The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2014

Vol. 25, No. 4, 539557, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2013.814702

The inuence of terrorism on expatriate performance:

a conceptual approach
Benjamin Bader* and Nicola Berg
Department of Strategic Management, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany
This article presents a conceptual model of the inuence of terrorism on expatriates
work attitudes and performance. After briey discussing the challenges connected with
terrorism and the expatriation of employees into high-risk countries, we develop a
causal model based on the stress perspective. Several stressors related to a specic
situation and to interaction with other people contribute to an expatriates individual
stress level, which is then reected in his or her work attitudes and performance. Then,
propositions on the postulated relationships are derived, and moderating inuences are
discussed. The article concludes with managerial implications and directions for future
studies.
Keywords: expatriate management; expatriate success; high-risk country; stress;
terrorism; work attitudes

Introduction and purpose of the article

In recent years, research on country risk has gained in importance in the eld of
international business (e.g. Haque 2008; Feinberg and Gupta 2009; Hammer, Kogan and
Lejeune 2009). Economic, political and cultural risks present unique challenges for
companies conducting international business. One such challenge derives from the risk
connected with terrorism, which is best described by Witschels (2004) denition referring
to the US National Strategy for combating terrorism, as ( . . . ) premeditated, politically
motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by subnational groups or
clandestine agents (p. 10). Since primary targets, such as embassies or military facilities,
are better protected nowadays, more and more terrorist groups are substituting these
institutions for less-guarded, softer targets, especially businesses (Czinkota, Knight and
Liesch 2004; Czinkota, Knight, Liesch and Steen 2005).
The impact of terrorism on rms can be direct and indirect (Spich and Grosse 2005).
While direct effects of terrorism, such as damaged buildings or ransom paid for kidnapped
employees, only affect a limited number of companies, indirect effects are much more
widespread. Unpredictable disturbances in supply chains, causing shortages of goods and
production problems (Czinkota et al. 2004; Jain and Grosse 2009), or changes in laws and
regulations, which may increase expenses for controls, have far-reaching consequences.
Indirect effects of terrorism are far-reaching and are thus an important topic for
international human resource management (IHRM). For instance, companies that assign
staff in an endangered area incur signicant costs for armored vehicles, bodyguards and
other security measures. While these expenses are preemptive and directly classiable, the
costs of failed expatriate assignments due to premature return or lower employee
performance are hard to foresee and measure. What makes terrorist attacks particularly
stressful for expatriates is that their targets and actions have changed considerably over the

*Corresponding author. Email: benjamin.bader@uni-hamburg.de

q 2013 Taylor & Francis

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B. Bader and N. Berg

last years. Whereas in the past aircraft hijacking was a common method to blackmail their
respective opponents, terrorists today rather cause random unpredictable deaths and
destroy assets to draw attention to their cause (Jain and Grosse 2009), and attacks can
occur anywhere at any time without any warning. From the ofce building to shopping
trips in the city, the possibility of an attack is ubiquitous. This limits an expatriates
freedom of movement, so it can be expected that he or she becomes tense due to the
potential danger and uncertainty (Czinkota et al. 2004). This may increase his or her stress
level, which is a main cause of assignment failure (Wang and Kanungo 2004).
Over the past years, terror-related issues have made their way on the agenda of
researchers, corporations and policy experts. Czinkota and Ronkainen (2009) report that
terrorism is among the most important key policy issues affecting the business
environment. Jain and Grosse (2009) take the same line, pointing out that more than onethird of the respondents in a global CEO survey on threats facing companies mentioned
terrorism as one of their biggest concerns. Whereas the phenomenon of terrorism itself has
been subject to extensive research, its effect on international business has been widely
neglected (Czinkota, Knight, Liesch and Steen 2010). This is surprising, considering even
relatively minor terrorist attacks have an immense impact on business. Terrorists aim at
injuring civilians and other soft targets in order to spread fear (Victoroff 2005), so assaults
on public places regularly result in the death and injury of innocent citizens. Becoming one
of the victims is probably present in every expatriates mind who lives or works in a
threatened area, which can lead to a substantial level of stress.
Despite several attacks subsequent to 9/11 in the developed world, such as the Madrid
train bombings in 2004, the attack on the Moscow airport in early 2011 and the Boston
Marathon bombing in 2013, the vast majority of assaults occur in politically less stable and
less developed countries. The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) lists the Near
East, Asia and Africa as major areas of terrorist incidents (NCTC 2010), regions that at the
same time yield highly protable business opportunities and attractive markets. This
forces companies to address their operations in high-risk countries even more carefully
and to consider the physical and mental well-being of their staff. While potentially all
employees of a company can be affected by terrorism, the effect on foreign expatriates is
often the most relevant issue for multinational corporations (MNCs). Expatriates are
individuals who are sent overseas on a temporary basis to complete a time-based task or
accomplish an organizational goal (Harrison, Shaffer and Bhaskar-Shrinivas 2004,
p. 203). The number of rst-time expatriates is growing steadily (Brookeld Global
Relocation Services 2009, 2010), and the 2010 Brookeld report indicates an increase in
the total expatriate population in the near future (p. 8). The fear and immobility caused by
a threat of terrorism can result in a drop in performance, which is costly for corporations.
The challenge of working in a country highly endangered by terrorist attacks is supposed
to be tremendous, especially for expatriates coming from a relatively secure environment.
Serious concerns due to terrorism threatening rudimental needs, such as physical integrity
and the well-being of oneself and ones immediate family members, are a reality in many
parts of the world, and expatriates are in the front line of a business when terrorists strike.
Hence, it is surprising that research has not yet addressed this context. For instance,
Czinkota et al. (2010) point out the importance of research on personnel effectiveness
under stressful conditions and employees sensitivity to terrorism. Further investigation is
supposed to yield new insights into these relationships. To address this research gap, the
purpose of this article is to analyze the effects of terrorism on MNC expatriate assignments
and to present corporate measures and practical implications to help minimize
impediments. Applying a stress perspective as our core underlying theoretical construct,

