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Chapter 4 82 These conclusions align with those of Johnson and colleagues (2003), who compared the support expatriates receive from other expatriates and from HCN colleagues. The expatriate colleagues are clearly situationally (and potentially culturally) similar to the expatriate, whereas HCN colleagues are both situationally and culturally different compared to the expatriate. Johnson and colleagues (2003) found that expatriate and HCN co-workers provide similar amounts of social support but that their support differs in terms of content. Therefore, support from each group has a distinct impact on the adjustment process. Finally, results by Stroppa & Spieß (2011) suggest that co-worker support may be more valuable to certain expatriates. They found that co-worker support only improved performance among expatriates who demonstrated high levels of personal initiative. They suggest that such expatriates accept adjustment challenges, recognize their personal mistakes and actively seek out feedback in their social interactions. This allows expatriates with high levels of personal initiative to gain more from the social support they receive. 4.8.3 Conclusion The impact of PCS in general seems rather mixed, potentially due to the wide variety of co-workers one may have in a multinational organization. It seems that more focused research attention is needed: scholars should differentiate between support from co- worker groups that are similar in terms of their position in the hierarchy, their geographical location, their employment circumstances and/or their cultural background. Subsequently, the relationship between co-worker support and IA success may become more apparent. This is illustrated by the consistent results regarding the positive effect of HCN support on expatriate performance (e.g., Bader & Berg, 2013) or by the unique contributions of support from HCNs and from expatriates to the adjustment process (Johnson et al., 2003). 4.9 Discussion This paper systematically reviewed literature concerning the factors that moderate the relationship between organization-based social support and the success of IAs. Three theoretical paradigms – based on stress, social capital and relational exchange – were employed by the 39 included articles. Moreover, three main moderating factors were found. First, the articles demonstrated that social support is a highly complex construct in the expatriate management literature, as its source can differ in terms of its hierarchical, geographical, situational and/or cultural proximity to the expatriate. The proximity of the source may affect the value of its support. Hierarchical proximity is most frequently specified, and studies demonstrate that organizational support is most essential, closely followed by supervisor support, which stimulates success in most cases. No clear effects of mentoring were found and, similarly, co-workers seems too broad of a category to find consistent effects. Studies furthermore showed that social support may stimulate different processes based on the geographical proximity of the source. Social support sources in the home country were consistently found to fulfil different supportive functions than their counterparts in the host country. Regarding situational and cultural