Expatriate academics and perceptions of organisational support

Research on Perceived Organisational Support (POS) rarely focuses on the potential gap between employee perceptions versus the support the organisation purports to offer. An understanding of this may provide greater insight into the interventions a university should be making if it hopes to improve retention of its expatriate academics.

By analysing qualitative responses to a written questionnaire, this paper explores the perceptions of organisational support held by 163 expatriate academics employed at a large international Danish university, and compares these perceptions with the support the university claims to offer. Our study reveals that, in the case of expatriate academics, even extensive offerings of organisational support can be insufficient if the existence and specific benefits of the support are not adequately communicated, and if the academics do not trust the source of the support on offer.

Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.