, ignorance and incompetence as well as inappropriate emotional reactions caused by acculturation stress (cf. Fee et al, 2013;Fee et al, 2017;Turner & Pidgeon, 1997;Nolan & Morley, 2014;Wurtz, 2018). In our model, which is depicted in Figure 1, acculturation stress and/ or behavioural maladjustment are outcomes arising from triggers in the 'domains of causes'.…”

“…Lu et al (2017) found that the frequency of relocations (breadth) rather than the length of stay in any one location (depth) was a positive predictor of immoral behaviour. Studies (e.g., Lu et al, 2017;Wurtz, 2018) have thus concluded that it is not whether the host country is more or less moral than one's home country that matters (e.g., corruption, crime), but the number of foreign experiences one is exposed to. It suggests that when expatriates engage in frequent relocations abroad, they are more likely to experience moral relativism arising from "appreciating the differences in moral beliefs upheld by different cultures" (p. 13).…”

“…Maladjustment has been found to be linked to symptom-focused coping strategies, where individuals attempt to minimize anxieties through physical or mental withdrawal from the situation or by avoiding the problem (Selmer & Leung, 2007). Substance abuse, especially alcohol, can be a destructive coping mechanism among male expatriates in particular (Wurtz, 2018), far exceeding its purpose as a mechanism to 'blow off steam' on a night out drinking with colleagues (Ames, Cunradi, Moore, & Stern, 2007). Although research shows there is no single risk factor that is dominant for alcohol abuse (Schmidt, Makela, Rehm & Room, 2010), a person's 'vulnerability' is a leading cause, meaning that the more vulnerabilities that are present (disease, mental health issues, stress), the more likely a person is to develop alcohol problems, including social (family) and socio-economic (job loss) problems and injury to others (Shi & Stevens, 2005).…”

“…As with all research, our study has some limitations. There is a scarcity of literature related to serious expatriate crises with the exception of only a few studies related to terrorism (Bader & Berg, 2013Bader & Schuster, 2015), expatriate divorce (McNulty, 2015), hostile environments (Dickmann & Watson, 2017;Faeth & Kittler, 2017) and alcohol abuse (Wurtz, 2018). While a large body of literature about crises exists in other fields (e.g., medicine, aid work, disaster relief), there is almost no inter-disciplinary link to expatriate studies.…”

“…Studies (e.g. Lu et al, 2017;Wurtz, 2018) have thus concluded that it is not whether the host country is more or less moral than one's home country that matters (e.g. corruption, crime), but the number of foreign experiences one is exposed to.…”