Impact of trust, psychological capital and cultural intelligence on self-initiated expatriates’ effectiveness.

The purpose of this research is threefold: (i) to investigate the relationship between organizational trust and intention to remain, work performance and organizational citizenship behavior, (ii) to examine the mediating role of psychological capital on these relationships, and (iii) to test the moderating role of cultural intelligence on these relationships. Data was collected using a questionnaire among 246 self-initiated academic expatriates employed in 20 Malaysian public universities. A PLS-SEM technique was applied to analyze the data. The findings showed that organizational trust is positively related to intention to remain, work performance and psychological capital. Moreover, psychological capital significantly mediates these relationships. What’s more, cultural intelligence plays significant moderating role on the linkages between organizational trust and intention to remain and organizational citizenship behavior. However, contrary results exist between organizational trust and work performance. Organizational trust enhances the mental disposition which reflect on the friendship bond and support that the self-initiated academic expatriates enjoy from their employers who give them a sense of belonging as respected members of the academic community which lead them to reciprocate with having to intent to remain serving in the universities, boost work performance and encourage them to display organizational citizenship behavior. The empirical results transport vital input to hiring agencies and human resource managers to boost self-initiated academic expatriates’ effectiveness by emphasizing on aspects like intention to remain, work performance and organizational citizenship behavior to function effectively in the host country. The findings advance body of knowledge in international human resource management research