Understanding Complexities of Expatriate Coping and Adjustment: The Complementary Roles of Acceptance and Action

ABSTRACT This work aims to provide theoretical and practical insights into coping with expatriation challenges. We show that both acceptance and action (problem‐solving) are needed, to manage different aspects of expatriate life. These two coping strategies are complementary and, to be beneficial, need to be applied selectively. More specifically, acceptance is required in domains that cannot be changed—particularly for adjusting to local conditions—whereas action (problem‐solving) is more relevant for adjusting to work conditions and relationships with locals. Quantitative analyses based on a sample of 759 expatriates also show that using these coping strategies in domains other than those described above (e.g., relying on acceptance to deal with work‐related challenges) is not really effective. This work contributes to a better understanding of why adjustment to a foreign country is challenging.