THE INTERNATIONAL ASSIGNEE - THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF FACTORS PERCEIVED TO CONTRIBUTE TO SUCCESS

The present study sought to empirically identify what factors are impo rtant for international assignee perceived success along with their re lative importance. Subjects were 338 international assignees from dive rse countries (nationality) and organizations, assigned to diverse cou ntries, and performing diverse jobs. Five factors were identified and in a descending order of importance, these were Family Situation, Flex ibility/Adaptability, Job Knowledge and Motivation, Relational Skills, and Extra-Cultural Openness, Although importance ratings were not inf luenced by job type (managerial/nonmanagerial status), they were influ enced by organizational type. In general, the pattern of importance ra tings for service organization international assignees was different f rom those of international assignees from other organizational types. Furthermore, service organization international assignees ascribed mor e importance to relational and psyche-social factors. The perceived re lative importance of psyche-social factors reported by the study's par ticipants tends to suggest that more attention should be paid to these factors in the selection and training of international assignees.