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541

we offer a series of propositions intended to clarify the linkage between terrorism and
expatriate performance. We argue that this is relevant from both a managerial and a
theoretical perspective. If expatriates fail in their assignments, either by returning
prematurely without having nished the task (Hays 1974; Shaffer and Harrison 1998; Shay
and Baack 2004) or by staying but withdrawing psychologically, indirect losses through
poor output (Black, Gregersen and Mendenhall 1992; Shaffer and Harrison 1998) lead to
companies facing additional costs. Even though the exact costs are hard to determine
(Harzing 1995), they are agreed upon to be high (Birdseye and Hill 1995; Shaffer and
Harrison 1998; Shin, Morgeson and Campion 2007) and, most importantly, avoidable.
Specically, our research contributes to the eld of IHRM by extending the research on
the success of expatriate assignments to include an issue that is becoming increasingly more
important. We provide a framework that helps to explain how terrorism inuences
expatriates and their work. Therefore, we (1) present a variety of stressors relevant to the
topic, (2) explain their inuence on the expatriate in terms of creating stress and strain, and
(3) analyze how this eventually impacts expatriate performance. Therefore, we are
interested in the individual expatriate as well as the setting of the deployment. Finally, this
article will present implications for IHRM by showing the importance of considering stress
due to terrorism, developing a model with the most important terrorism-related factors, and
by illustrating measures companies can use to mitigate the negative impact of terrorism.
Expatriate assignments from a stress perspective
Theoretical background
The success of expatriate assignments, both from a psychological and a physical point of
view, has been subject to extensive research (Caligiuri 2000; Shaffer, Harrison, Gregersen,
Black and Ferzandi 2006; Puck, Mohr and Rygl 2008; Tungli and Peiperl 2009), often
adopting Black, Mendenhall and Oddous (1991) model of expatriate adjustment (for an
overview, see Puck, Holtbrugge and Rausch 2008). Mol, Born, Willemsen and Molen
(2005b) state that for the success of expatriate assignments, a myriad of variables, such as
( . . . ) adjustment to living abroad ( . . . ) and cross-cultural adjustment (p. 592) were
analyzed as dependent variables. However, despite the large number of theoretical and
empirical studies of expatriate assignments, there is only a relatively small fraction of
research concerning the psychological effects of terrorism in an employment context
(Reade 2009). Even though the aftermath of 9/11 induced some studies of this kind
(Mainiero and Gibson 2003; Ryan, West and Carr 2003; Howie 2007), the issue of global
assignments has been widely overlooked. What the studies have in common is that they
either explicitly or implicitly conclude that terror events are stressful for individuals or, in
other words, that people experience stress due to an attack. Any kind of stress affects ones
private and professional life. Negative stress, or distress, as we expect terrorism to cause,
leads to strain and is supposed to have a negative effect on a persons mood, perceived
well-being or attitudes toward his or her environment (Hang-yue, Foley and Loi 2005).
The latter is especially crucial when it comes to work output, since attitudes determine the
quality of ones work results (Leavitt, Fong and Greenwald 2011).
In their widely recognized work on psychological stress, Lazarus and Folkman (1984)
attribute stress as being a rubric of many variables and processes with various relevant
outcomes. They dene stimulus, response and relational denitions as separate constructs.
Thus, stress is not just an external stimulation or a specic pattern of reactions, rather it refers
to a relationship with the environment that the person appraises as signicant for his or her
well-being (Lazarus and Folkman 1986, p. 63). Hence, whether a personenvironment

