Two Decades of Black, Mendenhall & Oddou's Framework of International Adjustment: A Meta-Analysis Study on Its Empirical Validity

This paper examines the empirical validity of the by now classic ‘International Adjustment Framework' of expatriates, developed by Black, Mendenhall and Oddou a little more than 20 years ago. More specifically, we study by means of a meta-analysis whether the antecedents of international adjustment are in accordance with the suggestions of this framework in the context of expatriate assignments. Empirical findings from 7019 expatriates, collected in 52 individual studies in the course of 20 years were accumulated, aggregated and analyzed. Our tests suggest overall compelling evidence for the accuracy of the ‘International Adjustment Framework'. On the basis of our results, we are able to draw conclusions that are of particular relevance to the expatriation practices of MNCs.