Cultural assimilation by international business people: What is it like when the whole world is your home

Cross-cultural assimilation for corporate expatriates is a multi-dimensional experience; it involves not only cultural adaptation but also adaptation into a new work environment located within the new culture. Understanding the experiences of corporate expatriates during this adaptation process provides human resource development practitioners with valuable information so as to improve practices and programs related to recruitment, placement, orientation, performance management, and development of employees being considered or currently involved in an expatriate experience. Business people with experiences in cultural learning and adaptation may assist the organization in understanding the cultural belief systems of staff, business associates, and clients, and offer insights to future expatriates on the nature of the assimilation experience.;Using hermeneutic phenomenology as a methodology, this study investigated the experiences of eight individuals who had spent a range of two to nine years living in a culture other than their home culture due to work assignment or opportunity. The five male and three female participants' native cultures were mixed, as were their countries of expatriate assignment, with some participants experiencing more than one expatriate assignment. These experiences and insights were described during in-depth interviews with the participants.;Eight essential themes and one incidental theme emerged that were common to all participants: (a) awareness of self as different, (b) the assimilation process: points of stability and flux, (c) the language imperative, (d) nature of relationships, (e) work implications, (f) learning by living in the differences, (g) physical and personal living environments, (h) self-discovery and learning, and (i) more living in less time (the incidental theme).;The related literature review usually confirmed the comments of the participants, though some of the participant insights and their related meanings were not obvious in the literature. Recommendations are offered to organizations that assign employees to expatriate assignments, and to future expatriates. Research implications are discussed.