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relationship is stressful depends on the individuals cognitive appraisal (Lazarus and Folkman
1984). Basically, if a stimulus triggers a certain response, be it positive or negative, it is
considered a stressor; if a person perceives this stressor as negative, it leads to strain. In order
to deal with stress and strain, individuals need to be able to cope (Lazarus and Folkman 1984).
If an individual cannot effectively cope with stress, negative outcomes can be expected. When
stress evolves into strain, it is often due to a lack of social support.
A different level of stress arises depending on the perceived importance of the stressor
(Lazarus and Folkman 1984). Hence, the pure existence of a stressor is not sufcient to
cause stress, rather it depends on a persons perception. This means that the same stressor
(e.g. a newly published bomb threat by Al Qaeda) can cause a different level of stress for
different individuals, depending on the individuals mindset and appraisal. This response
is individualistic and can depend, for instance, on ones education, age, personality traits,
gender or other demographic characteristics (Lazarus and Folkman 1984). Moreover, the
information, training and organizational support the individual has received may also play
an important role in the amount of stress he or she experiences (Motowidlo, Packard and
Manning 1986; Hang-yue et al. 2005).
Research on expatriates that adopts stress theory, either implicitly or explicitly, does so
for various reasons (Kraimer and Wayne 2004). For instance, research has conrmed a
correlation between stress, work attitudes and behavior (Cohen 1980; Karasek and Theorell
1990; Karasek et al. 1998; Kraimer and Wayne 2004). Furthermore, stress management
theories have emphasized that certain stressors and a lack of social support increase the
negative impact of stress on attitudes and behavior (Karasek and Theorell 1990; Theorell
and Karasek 1996; Kraimer and Wayne 2004). A change of environment and job is in the
nature of expatriate assignments and can lead to a potential imbalance in the relationship
between the individual and his or her environment. Expatriates who are sent abroad to work
on a specic task for a certain time are confronted with many potential sources of stress, such
as role conicts and especially high expectations. Managers experiencing high role conict
report higher levels of stress (Mohr and Puck 2007). For example, Brown (2008) developed
a set of stressors aficting expatriates relationships with their partners. If these stressors are
appraised as negative, they cause stress and eventually strain.
Due to its effect on the expatriates environment, terrorism is per se a stressor related
to the situation of the assignment. However, a more detailed distinction is necessary to
analyze the ramications of terrorism for expatriates in all its facets. Whenever expatriates
are confronted with terrorist attacks or threats, they react in some way. Thereby, the
expatriate implicitly evaluates the stressor as somewhere between not at all and highly
intimidating. Individuals who feel more intimidated are more likely to be stressed by a
situation. In particular, the lack of predictability and control (i.e. high levels of
uncertainty) connected with a situation supports the occurrence of stress (Kraimer, Wayne
and Jaworski 2001; Harrison et al. 2004). Hence, actual terrorist attacks as well as latent
threat are potential situation-related stressors that inuence the expatriate psychologically.
In our research model, we focus on a selection of stressors covering the most important
domains that represent the dimensions of terrorism. We expect to shed light on this
previously overlooked potential source of expatriate failure and to offer approaches to
minimize the impediments on successful assignments.
A two-stage research model of terrorism-related stress
On the basis of previous research on the stress-related aspects of expatriate assignments
(e.g. Chew 2004; Kraimer and Wayne 2004; Haslberger and Brewster 2008; Lazarova,

The International Journal of Human Resource Management

Emergence of stress / strain level
Situationrelated
stressors

Potential outcomes

Higher stress
and strain

Interactionrelated
stressors

543

Work
attitudes

Expatriate
performance

Figure 1. Baseline model.

Westman and Shaffer 2010; Takeuchi 2010), we developed a model of terrorism-related

stress that covers a variety of stressors and includes two stages, separating the emergence
of stress from the potential outcomes (see Figure 1). In the stress emergence phase, the
level of stress and eventually strain that an individual experiences depends on his or her
appraisal of the surrounding stressors. We subdivide the stressors into two categories.
One category arises from personal interaction an expatriate has with others (such as
colleagues, supervisors or a spouse). The second category stems from the specic
situations an expatriate is confronted with during an assignment abroad (such as foreign
language, culture or environment). In the stress emergence phase, both kinds of stressors
contribute to an increase in the expatriates level of stress. Higher levels of stress cause
strain, which then leads to a negative effect on the employees work attitudes.
Eventually, expatriate performance, which is additionally determined by a plethora of
other factors (for an overview, see Mol, Born and van der Molen 2005a; Mol et al.
2005b), is negatively affected by the poor work attitudes caused by stress.
Placing the general model in a terrorism-related context yields Figure 2, which
illustrates the inuence that terrorism-related stressors have on an expatriates work
attitudes and performance. Each stressor contributes to the overall terrorism-related stress
level that the individual perceives. While there might be individuals who perceive even
vague terror threats as stressful, others only experience stress from actual attacks and not
from pure menace.
Reade (2009) revealed a negative correlation between sensitivity to terrorism and the
work attitudes of employees in a domestic context, arguing that these negative attitudes
impede their performance. Consistent with her ndings, other authors also acknowledged
the relationship between stress and work attitudes (Cohen 1980; Fisher 1985; Tetrick and
LaRocco 1987; Ashford and Taylor 1990). We have adopted this notion to the
international business eld and transferred it into a causal model, thus expanding the
explanations for performance impediments due to the occurrence of terrorism.
Propositions on the effects of terrorism on expatriate work attitudes
In the previous section, we introduced our research model, explaining in general how
various stressors related to terrorism can cause stress and strain, which impacts work
attitudes, and ultimately expatriate performance. Now we focus on the details and develop a
set of propositions to clarify exactly how the suggested relationships are expected to occur.
Events causing higher levels of stress lead to more negative outcomes (Cohen and
Wills 1985; Hang-yue et al. 2005); hence, whenever stress can be lowered and strain

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B. Bader and N. Berg

Terrorist threat

Outcomes of terrorism-related stress

P1

Terrorist attacks

Terrorismrelated stress
and strain

Safety measures /
living conditions

P4

Work
attitudes

Host country
threat level

Expatriate
performance

Attitudes towards
the task

Family / spouse
conflict
Relationships
with HCNs

P6

Attitudes towards
the organization

Attitudes towards
the team
P2

Moderating factors

Interactionrelated stressors

Situation-related stressors

Emergence of terrorism-related stress and strain

P3
Perceived organiza
tional support
Training

P5
Anti-stress
programs

Figure 2. Research model.

avoided, impediments on outcomes, such as work performance, should be lower as well.

