Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

CiteULike is a free service for managing and discovering scholarly references - click here to get started.

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
International Journal of Cross Cultural Management
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Taveggia, T. C.
Right arrow Articles by Santos, L. N. G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Cross Cultural Adjustment

A Test of the `Uncertainty Reduction Principle'

Thomas C. Taveggia

University of Arizona, USA, Taveg{at}aol.com

Lourdes Nieves Gibboney Santos

City Colleges of Chicago, Mainz Kastel, Germany, frio{at}kaiserslautern.netsurf.de

This research reports the results of a cross-sectional, correlational study of expatriate adjustment encompassing 181 United States' embassy employees working in Canada, Chile, and Mexico. The impact on these expatriates' affective adjustment experiences of several factors derived from the `uncertainty reduction principle' of cross cultural adjustment was investigated, as were the impacts of posited moderating or contingency variables. It was found that, for this sample, the uncertainty reduction principle held little explanatory power. Most notably, uncertainty reduction factors of prior international experience, quantity and types of cross cultural training, and host country tenure did not appear to facilitate expatriates' affective adjustment to their host countries. This article concludes by suggesting that future thinking and research into expatriates' affective adjustment experiences might profitably consider constructs in addition to uncertainty reduction, notably the concept of equivocality.

Key Words: cross cultural adjustment • diplomatic employees • equivocality • expatriates • international management • uncertainty

International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, Vol. 1, No. 2, 153-171 (2001)
DOI: 10.1177/147059580112002
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?