Does Angry Temperament Undermine the Beneficial Effects of Expatriates' Proactive Personality?

• Author: Jan Selmer,Sebastian Stoermer,Jakob Lauring
• Date: 01 June 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/emre.12364
• Published date: 01 June 2020

Does Angry Temperament Undermine the

Beneficial Effects of Expatriates’

Proactive Personality?

SEBASTIAN STOERMER,

1

JAKOB LAURING

2

and JAN SELMER

2

1

University of Göttingen, Platz der Göttinger Sieben 5, MZG 1.103, 37073, Göttingen, Germany

2

Aarhus University, Fuglesangs Allé 4, 8200, Aarhus V, Denmark

Personal proactivity and emotional self-regulation have been shown to be central aspects in a successful

international relocation process. However, we do not know how these elements function in combination. Drawing

from the proactive motivation model, we examine if and how low emotional self-regulation, in the form of angry

temperament,interacts with proactivepersonality in the prediction of expatriate performanceoutcomes. Results from

regression analyses based on a sample of 531 business expatriates in East Asia confirm our proposed moderated

mediation model. Thus, findings indicate that angry temperament inhibits the beneficial effects of proactive

personality on time to proficiency. Moreover, results suggest that time to proficiency functions as a mediator in the

relationship between proactive personality and performance. This mediation effect was found to be conditional

and accordingly hinges on the level of expatriates’angry temperament. Our research implies that organizations

should consider expatriates’personality and particularly assess proactive personality and angry temperament in

selection processes.

Keywords: business expatriates; proactive personality; angry temperament; performance; proactive motivation

model

Introduction

Against the background of an increasing number of

individuals reloc ating internationa lly and taking on j obs

in a foreign country, the successful management of

expatriates has become a fundamental element of

international management. Key criteria for successful

expatriation are the quick acquisition of the skills

necessary to become proficient on the job in the host

location and subsequently, the achievement of good

performance levels. However, establishing proficiency is

not an easy undertaking in a novel cultural setting.

Accordingly,and in spite of human resource management

(HRM) policies aimed at easing expatriates’experience,

most expatriates come to face serious hurdles and

characterize expatriation as stressful (McNulty, 2015).

For instance, some of the obstacles to job proficiency that

expatriates have to overcome are low job clarity (Black

and Gregersen, 1990), unmet role expectations (Mahajan

and DeSilva, 2012), communication/language problems

(Selmer and Lauring, 2015), or confrontation with

diverging work values (Bader et al., 2018). Given that

expatriation involves high stakes for employers as well

as expatriates (e.g., Nowak and Linder, 2016; Shaffer

et al., 2012), elucidating the factors, boundary conditions,

and more complex mechanisms that accelerate job

proficiency and promote performance is crucial. In the

current study, we argue that one factor that could speed

up the passage towards performance is the proactivity of

the expatriate (Andresen and Margenfeld, 2015; Lauring

et al., 2019).

This study develops a moderated mediation model and

investigates the effects of proactive personality (Bateman

and Crant, 1993) on expatriates’time to proficiency

in the new job and subsequent performance. Most

importantly, we examine angry temperament, referring

to individuals’general disposition to experience

anger, to be quick-tempered and impulsive with little

provocation (Spielberger et al., 1983), as a moderator of

the relationship between proactive personality and time

to proficiency. In close connection, we shed light on the

more distal consequences of angry temperament and

Correspondence: Sebastian Stoermer, University of Göttingen. Platz der

Göttinger Sieben 5, MZG 1.103, 37073 Göttingen. Germany. E-mail

sebastian.stoermer@wiwi.uni-goettingen.de

DOI: 10.1111/emre.12364

©2019 European Academy of Management

European Management Review, Vol. 17, –

427 438, (2020)