Research on the Measurement, Evolution, and Improvement of Expatriates' Psychological Resilience in International Construction 

Abstract

International construction projects are highly uncertain, variable, and complex, posing challenges due to the turbulent international environment, cultural differences, and uncertain operating conditions. Labor shortages in the global construction industry are severe. In Gulf Cooperation Council countries, approximately 90% of workers hired are migrants, while international projects by Chinese contractors hire around 50% of their workforce from China. The ongoing impact of external environments (e.g., conflicts) has led to rising costs and challenges in outbound work. Many expatriates face mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and burnout due to destabilizing events, with increasing workforce shocks in international construction projects. As the environment changes due to evolving demands and fluctuating political situations, expatriates must develop strong psychological resources to cope with uncertainty. Psychological resilience is considered one of the most effective resources for responding to severe stress. However, there are few studies on the definition, measurement, antecedents, and outcomes of psychological resilience in the construction industry. Successful completion of assignments by expatriate staff is crucial for project progress, especially for expatriate managers and skilled workers, whose sudden departure can cause miscommunication and delays. Selecting the right person for assignments also takes considerable time. Resilience may manifest differently across domains, making this a vital area of investigation.

This thesis aims to explore expatriate resilience measurement in international construction projects, examine the role and mechanism of expatriate resilience during assignments, and identify resources needed for fostering this resilience. This research is of significant theoretical and practical relevance for expatriate management in developing resilient training systems and enhancing resilient team building in international construction projects.

The research follows a structured approach: problem identification, literature review, scale development, theory construction, mechanism investigation, strategy implementation, and summary. In the literature review, a systematic review of the origin, development, connotation, attributes, measurement, and factors influencing workplace resilience and expatriate management is conducted, summarizing potential research opportunities. The scale development section includes "dimension identification - scale formulation and refinement - scale modification and validation." This section utilizes a deductive method, combining qualitative data to develop an expatriate resilience scale through a questionnaire survey of expatriates, allowing for the assessment and measurement of the study's key variables. The theoretical construction uses the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions, job demands-resources theory, and conservation of resources theory to reveal the evolutionary mechanism of expatriate resilience, encompassing individual, team, and environmental factors. The mechanism investigation analyzes the dynamic evolution of expatriate resilience from individual and individual-team perspectives, empirically demonstrated using cross-sectional and longitudinal data, along with simulation. The strategy implementation section utilizes necessity condition analysis and potential profile analysis to explore expatriate resilience growth paths from variable and individual perspectives, proposing comprehensive strategies and cultivation paths for expatriate resilience tailored to the dynamic development characteristics of expatriate management.

The findings include: (1) Expatriate resilience is characterized by persistent and adaptive resilience. Its four dimensions (perseverance, optimism, adaptation to change, and cross-cultural adaptation) reflect expatriates' abilities to adjust to sudden adversity and maintain resilience during prolonged stressful events. This categorization innovates existing resilience scales and adds a cross-cultural dimension, demonstrating good reliability and validity that can systematically assess expatriate resilience. (2) The development of expatriate resilience displays process characteristics and dynamic mechanisms, including reaction, adaptation, and positive outcomes in coping with adversity. Resilience involves cyclical internal evolution, driven by low-frequency, high-impact critical events and high-frequency, low-impact normal events, with positive resource input from individuals and teams promoting resilience responses and positive performance outputs. (3) Individuals' positive resources enhance expatriate resilience and retention intention, moderated by the hostility level of the host environment. Expatriate resilience shows a U-shaped trajectory in response to adversity, with significant positive effects on retention intention, slightly higher in low-hostile environments. Social support and self-efficacy positively influence resilience but vary in effect based on environmental hostility, providing a theoretical basis for developing resilience enhancement strategies. (4) Both individual and team-level positive resources positively impact expatriate resilience and project performance. A positive team climate influences the formation of expatriate and team resilience. While individual resilience may have a higher effect on performance than team resilience, this difference lacks statistical significance. The dynamic simulation of team resilience effects shows varying antecedents in influencing processes. (5) Fostering expatriate resilience requires a person-centered approach throughout the resilience development process. Different resilience profiles emerge, with varying levels of persistent and adaptive resilience. Necessity condition analysis provides quantitative metrics for prioritizing response levels, indicating that social support needs differ across hostile environments, establishing resilient individuals as prerequisites for resilient teams. This research proposes a framework integrating individual differences, factor effects, and processes for enhancing resilience.

Theoretical contributions include revealing the expatriate resilience response structure, enriching the theoretical system of workplace resilience, analyzing dynamic mechanisms of expatriate resilience across individual, team, and environmental factors, and exploring changes in resilience over time. Managerial implications include tailored resilience enhancement strategies, establishing comprehensive support networks, and adopting dynamic management models to improve expatriate team resilience and project performance in international construction projects.

Date of Award	18 Nov 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	Xiaowei LUO (Supervisor) & Xiaopeng DENG (External Supervisor)