Therefore, MNCs should have an interest in identifying appropriate measures to reduce
stress. There are three ways to mitigate the impact of stress. One is to eliminate the cause
so that stress does not arise in the rst place (Wang and Kanungo 2004). Obviously, in
terms of terrorism this is not possible, especially for a single company. The second way is
to apply some leverage on the emergence of stress, lowering the inuence a stressor can
cause (Harrison et al. 2004). We argue that the level of stress that an expatriate experiences
from terrorism is determined by his or her individual evaluation and appraisal of the threat.
In other words, what eventually determines a persons stress level is the subjective
perception of terrorism, and this is where the lever should be applied. When an individual
is particularly sensitive to a stressor, he or she shows a greater psychological response,
causing a higher degree of strain (Lazarus and Folkman 1984). However, there are several
factors that are supposed to moderate this relationship (Cohen and Wills 1985; Newton
and Jimmieson 2009). The third way is to address the stress that an individual has already
experienced by increasing his or her psychological well-being (Lazarus and Folkman
1984), for instance, by using anti-stress programs to lower the effect of stress and strain on
the persons attitudes.
In the following section, we rst explain terrorism-related stressors and demonstrate
how they contribute to an individuals level of stress and strain. We then suggest
moderators that are appropriate to diminish the occurrence of stress in the emergence
phase. Finally, we focus on the effects on work attitudes and potential moderators of this
relationship.

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Emergence of terrorism-related stress

Inuence of situation-related stressors
As depicted in Figure 2, we distinguish the roots of terrorism-related stress and strain in
four situation-related and two human interaction-related stressors. We propose that the
stressors contribute to the level of terrorism-related stress and begin by explaining the
situation-related stressors. These include terrorist threat, terrorist attacks, safety measures
and restricted living conditions, and the host-country threat level. We dene terrorist threat
as the announcement of a future occurrence of a terrorist attack in a certain country or
region by a terrorist or terrorist group. An example of a typical terrorist threat is a video
message from a terrorist organization threatening all foreigners, often Westerners, to leave
a country or otherwise be the target of an attack. Since threats are often quite more than
negligible side effects of terrorist activity and regularly lead to actual strikes, we believe
this can be quite stressful for some expatriates. It appears reasonable to assume that the
constant fear of deadly incidents that seem to occur randomly and are targeted at innocent
civilians poses great uncertainty for an individual (Czinkota et al. 2010). Uncertainty,
along with lack of control, then again causes a certain reaction. The more an individual is
sensitized to the threat of terrorist attacks, the stronger is the personal response and hence
the higher his or her stress level as a reaction to this particular stressor.
Along the same lines, actual terrorist attacks should lead to higher stress. Those who do
not react to more distant threats may react differently if a bomb blasts in a nearby city or in
their direct surrounding. People already frightened by more general threats should
perceive attacks closer to home as even more stressful. Alexander (2004) reports that in
the aftermath of a terrorist attack, the health and well-being of employees and managers
were negatively affected, which is denitely a result of high stress and strain. Some of the
people affected developed signs of posttraumatic stress disorder, even if they were not
direct victims of the attack. This should be especially alarming, since terrorist attacks
occur in many high-risk countries on nearly a daily basis. For instance, in Afghanistan the
NCTC reported 605 incidents, resulting in 620 deaths, in just the rst three months of 2011
(NCTC 2011).
The presence of certain additional safety measures and the resulting restricted living
conditions can also be considered a situation-related stressor. Obviously, the more
endangered a country is, the higher the requirements are for a company to protect its ofces
and residential buildings. Restrictions of ones liberty and freedom of action cause some
kind of reaction. These measures are used as a proxy for the stressor, even though it rst
might appear paradox. Living conditions are important for an expatriates adjustment
(Shaffer, Harrison and Gilley 1999). Impeding the perceived quality of ones living
conditions can cause stress. Even though a person might accept safety measures as a
necessary evil, they are still a latent source of stress, since they are a daily reminder of the
danger. For instance, having to pass through a security check with a metal detector before
entering a building may be perceived as limiting the danger of an assault. On the other hand,
it also means that the actual threat of somebody trying to bring a weapon inside the building
to execute an attack is perceived to be great enough that the additional security measures are
necessary. Safety measures are usually not random, but are rather in place because attacks
have occurred and could happen again. In some countries, as the NCTC reports show, this is
not a question of if, but rather of when. We expect all of this to lead to stress and strain for an
expatriate.
Finally, the host countrys threat level can be a potential source of stress due to
terrorism. The threat level reects a countrys terrorism risk classication by an external

