The roles of expatriates' spouses among dual career couples

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify how dual career expatriates view their spouses' roles during international assignments.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 39 interviews were carried out with expatriates who had a working spouse. The interview data were content analysed using replication logic.

Findings

The authors' findings indicate that the importance of spousal support increases among dual career couples during international assignments. Expatriates report their spouses as having supporting, flexible, determining, instrumental, restricting and equal partner spousal roles.

Originality/value

This study provides in‐depth understanding about multiple spousal roles during international assignments among dual career couples and contributes to the previous literature by showing how spousal roles appear in the international context, and by identifying two new spousal roles.

Citation

Mäkelä, L., Känsälä, M. and Suutari, V. (2011), "The roles of expatriates' spouses among dual career couples", Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal, Vol. 18 No. 2, pp. 185-197. https://doi.org/10.1108/13527601111126012