Conscientiousness as shield, neuroticism as amplifier: divergent roles of personality in linking culture shock and work performance

Purpose Drawing on Stress and Coping Theory, this study investigates how culture shock acts as a chronic stressor impairing expatriate work performance and examines the divergent moderating roles of conscientiousness and neuroticism. Consistent with the measure employed, the focal stressor is specified as interpersonal culture shock. Design/methodology/approach Utilizing a time-lagged survey design, data were collected from 228 corporate expatriates across two measurement occasions. Hypotheses were tested with moderated regression using mean-centered interaction terms, followed by simple slope analysis at ±1 standard deviation (SD) of each moderator. Findings Interpersonal culture shock was negatively associated with work performance (β = −0.39, p < 0.01). Conscientiousness attenuated this negative association (β = 0.16, p < 0.01; simple slopes −0.23 at +1 SD versus −0.55 at −1 SD), whereas neuroticism amplified it (β = −0.12, p < 0.05; simple slopes −0.51 at +1 SD versus −0.27 at −1 SD). The results are consistent with a “shield-and-amplifier” pattern in which the same stressor translates into markedly different performance costs depending on the expatriate’s trait profile. Research limitations/implications The data are self-reported and drawn from a convenience sample, so the findings are associational rather than causal. Replication with supervisor-rated performance and probability-based sampling would strengthen confidence in the results. Practical implications The results suggest that uniform expatriate support models may be sub-optimal, and that trait information could usefully inform how, rather than whether. Organizations allocate psychological support and adjustment resources. Given the design, these are offered as directions for practice to test rather than as validated prescriptions. Originality/value The study contributes by disaggregating culture shock and locating personality as a boundary condition on the stressor–performance link rather than as a main-effect predictor, and by testing two traits with opposing signs within a single model.