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agency, such as the US Department of State, or risk rating agencies and insurance
companies. These institutions regularly research and publish information on terrorist
activity and combine their ndings in rankings. For instance, the US insurance company
AON provides a ve-stage ranking (from negligible to severe) that covers almost every
country in the world, allowing the public to get a brief overview of the safety situation of
their destination. More detailed information is available in the PRS Groups International
Country Risk Guide or travel warnings issued by foreign ministries (for an overview of the
different sources available, see Howell 2002). We expect that knowing that one lives in a
potentially (highly) endangered environment is stressful. Especially since 9/11, people do
not want to work in regions perceived as vulnerable (Howie 2007). A high threat level
indicates that ones safety is at stake and the probability of a terrorist attack is relatively
high, which we consider a good proxy for this stressor. Being constantly reminded of the
danger, e.g. by changes in the threat level or newly issued warnings, can lead to stress. For
expatriates that were recently transferred, this can be even worse. In other words, knowing
that one lives in a country that one perceives as dangerous is stressful. On the basis of this
argumentation, we propose:
PROPOSITION 1:

Terrorism-related stress and strain is determined by situation-related

stressors. These are terrorist threats, terrorist attacks, safety measures
and worse living conditions, and host-country threat level.

Inuence of interaction-related stressors

Human interaction-related stressors also contribute to a persons stress level. The intrafamily
domain, with the expatriate in his or her role as a spouse1 and family member, is represented by
family/spouse conicts. As a family member, an individual is responsible not only for himself
or herself, but also for the well-being of the family. This is even more important when the
family accompanies the expatriate abroad, which is a common practice in many MNCs
(Haslberger and Brewster 2008). In this case, the stressors for the expatriate are his or her
concerns about the safety and well-being of his or her family members and any resulting
disputes. Obviously since terrorism causes these concerns, they would not occur without it.
For the expatriate, the stressor can turn into stress when he or she is mutually concerned about
the familys safety or when the family members concerns and divergent opinions lead to
family disputes. Along with the high level of uncertainty in such an environment, this can be a
tremendous source of stress. It may lead to a personrole conict, i.e. to incongruities between
the familys expectations and the expatriates (as the focal person) subjective role (King and
King 1990). When family members differ in their expectations about safety, a conict can
emerge, tensing intrafamily relationships. Combining the role of a spouse and often sole
breadwinner (Harvey 1985; Haslberger and Brewster 2008) with the role of an expatriate is
often hard enough in any foreign country. In high-risk countries, this is expected to be even
harder and more stressful and can thus lead to strain.
Our second stressor related to human interaction derives from the dual role of an
expatriate as a host-country inhabitant and foreigner. Expatriates are members of the host
society and have a desire to participate in daily life, take action in recreational activities
and become part of the local social community. However, they are still foreigners with a
different nationality, often with different religious and political views, background and
culture, and are potentially a worthwhile target of attacks. This can lead to social conict,
which is also stressful for the individual.

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In times of terrorism, people feel a deep need to demonstrate separateness and use
religion and culture to express their identity (Jain and Grosse 2009). Terrorism, especially
if religiously motivated, leads to a change in lifestyle, with expatriates avoiding strangers
and people who appear different. For instance, Jain and Grosse (2009) state that every
person who appears different is seen as a suspect (p. 47). At the same time, as foreigners
with a completely different background, host-country nationals (HCNs) may perceive
expatriates as alien elements in the society and segregate them from the population.
Participation in normal, everyday life seems difcult. This becomes more apparent when
considering that after the Madrid train bombings, considerable discrimination as a result of
terrorist threat occurred in Melbourne, Australia (Howie 2006). Some respondents of
Howies survey ( . . . ) expressed feelings of distrust and apprehension towards those
perceived to t the stereotype of a terrorist (p. 271). Mutual trust and social interaction
between the local population and the expatriate are hard to achieve. However, while good
relationships with HCNs may avoid conicts and reduce stress, distrust, fear and aficted
relationships with HCNs can be stressful and lead to strain. Hence, we propose:
PROPOSITION 2:

Terrorism-related stress and strain is determined by the human

interaction-related stressors family/spousal concerns and relation
ships with HCNs.

Moderating factors
After having explained the determinants of stress, we now focus on several measures we
expect to be appropriate in order to reduce the stress level in its emerging phase. From a
management point of view, it is crucial to analyze what a company can do in order to keep
the accruing stress level low. We suggest that in addition to certain expatriate selection
criteria, such as age or previous experience, specic training and social support are
especially appropriate to achieve this goal, and present an area in which companies can
take immediate action.
Social support was found to be a potential stress buffer (Cohen and Wills 1985), which
seems to be relevant for the emergence of stress (Karasek and Theorell 1990; Theorell and
Karasek 1996; Karasek et al. 1998). Following Manning, Jackson and Fusilier (1996), we
attribute it to having a moderating role between stressors and stress. If this assumption is
indeed true, people who receive social support should experience lower levels of stress
than those who do not receive any support; hence, they should perceive certain stressors as
less severe and thus also experience less strain. Multiple stressors paired with a lack of
social support can even increase the risk of serious illness (Theorell and Karasek 1996).
After 9/11, employees demanded psychological support and supportive actions from their
supervisors (Mainiero and Gibson 2003), which indicates the importance of these team
members in times of emotional crisis. Thus, companies can help to diminish their
employees stress by providing the necessary amount and kind of social support.
A company can provide organizational support with respect to the expatriates work
domain, personal life and pre-repatriation plans (Takeuchi, Wang, Marinova and Yao
2009). This support is aimed at securing the staffs well-being and needs to be effectively
communicated (Liou and Lin 2008). When employees feel that the organization cares
about them, they not only feel obligated to reciprocate by exerting greater effort on the job
(Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison and Sowa 1986), but are also less stressed from
exogenous factors. On-site mentoring has already proven successful in expatriate
assignments (Feldman and Bolino 1999). This could be expanded, especially in high-risk

