Taking Stock and Construct Cleanup: A Conceptual Framework to Understand Host Country Nationals’ Supportive Behaviors Toward Expatriates

Abstract The existing literature on host country national (HCN) supportive behaviors is fragmented, with substantial confusion surrounding how these supportive behaviors are conceptualized and measured. In this study, we first offered an integrative review of the existing literature to illustrate this problem. We then proposed a conceptual framework, featured by three dimensions of informational, instrumental, and emotional support, to integrate the diverse range of HCN supportive behaviors by drawing on the social support literature. Furthermore, we empirically tested this framework, examining its factorial structure as well as its nomological network with a series of antecedents including HCN personality, HCN–expatriate relationships, and HCN motives. Using multi-wave data collected from 742 HCNs employed by multinational companies operating in China, we found that different dimensions of HCN supportive behaviors are distinct, and there are unique antecedents to predict the different dimensions. Our study establishes a theoretical foundation for integrating the various HCN supportive behaviors and offers much-enhanced clarity regarding their commonalities and differences. It also generates a validated psychological measure that comprehensively assesses HCN supportive behaviors which can be easily adopted by future researchers.