What Matters More - Inherited Traits or Life Experiences? An Application of the Integrative Communication Theory in the Study of Cross-Cultural Adjustment and Assignment Satisfaction
Emotional stability and sense of coherence are both predictors of global quality of life, general life perception, psychological and physiological functioning. However, previous studies found these two concepts to overlap and called researchers to find more well-defined borders and study these two concepts. In the present study, I tried to address this issue using a mixed-method approach. I pretested the conceptual framework through the interviews conducted with 21 international students. I then measured the variables via a quantitative survey. Emotional stability and sense of coherence both enhancing cross-cultural adjustment processes and influencing assignment satisfaction. Later on, I analysed the direct effects, the mediating effect of cross-cultural adjustment and the role of cross-cultural motivation. Firstly, present levels of assignment satisfaction rather depend on personality traits than the time spent abroad, probably due to the stress-adaptation-growth dynamics. Secondly, the extent to which students feel satisfied with their cross-cultural adjustment in general affected their thoughts about assignments. Thirdly, the satisfaction-wise benefit of having high motivation to fit in a new culture was bigger in students who had higher sense of coherence, and lower in those with lower levels of it.