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countries, by providing a mentor who has already lived in an endangered environment and
is willing to share his or her knowledge with newcomers.
Another moderator between the emergence of stress experienced due to terrorism and
the stressors described above is training the expatriate for his or her assignment and the
dangers associated with it. Puck, Kittler and Wright (2008) pointed out that the critical
elements to prepare expatriates from a cross-cultural standpoint are yet to be identied.
This is also true in the context of terrorism. While terrorism itself is beyond the companys
reach, training and providing information on terrorism appears to be a promising starting
point to keep the employee stress level down. The question is what a company can do to
achieve the desired impact.
In the only study on corporate terrorism threat management in the past 25 years
(Czinkota et al. 2010), Harvey (1993) found that most companies spent the vast majority
of their security budget on protecting physical assets. Since these investments only protect
expatriates passively, we do not expect them to signicantly affect the emergence of stress.
However, more active measures could better address individual concerns and elicit
more involvement and mental participation from the expatriate. Examples for such
measures are teaching self-defense skills and behavioral rules in case of an attack, which
would place the expatriate in the focus and could increase his or her self-condence.
Among the few companies who invested in training their employees, the focus was on
general training, such as weapon handling, antikidnapping behavior, defensive driving
skills or work-route alterations (Harvey 1993). Little is known about site-specic
predeparture preparation, despite the fact that the challenges in Colombia, where
kidnappings are widespread, are somewhat different from those in post-Saddam Iraq,
where religious extremists ght for hegemony. Shay and Baack (2004) report that MNCs
can inuence an expatriates understanding of the reasons for an assignment with
predeparture training and preparation. During such sessions, the company can provide
transparent information about the objective threat level while signaling honest regard for
the expatriate as a human being. This may help to eliminate fears, increase self-condence
and make stressors appear less severe. We assume that training tailored to the specic
assignment is especially valuable for limiting the stress resulting from terrorism-related
stressors. Overall, this leads us to:
PROPOSITION 3:

The relationship between stressors and terrorism-related stress and

strain is moderated by perceived organizational support and training.

Outcomes of terrorism-related stressors: work attitudes

After having explained which factors contribute to and moderate the emergence of stress,
we will now focus on the outcomes. As Figure 2 depicts, the level of terrorism-related
stress and strain directly inuences work attitudes, i.e. the psychological tendencies that
are expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor
(Eagly and Chaiken 1993).
Work attitudes exist in response to a variety of factors, such as pay, promotion,
supervision, coworkers, involvement, job variety, feedback and organizational identi
cation (Rhodes 1983; Bhuian, Al-Shammari and Jefri 2001; Reade 2009; Leavitt et al.
2011). More systematically, three layers of work attitudes can be distinguished, namely
those related (1) to the organization, as employer and principal; (2) to the task itself that the
employee is expected to complete; and (3) to immediate team members, such as coworkers
or supervisors. All three layers are expected to be negatively inuenced by stress and strain.

