The expatriate social network is an under-emphasized area in expatriate literature. This article contributes to the expatriate adjustment literature by clarifying the relationships among the expatriate personal network, psychological well-being and performance with a testable conceptual model. After reviewing the expatriate adjustment literature and relevant sociology and psychology literature, a conceptual model is proposed that indicates the impact of the expatriate social network on expatriate psychological well-being. It further predicts that the expatriate social network will not only directly affect, but also interact with, other cultural, organizational and individual factors to influence expatriate psychological well-being. This article also highlights the importance of psychological well-being as an indicator of expatriate adjustment. It proposes that psychological well-being has a strong predicting effect on expatriate performance and will mediate the effects of other factors on expatriate performance. Propositions are developed to guide future empirical studies.
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