Motivations, Expectations and Adjustment of Selfinitiated Academic Expatriates at Eastern Mediterranean University

ABSTRACT: This study investigates how international faculty members, who can be regarded as academic self-initiated expatriates adjust to Cyprus and what factors affect their adjustment. Data were collected from 15 self-initiated academic expatriates at Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU) through semi-structured interviews (Black, Mendenhall, & Oddou, 1991). A literature review was conducted to aid in formulating the questions, which explored motivation factors and instructors’ expectations, cross-cultural adjustments, and previous international experiences. The study focuses on identifying links between dominant motivation factors, anticipatory adjustment, previous international experience, and cultural distance with academic expatriates’ level of cross-cultural adjustment using a model with three dimensions (Black & Stephens, 1989). This study found that instructors who desired international experience and were motivated by their family reported better adjustment. A positive correlation between anticipatory adjustment and instructors’ prior international experience and crosscultural adjustment was also found in this study. This research did not find strong evidence of links between cultural distance and cross-cultural adjustment. Keywords: self-initiated expatriates, motivation, anticipatory adjustment, crosscultural adjustment, previous international experience, cultural distance. …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………