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549

Attitudes toward the organization. Harrison, Newman and Roth (2006) propose that
job satisfaction and organizational commitment are powerful predictors of an employees
attitudes and behavior. Committed employees are willing to exert more effort for the
organizations success and want to remain a member of the organization (Porter, Steers,
Mowday and Boulian 1974). As Ryan et al. (2003) argue, attitudes toward the organization
can be affected by terror incidents. Terrorism is supposed to create doubts about an
expatriates entire situation, raising several questions about life and career, by forcing him
or her to face the subjects of violence and death. Expatriates in high-risk countries may
feel that their employer did not sufciently inform them about and prepare them for their
assignment. More generally, they may perceive that an organization that sends them to a
terror-endangered environment puts more emphasis on business opportunities than on the
intactness of their employees.
Attitudes toward the task. Another important determinant of work attitudes is the
particular job or task that is associated with the assignment and the satisfaction derived
from it. Stress caused by a challenge is positively related to job satisfaction (Cavanaugh,
Boswell, Roehling and Boudreau 2000). Hence, we apply the stress perspective as well as
motivational theory here, which likewise implies that stress and strain cause negative
attitudes. Howie (2007) found evidence for higher occupational stress due to the
perception of terrorist threat. The more threatening an individual perceives terrorismrelated stressors, the more he or she experiences stress and develops strain, which is
eventually reected in his or her attitudes. Death and destruction brought by terrorism
raise questions in several individuals about the meaning of life or their deeper values (Yum
and Schenck-Hamlin 2005). As 9/11 showed, things they previously regarded as important
suddenly become meaningless, including their professional life. Mainiero and Gibson
(2003) report that many employees all over the USA, not just in the greater New York
area, were traumatized after the attacks, even if they had not been directly affected. Their
particular task or job faded into the background. Terrorism is supposed to evoke a
demotivating state of helplessness, making expatriates question the purpose of their work
in a certain location. As a consequence, they distance themselves from their task and
eventually quit or at least withdraw psychologically. Consequently, their satisfaction with
the assignment and with the particular task decreases.
Attitudes toward the team. Ryan et al. (2003) and Reade (2009) agree on the
relevance of organization and job. However, they extend the relevant attitudes to include
those toward the team, which includes peers and subordinates as well as direct
supervisors. People classify themselves and others into several social categories (Tajfel
and Turner 1985), for instance, according to age, gender or religious afliation. Social
classication cognitively segments and orders ones social environment and enables
individuals to locate and dene themselves in this environment (Ashforth and Mael
1989). Expatriates are generally socialized in a very distinct environment as compared to
their situation of the assignment. Regardless of whether the terrorism they experience in
the host country is targeted directly at their nation, as is often the case for US expatriates,
or at something in which they are not involved, such as militant groups ghting for their
independence, the majority of an expatriates team members are often local and thus
share more social categories, such as religion or nationality, with the terrorists than with
the expatriate. Meanwhile, a foreign expatriate is supposed to feel relatively unrelated to
the conict and terrorism, mentally standing outside of the dispute. Knastenmuller et al.
(2011) found evidence that terrorism leads to a reduced willingness of employees to
cultivate relationships with their coworkers, i.e. to engage in occupational networking.
As a consequence, distancing oneself from the team, along with negative attitudes, is a

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B. Bader and N. Berg

normal reaction in times of terrorism (Yum and Schenck-Hamlin 2005). Hence, we

propose:
PROPOSITION 4:

Terrorism-related stress and strain negatively inuence an expatriates

work attitudes toward his or her team, organization and task.

Moderating factors
Even though stress has a negative impact on work attitudes, there are ways to mitigate its
effect. For example, introducing anti-stress programs designed to lower already occurred
stress and hamper strain ex post might be appropriate. These activities can take different
forms and should be tailored specically to the expatriates needs. In an interview prior to
this research, an expatriate in Afghanistan pointed out the importance of regular
recreational activities in order to get terrorism out of her mind. When general conditions in
a host country are too stressful, better adjusted expatriates can fall back on stability
zones, such as meditation or favorite pastimes, to lower stress (Riatu 1983; Mendenhall
and Oddou 1985). Sels, Janssens and Van Den Brande (2004) point out the importance of
stability as a dimension of social contracting between the employee and the organization.
For instance, after a bomb blast, one should not return directly to work, but should try to
mentally process the event. This sort of coping behavior helps to create stability, reduce
the level of occurred stress and avoid strain. Actively ghting the stress occurred may also
increase the psychological well-being of the individual. Lepine, Podsakoff and Lepine
(2005) suggest that in order to reduce work stress an organization should allow and
encourage stressed employees to take time off to exercise or provide training in task
prioritization. Even though their study focused on general occupational stress, there is
good reason to assume similar measures would work for terrorism-induced stress as well.
In other words, what matters is that the individual distances himself or herself from the
source of the problem and receives some (mental) distraction.
In addition, a team meeting guided by a psychologist, in which previous terror
incidents and employee concerns are discussed, may create articial stability zones.
Including coping measures for terrorism-related stress in specic anti-stress programs can
moderate the negative impact on work attitudes. Thus, we suggest:
PROPOSITION 5:

The relationship between terrorism-related stress and strain and work

attitudes is moderated by anti-stress programs.

Outcomes of terrorism-related stressors: performance

Previous research reveals that work attitudes have a strong impact on performance (Eagly
and Chaiken 1993; Leavitt et al. 2011). For example, in their meta-analytic study, Parker
et al. (2003) found this relationship to be particularly strong. As argued, terrorism-related
stress negatively affects ones work attitudes. An expatriate with negative attitudes toward
his or her organization is unlikely to put in extra effort to go beyond the scope of his or her
duties if necessary. A negative attitude leads employees to minimize his or her efforts for
the well-being of the company, the opposite of outperforming. This is also true for his or
her particular task. Employees with positive attitudes toward their tasks are more likely to
spend time and effort on it and thus perform better (Shaffer et al. 2006). If ones attitudes
toward the task are negative due to stress from terrorism, his or her performance will be as
well. Eventually, negative attitudes toward the team will also result in poor performance. It

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551

has been proven that more effort in occupational networking means more success in the
workplace (Wolff and Moser 2009). Obviously, less effort, for instance due to terrorism,
hampers ones success (Knastenmuller et al. 2011). Working with a team toward which
one has negative attitudes makes occupational networking as well as regular teamwork
harder and reduces overall performance. A recent study has again conrmed that work
attitudes are a well-suited predictor of job performance (Leavitt et al. 2011). We argue that
this is also relevant for expatriates in high-risk countries and propose:
PROPOSITION 6:

Poor work attitudes negatively inuence expatriate performance.

