Expatriate adjustment: the role of justice and conflict in intimate relationships

Framing expatriation as family relocation, this research examines the influence of perceived justice and conflict on the psychological adjustment of 103 expatriate couples. Based on the actor–partner interdependence model, the proposed model simultaneously addresses effects of justice and conflict on own and partner’s outcomes. Supporting the current model, and based on the self-interest model, distributive justice influenced work-related task conflict among expatriates and household-related task conflict among expatriate spouses. Among expatriate spouses, and in line with the group-value model, fairness perceptions regarding interpersonal treatment influenced both parties’ personal conflict. Unanticipated, both parties’ distributive justice also influenced personal conflict. Personal conflict negatively affected both parties’ psychological adjustment and acted as a mediator in the relationship between distributive justice and psychological adjustment.