# Research on expat spouse experiences



## Emma Shaw

I hope you are all doing well in your respective host countries, and that you had a wonderful Christmas.

I am an MCom student from the University of Pretoria in South Africa looking for any expatriate spouses to complete my online questionnaire. I have done a couple years of research on expatriates and have found that the spouse's unhappiness and inability to adjust in the host country is the main reason for expatriates failing on their assignments or returning home early.

My research study aims to determine what spouses need when preparing to accompany the expatriate on assignment, and compare this to what their company provided them with. I have found that in general spouses need at least background information about the country, language/cultural training, mentoring and help obtaining visas and work overseas.

I hope that you will find my questionnaire interesting and that my results will help companies prepare spouses more effectively in the future.

Please message me for the link as I am unable to post it yet in this forum. The questionnaire will not take longer than 10 minutes to complete. Please feel free to pass this link on to as many expat spouses as you know, every response helps my research. 

This is an anonymous research study and your answers cannot be linked back to yourself or the company the expat works for.

Thanks

Kind regards
Emma Shaw

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me or my supervisor (Dr AJ Vogel) on:
Cell: +27725137321


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## 95995

Two issues come to mind:

The accompanying partner who is pregnant, or falls pregnant shortly after arrival and is confronted by the choice of either having the baby (and sometimes it is the first child) away from her support network and dealing with all the associated issues in a foreign language.

Providing for an appropriate income on retirement. Many younger people don't even think about this, considering it a long way off. However not making appropriate provision can have significant impacts down the track. Even employers that provide great support to expat staff often overlook the issue.


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## paulusph

Hey there I'm doing research in the same field. Contact me if you are interested in exchanging ideas.


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