Designing a New Service Concept for Reducing Culture Shock : Case expatriates in Albania

Abstract

This study is a practical research about the transition process of expatriates in Albania, and how to design a service to lessen the phenomenon of culture shock. The main focus of this study are the practical issues and required arrangements that challenge expats when moving to Albania that overload them with emotional and phycological effects of culture shock. This service concept is about an e-business offering mainly a digital information service for expats in Albania, to improve expat`s journey through the transition process and to provide a better life experience when moving to Albania. The group of interest includes all sojourners in Albania. The research in this study is diverse by nature as it is performed without distinguishing on their nationality or sojourning reasons. The research in this study is conducted with qualitative and quantitative methods. The results of the research provide a clear understanding of expats unmet needs related to settling into the host country, their frustrating touch-points related to substantial life arrangements during their journey. The research outcome is useful for evaluating the service proposition and at the same time to generate ideas for this service concept development and design. The service concept is developed with co-design methods. In the end, a final high-fidelity prototype is created and evaluated for assuring service success in case of service implementation. The implementation, however, is not part of this study.