Expatriate's engagement and burnout: the role of purpose-oriented leadership and cultural intelligence

Purpose - This study analyzes the impact of purpose-oriented leadership and leader cultural intelligence on engagement and burnout among expatriates undertaking long-term corporate assignments, grounded on social psychology frameworks on interpersonal bias. Design/methodology/approach - A survey was conducted with corporate expatriates from 21 different nationalities, who work for large multinational companies and were on assignment in 23 distinct countries – including Brazil, China, Japan and the UK Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling was used to evaluate the proposed hypotheses. Findings - Results indicate that leader cultural intelligence is associated with lower burnout and higher engagement among expatriates, and that purpose-oriented leadership is associated with higher expatriate engagement but not with lower burnout. Originality/value - This research contributes to the field by highlighting specific leader attributes that can foster successful expatriation: cultural intelligence and purpose-oriented leadership. The study adds to knowledge on leader–follower relationships amid national and cultural diversity by pointing to actionable leader qualities that can foster expatriate engagement and prevent his/her burnout.