Adaptação intercultural sob duas perspectivas: expatriados acompanhados da família e expatriados solteiros

Abstract

In the face of an increasingly competitive and demanding market, decreasing production costs and manage the existing customers base in the domestic market are not enough for companies that wish to remain on the top in the market. In this way, a lot of companies are turning to international trade, in order to increase the size of their operation, their profits and also their brand reach. Consequently, for reaching the above topics, some professionals have the opportunity to internationalize their careers, this process is called expatriation. During this process, these professionals face a process of adaptation to a new culture. There are professionals who face this challenge alone, while others are accompanied by their family. Therefore, this research aims to analyze the differences in intercultural adaptation, seen from the perspective of expatriates accompanied by their family and single people. Using qualitative methodology and exploratory level, this case study involved interviews with five single and five married expatriates, resulting in ten interviewed people and all of them remain abroad. Later the data were analyzed with the techniques of ideas map association and content analysis. Finally, it was concluded that single people face the difficulty of living alone and creating a lively social life in their destination. On the other hand, those who go on an international mission with their families, face their spouse's idleness as the main difficulty. [resumo fornecido pelo autor]