USING INTRA-NATIONAL DIVERSITY FOR INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNMENTS - A MODEL OF BICULTURAL COMPETENCE AND EXPATRIATE ADJUSTMENT

Considerable international HRM literature focuses on training expatria tes to increase cultural awareness and provide realistic previews of l ife and work in the host country, thereby increasing expatriate effect iveness and adjustment. This article emphasizes a complementary form o f improving expatriate adjustment, namely, selection on individual dif ferences resulting from the bicultural life experiences that individua ls may bring with them to potential assignments. Parallel themes in li teratures on biculturalism and on the knowledge, skills, abilities, an d other requirements (KSAOs) for expatriate effectiveness are discusse d. A model integrating these bicultural life experiences/KSAOs and eff ects of other constructs on expatriate adjustment is proposed. Researc h and managerial implications follow.