Workplace learning and foreign workers' commitment to host cultural organization : the effects of cross-cultural adjustment and supervisor trust

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between workplace learning and organizational commitment with the mediating role of cross-cultural adjustment and the moderating role of supervisor trust for the case of foreign workers in a new cultural setting. Design/methodology/approach: This study uses structural equation modeling to analyze a sample data of 367 Vietnamese and Philippine workers in Taiwan. Findings: Results show that workplace learning enhances foreign workers' organizational commitment. Cross-cultural adjustment is found to have a mediating effect in the link between workplace learning and organizational commitment. Furthermore, supervisor trust moderates the link between cross-cultural adjustment and organizational commitment. In addition, supervisor trust moderates the indirect effect of workplace learning on organizational commitment through cross-cultural adjustment. Originality/value: Prior literature often focuses on expatriates who are high-skilled employees. This study investigates low-skilled workers who come from less-developed country working in a more developed economy. This study is one of the first researches examining the issue of foreign workers' commitment in new cultural environment. Our findings shed a new light to the effect of workplace learning on organizational commitment. Our findings also help to clarify the roles of cross-cultural adjustment and supervisor trust into the workplace learning–organizational commitment relationship. This study provides implications for researchers and managers regarding to management and development of foreign workers for local organizations.