Page - (000068) - in Knowledge and Networks

59 contact with their old friends and colleagues, but formed contacts with other expatriates and host-country nationals, as well as receiving help from support organizations. When they returned, this constellation changed again and they lost contact with their new friends and other expatriates. Respondents regarded family as highly important in every phase of the assign- ment, which is why the concept of family is located adjacent to the expatriate employee in Fig. 3.2 . This does not imply that the family always stands by the expatriate’s side. Rather, the fi gure refers to the ideational value of family as such, a perspective that is even more compelling when one is separated from the family. During the preparation phase family is followed in precedence by friends, col- leagues, superiors, and the organization itself. Respondents also pointed out that keeping in contact with family members demanded additional effort during the sojourn. Contacts with friends, in particular, suffered due to the lack of time. This was refl ected in statements such as “One can only work, eat, and sleep,” or, if the expatriate was accompanied by a spouse, “Only a busy wife is a good wife, a bored wife is torture . ” During the sojourn, this list expands to include new colleagues, other expatriates, and host-country nationals, as well as the supporting organizations. The relationship with friends from home becomes less important (indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 3.2 ). In the phase of returning, the expatriates try to reestablish contact with the network partners from the preparation phase and to maintain relationships newly formed during the sojourn, but these, too, lose importance. It is, therefore, crucial to point out that there is hardly any networking activity between the network partners themselves. The connecting lines in Fig. 3.2 show relationships between the expatri- ate employee and various network partners, but only a single link among the net- work partners. In their review of organizational social network research, Kilduff and Brass ( 2010 ) emphasized its focus on relations between actors. The Role of Social Support In recent years, a number of research projects have focused on social support in various contexts, including family, friends, and work (e.g., Glazer, 2006 ; Stroebe & Stroebe, 1998 ). The concept of social support is founded in various research tradi- tions that also deal with the interrelationship of social support and mental health. From the standpoint of a resource concept (Udris, 1997 ), social support is not only an external resource that a person receives but also an internal resource that an individual can develop (Udris & Frese, 1999 ). Dücker ( 1995 ) describes various forms of support experienced by members of a network: material support (e.g., fi nancial), support in the form of helping behavior (e.g., care in the case of illness), emotional support (e.g., affection, trust, or sympathy), feedback (e.g., social confi r- mation), informative support, orientation assistance (e.g., advice), and positive social activities (e.g., fun and recreation. 3 Interpersonal Networks in Foreign Assignments and Intercultural Learning Processes