Discussion, contributions and implications

In this article, we consider how international terrorism can cause stress and strain and how
this impedes the work attitudes and success of expatriates. Particularly, our framework
examines the relationship between terrorism-related stressors and their impact on
performance via stress and work attitudes. Our theoretically grounded framework
distinguishes the stages of stress emergence and outcomes, and offers propositions on how
the relationships can be moderated. By segmenting the concept of terrorism in a set of
situation and interaction-related stressors, we were able to rebuild terrorism from a vague,
single construct into several potential sources of stress that can be operationalized and
tested independently.
With our conceptual article, we contribute to the literature by linking the crucial yet, in
terms of business, still under-researched construct of international terrorism with the eld
of expatriate management. Czinkota et al. (2010) pointed out the relevance of considering
the facets of terrorism for internationally operating companies. We offer a model that
illustrates the path from perceivable effects of terrorism to its impact on success,
advancing research on predictors of expatriate performance. Particularly, we analyze
behavioral criteria in the occupational environment, i.e. work attitudes, from a new
perspective. This allows us to model the expected impediments on expatriate performance
caused by international terrorism, both during the phase of stress emergence and on the
potential outcomes. Thus, we contribute to research on expatriate success.
In conceptualizing the effects of international terrorism on expatriate performance, we
also identify other issues that could be the subject of future research. Aycan (1997)
presents an extensive model of adjustment predictors, distinguishing between work and
general adjustment. More recently, Newton and Jimmieson (2009) found evidence that
occupational stress negatively inuences adjustment. Adjustment has a prevailing role in
expatriate research (Lazarova et al. 2010). However, we regard adjustment more distal,
focusing on work attitudes as a mediator between stress and performance. Still, there is
good reason to believe that adjustment will inuence expatriate performance as well as
work attitudes.
Moreover, the role of subjective t as a potential stress buffer is worth deeper analysis
in the future. Subjective t measures the employees perceived match of his or her own
characteristics and those of the organization. Newton and Jimmieson (2009) found
empirical evidence for a high level of subjective t indeed buffering the negative effects of
work stressors. In order to align these considerations, future research might extend our
model to include adjustment specically under the prevalence of terrorism as well as
subjective t. This could help to more comprehensively explain performance impediments
of stress due to terrorism, since potential interactions between stress and adjustment could
be of importance as well.

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B. Bader and N. Berg

Another issue is the role of gender. Our model does not distinguish between male and
female expatriates. However, female expatriates experiences can differ from those of
male expatriates (Caligiuri and Tung 1999; Caligiuri and Lazarova 2002; Lazarova et al.
2010). Host countries characterized by more traditional gender role ideologies, such as the
ones we nd in some Arab countries, might be more challenging for female expatriates.
They could have a harder time nding social support from HCNs or develop different
attitudes toward male team members. There might also be differences in the perception of
and dealing with different forms of terror threats that are related to gender differences,
such as rape. Still, despite its attention in research, ndings that women have a harder time
adjusting are not consistent (Caligiuri and Tung 1999; Lazarova et al. 2010). There is good
reason to argue that our model applies for both genders. Nonetheless, more work in order
to examine potential gender differences is necessary.
Finally, research has often addressed expatriate job performance as an important
dependent variable (e.g. Kraimer et al. 2001; Sinangil and Ones 2003; Mol et al. 2005a;
Takeuchi et al. 2009) when analyzing expatriate success. A rewarding assignment is one in
which the expatriate performs effectively and well; however, we agree with Mol et al.
(2005b) that an expatriates performance is determined by so many different factors that it
is nearly impossible to fully explain performance and all relevant cause effect
relationships in one model. Harrison et al. (2004) state that the amount of unexplained
variance in expatriate performance approaches almost 90%. We are aware that the
inuence of work attitudes might only be one cause among many, yet it is nonetheless an
important one. Blumberg and Pringle (1982) postulate that work performance consists of
the three dimensions: capacity, willingness and opportunity to perform. In order to more
precisely analyze how terrorism affects performance in particular, it might be useful to
further focus on the dimension of willingness. From a stress perspective, terrorism is
supposed to mainly impede the expatriates willingness to perform, since this comprises
emotional and psychological characteristics, such as work attitudes. Future research could
pursue this matter further.
A next step will be to empirically test the model for its veracity, which due to its
complexity should be done before extending or tweaking it with future research. Although
testing the model in its entirety presents a challenge, researchers could begin by testing
various parts, such as the different impact of each of the stressors, or the relative
importance of the respective work attitudes. Thus, the explanatory power of our
propositions can be validated. A major strength of the model is its link between the two
phases of stress emergence and potential outcomes. In order to retrace this path, structural
equation modeling could be applied.
The success of expatriate assignments is a complex phenomenon and although it has
been extensively researched, it is still far from being fully explained. This study is an early
effort to analyze the linkage between terrorism and expatriate management by developing
a causal model and presenting potential propositions relevant to this topic. We hope that
our model will spark future research on the increasingly important issue of international
terrorism and that it delivers ways to mitigate its negative indirect effects on companies
operating globally.

Note
1. Even though the term spouse is used here, this also applies to any other nonmarital committed
relationship with a signicant other.

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553

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