When the pandemic subsides, will you send workers on foreign assignments again?

The costs of bad decisions for expats will be higher than for local roles.

Here’s what science says on personality and expatriates success (from Mol et al (2010)). The big 5 are all positively related to expatriate success, extraversion & conscientiousness are most strongly related (both .14), emotional stability and agreeableness come next (both .09) while openness (perhaps surprisingly) is near zero (.05). But the best predictor is how well expats perform is whether they adjust to work & life (.27).

The answer is, yes, they do! The reason is that the biggest differences for expats living a foreign life are in non-work contexts. Personality traits are at least as valid, if not more valid, when predicting expat performance.

Try Perspectives assessment next time you’re selecting for overseas assignments!