The Uncharted Territory: Plotting the Relationships between Perceived Organizational Support, Work Engagement and Expatriate Retention in Vietnam

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between perceived organizational support (POS), work engagement, and its implication to expatriate retention. This study used a quantitative method design as explanatory research with the purpose to explain the pattern of correlation between the concepts hypothesized. The focus of this study was the employees working in the private higher education institutions in Vietnam. The population in this study was the expatriates and the sample size used was 221 respondents, using simple random sampling. The analytical method used to test the hypotheses of the research was IBM SPSS AMOS 24.0. POS has a direct effect on work engagement and expatriate retention. The work engagement does not have a direct effect on expatriate retention but mediates the relationship between POS and expatriate retention. This study speculates that before expatriates are hired to work in the private higher education institutions in Vietnam, they should be made aware of the complexities that will arise working in a foreign country with mostly homogeneous workforce and emphasize on positive and proactive behavior to counter stress, challenges and embrace seamless adaptation. This is one of few research studies comprehensively investigating the relationship between POS (independent variable), work engagement (mediating variable), and expatriate retention (dependent variable). The novelty of this research is in its effort to observe the mediation of work engagement with POS and expatriate retention. In this study, work engagement and expatriate retention were found to be negative but significant hence no previous studies have found a relationship between these variables. Furthermore, it is the first to test the model on the private higher education institution sector in Vietnam.