Nationality, social network and psychological well-being: expatriates in China

Expatriate social networks constitute an under-emphasized area in expatriate literature. The current study contributes to the expatriate adjustment literature by empirically testing the relationship between expatriate personal networks and psychological well-being. The current study also investigates the hypothesis that expatriates from different cultural backgrounds will establish different social networks and adjust differently in China. A survey of 166 expatriates in China from North America, Europe and other countries in Asia showed significant support for the hypothesis that expatriate network characteristics have a direct and significant influence on expatriate psychological well-being. In addition, as predicted, expatriates in China from different cultural backgrounds ( Overseas Chinese, other Asian, North American and European) established personal networks with different characteristics.