International knowledge is becoming a key resource for international operating companies. To acquire this global perspective many companies send their employees for a few years abroad on inter­national assignment.
This study investigates first the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation to accept an international assignment on the acculturation attitude. Then, the effects of the acculturation attitude on adjustment are examined. Despite the growing number of employees sent abroad every year, only few studies have investigated the relationship between the adjustment of the employee and his performance on the job. Therefore, the second part of the study puts its emphasis on the exploration of the influence of expatriate adjustment on performance and the intention to leave the assignment prematurely. Moreover, the often assumed but actually seldom examined influence of the adjustment of the expatriate's spouse on the expatriate performance is investigated in this study as well. Practical implications of the study's findings are looked at in the last chapter.