Shades of Darkness in Expatriation : The Effects of Cultural Discrimination and Underemployment on Self-Initiated Expatriates’ Role Adjustment

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A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
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Authors

Date

2025-12

Department

Department of Management Studies

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Mcode

Degree programme

Language

en

Pages

25

Series

Management International Review, Volume 65, issue 6, pp. 1039-1063

Abstract

This study examines the implications of workplace underemployment and discrimination for self-initiated expatriates’ (SIE) role adjustment in terms of their task-related and social roles. Analyzing a sample of 379 expatriates in the United Arab Emirates and drawing from role theory, it shows that not all effects of underemployment and discrimination are negative. While discrimination negatively affects SIEs’ role adjustment by hindering the quality of social interaction and job clarity, underemployment, in contrast, enhances SIEs’ socialization and job clarity. The analysis also finds SIEs’ gender to moderate the relationship between perceive discrimination and the quality of SIEs’ social interaction. The study uncovers the nuanced influences of discrimination and underemployment on SIEs’ role adjustment, mediated by job clarity and social interactions, and partially moderated by gender. It calls for further exploration of their complex effects on SIEs’ task-related and social role adjustment.

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Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2025.

Keywords

Cultural discrimination, Gender, Job clarity, Role adjustment, Self-initiated expatriates, Social interaction, Underemployment

Other note

DOI

10.1007/s11575-025-00596-2

Citation

Koveshnikov, A & Lehtonen, M J 2025, 'Shades of Darkness in Expatriation : The Effects of Cultural Discrimination and Underemployment on Self-Initiated Expatriates’ Role Adjustment', Management International Review, vol. 65, no. 6, pp. 1039-1063. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11575-025-00596-2

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202512299688

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[article-cris] Kauppakorkeakoulu / BIZ