Teaching Expatriate Adaptation While Dealing with Reality: The Impact of a Tragedy on the Study-Abroad Experience

AbstractThis paper explores the relevance of the accepted U-shaped models of expatriate adaptation to students engaged in an international educational experience when they are faced with a tragedy. In this study-abroad course, an examination of the existing adaptation models and how they provide a set of expectations for the process of cultural adjustment is presented as course material. During a particular four-week summer program, one of the nineteen students who went abroad died in an accident at the end of the first week. It became clear after the tragedy that the models studied failed to explain the impact of a personal tragedy of this magnitude on the students ' adjustment process. This unfortunate event provided an opportunity to conduct a quasi-experiment to consider the impact of personal tragedy for students to question a body of research through their own personal experience and for scholars to re-examine and update the existing models to incorporate these findings.Keywords: International education; expatriate adaptation; tragedy; U-shaped modelsAccording to the 2012 Open Doors survey, 273,996 U.S. students received academic credit for study abroad in 2010/11, a 1.3% increase over the previous year. These students desire not only the international experience but also knowledge of how this experience may enhance their future work life. In addition to courses on language and culture, practical information on how to adapt and live in a different culture helps the students understand the process that expatriates and students experience when they move abroad. Relyea, Cocchiara, Nareatha, and Studdard (2008) found that participation in a study-abroad experience increased student's cultural intelligence, which is an absolute necessity for managers in today's global environment as it enhances the marketability of the students. If these students are future expatriates, understanding the process of adaptation to a new culture will help to ensure a successful experience both for them and for their employers (Cisneros-Donahue, Krentler, Reinig & Sabol, 2012; Ward & Kes, 2012).This case study examines an ongoing study abroad program that focuses on the international workplace and the issues of adaptation. Based on the existing expatriate adaptation research, students have compared these models to their personal abroad experiences. Students in the program have reported that this research has been relevant. This paper also reports the results of a quasi-experimental study based on a single incident, the tragic death of a classmate on a summer abroad program, and it offers an opportunity to rethink established theories of adaptation. There is no control group, and this study is not meant to critique nor extend the current theories; rather it is presented to offer a new question. Personal and emotional dimensions are not included in current theories; the literature emphasizes the social, cultural, intellectual and academic facets of the foreign experience. The tragedy that is the basis of this paper highlights a dimension of adaptation that is overlooked in current theory as well as the complexities associated with conducting this type of study.The goal of this study is to bring the adaptation models out of the academic's predilection for prediction and insert the exception that the current adaptation models fail when an individual is confronted with an unexpected and tragic occurrence. For most expatriates and students, adapting to the new culture consumes most of their time and energy. To date, there has been no research that has examined the impact of a tragedy on the study-abroad/expatriate models.It is well established that many multinational corporations invest substantial amounts of capital in sending their employees to other places. For the business, this investment in both time and money may help to facilitate entry into new markets while for the expatriate employee, this experience may assist in the development of international management competencies (Shaffer, Flarrison & Gilley, 1999). …