Influence of Personality and Gender on Expatriate Successful Assignment in the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry

Abstract

Expatriates continue to be a means of knowledge transfer as they facilitate in improving the performance of overseas subsidiaries through the distribution of their personal experience and individual knowledge in overseas subsidiaries where such knowledge is lacking (Fang, et al., 2010). This is because the use of expatriates in managing and monitoring of foreign operations of MNC's has proven to be successful and consequently can have an unswerving effect on the successful functioning and/or productivity of an MNC (Fang et al, 2010).The study peruses previously theorized, yet unmeasured variables such as personality traits, and gender on expatriate successful assignment, focusing on the Nigerian Oil and gas industry. This study seeks to delineate the relative importance of these factors in enhancing each facet of expatriate successful assignment thereby offering a framework to guide future research and practice.