Flexible work arrangements sabotage expatriates’ job effectiveness through interpersonal conflict

This research calls into question the utility of flexible work arrangements (FWAs) in expatriate management. In a mixed methods study, we find that FWAs undermine expatriates’ job effectiveness via increased perceptions of interpersonal work conflict. Study 1a presents an exploratory qualitative investigation that probes how the implementation of FWAs may bring forth task and relational challenges among expatriates who operate in international work environments (N=153). Study 1b employs independent expatriate-local peer dyads across two measurement periods to demonstrate that the adoption of FWAs in expatriate work engenders interpersonal work conflict. This, in turn, compromises two forms of job effectiveness: one that is task-based (i.e., in-role performance) and another that is relational-based (i.e., organizational citizenship behaviors) (N=140). These negative indirect relationships are exacerbated under conditions of low, as opposed to high, social support. The present findings emphasize the importance of designing jobs that nurture (rather than spoil) social and task relationships when managing a global workforce. We discuss the implications of these findings for theory and practice.