Critical factors influencing British expatriates' success on international architectural, engineering and construction assignments in Sub-Saharan Africa, China, middle East and Indian sub-continent

The main aim of this study is to investigate critical factors influencing the success of British expatriates working on International Architectural, Engineering and Construction assignments in Sub-Saharan Africa, China, Middle East and Indian Sub-Continent. Adopting a multi-criteria perspective, the study measured cross-cultural adjustment, psychological adjustment, performance, assignment completion, job satisfaction and intention to return, to holistically assess the topic. Underpinned by critical realism epistemology, a sequential exploratory mixed methods design was adopted comprising of three empirical phases. Phase one is characterised by extensive review of literature to identify relevant factors. The second phase was a qualitative exploration of factors from • the British expatriate's perspective, here eighteen unstructured interviews were conducted which were further analysed through Banaxia decision explorer software to develop a ' theoretical framework. In final phase three, factors extracted from the first two phases were used to develop a questionnaire and survey 191 British expatriates. Along with various quantitative analyses, structural equation modelling was conducted to examine the relationships between various critical factors. The results revealed that Emotional and Cultural Intelligence collectively referred to as individual competencies significantly influenced cross-cultural adjustment. Here, cross-cultural adjustment emerged as a mediator, which established statistically significant relationships with performance; job satisfaction and psychological adjustment. Further, support offered by organisation predicted an expatriate's job satisfaction, psychological adjustment and adjustment of his/her family. On the job front, it was role clarity, discretion and conflict that influenced job satisfaction. Finally, family adjustment and job satisfaction determined an expatriate's intention to recommend and return back to the host country. The findings imply that effective expatriate management is a key determinant of • success in international business. British AEC firms could sustain their already established competitive advantage in the global marketplace by acknowledging the complexity of assignments, prioritising expatriate management and offering well rounded support to their professionals.