Assessing a successful global business culture: European expatriates in the U.S. and the impact of their cultural training for international organizations

Globalization greatly facilitates the flow of information, capital, goods and people. One of the manifestations is the increasing number of expatriates (commonly referenced as 'expats') dispatched overseas on international assignments. To mitigate the risk of expatriate failure, international organizations have increasingly established training programs to assist expats' and their families' adjustment and integration in the host country. Are those programs really effective? What are the biggest challenges expats and their family encountered in the host country and how did they adjust? How would expats identify themselves, does their identity shift over time? To gather firsthand information, an online survey was developed and distributed among target population, namely European expatriates working in the U.S. Due to presumed cultural closeness, this group received limited attention in research literature. Both qualitative and quantitative survey data will be collected and further analyzed to assess the effectiveness of cross-cultural programs and identify impacting factors at both individual and organizational level. The results permit to assess the added value for organizations, training agencies, international assignees and their accompanying family members