Mentoring dual-career expatriates: a sense-making and sense-giving social support process

The increasing complexity of expatriate assignments and the increasing rate of failure of expatriated managers would appear to necessitate heightened attention to socializing and mentoring the expatriate while overseas. It is proposed in this paper that a multi-stage global mentoring programme could help to provide effective socialization of expatriates and could facilitate adjustment during their overseas assignments. The need for mentors may be particularly acute for expatriate dual-career couples where the international relocation has a significant impact on the trailing spouse. The theoretical foundation for global mentoring which seems to be most applicable is a sense-making and sense-giving perspective.