The big five personality characteristics as predictors of expatriate's desire to terminate the assignment and supervisor-rated performance

Applying the evolutionary theory of personality, this study proposed and te sted the hypotheses that each of the Big Five personality characteristics ( Extroversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Emotional Stability, and Op enness or Intellect) predict two criteria of expatriate success: (a) desire to prematurely terminate the expatriate assignment, and (b) supervisor-rat ed performance on the expatriate assignment. The participants were 143 expa triate employees (and 94 supervisors) from a U.S.-based information technol ogy company. Results from correlation and regression analyses suggest that Extroversion, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability are negatively related to whether expatriates desire to terminate their assignment. Conscientious ness is positively related to the supervisor-rated performance on the expat riate assignment. Practical implications for expatriate management (e.g., s elf-selection) are given.