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Under the framework of the achievement goal and expectancy-value theories, this study aims to examine which motivational goals lead people to self-initiate an international assignment and predict subjective assignment achievements.

Data was collected from a convenience sample of 141 self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) from multiple locations. The first set of analyses tested the hypothesis that demographics and expectancies of competence in living and working abroad discriminate the individuals who initiate an international assignment for learning goals from the ones who value performance goals. The second set of analyses tested the hypothesis that individual expectancies and goals predict specific subjective assignment achievements and overall success.

The results show that SIEs who had greater confidence in their ability to live and work abroad were also more likely to move to pursuit performance goals. They also reported greater host adjustment and superior professional accomplishments, but not higher family achievements or success.

In contrast to the dominant descriptive approach to the study of SIEs, this study underpins the adequacy and potential of a motivational approach in predicting SIEs’ behaviors and outcomes. The theoretical and managerial implications for international business and cross-cultural management are further discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to showcase that the integration of academic assessment with workplace performance appraisal practices can help to address the gap between graduate employability skills and employers’ requirements. Employability refers to learning of transferable skills.

The integrated assessment criteria grid by which the quality of the assignments may be judged was developed and discussed with the students. Grades achieved by each assessment criterion are analysed and inferred as to whether students have learned the desired transferable skills.

Such integration strengthens the theoretical argument on the importance of formative assessment as a way to nurture students’ learning. The transferable skills that students appeared to have learnt include “use of relevant data, meticulous, attention to details, structure & systems thinking, critical thinking and writing skill”.

Only one cohort of students is involved and their participation in the discussion is on a voluntary basis. The paper was not able to address students who did not appear to have learnt the transferable skills.

Employers are more cognisant of the quality of the management students graduating from this university. The learning of transferable skills reflects creativity development, and this contributes to the theory of knowledge which emphasises the importance of developing creativity through education.

This paper introduces a new form of formative assessment as a way to nurture students’ learning of transferable skills within a coursework assignment setting.

Our chapter addresses the balance assessment professionals must strike in supporting academic freedom, shared governance practices, and learning improvement efforts within colleges and universities in the United States. Specifically, we address how assessment professionals (faculty or staff whose primary job involves accreditation or the assessment of student learning) can encourage increased educational equity while supporting academic freedom. The authors offer a unique perspective. As former faculty members, current assessment practitioners, and a current academic administrator, we work to ensure that our institutions are using assessments of student learning to improve learning for all students. This work gives us insight into the ways in which assessment information shapes institutional efforts, balancing the rights of faculty to control the curriculum with the rights of historically underserved students (including students from underserved ethnic or racial groups, first generation college students, students from low-income households, and students with special needs or disabilities) to receive a quality education. We propose that one solution to this apparent conflict is to provide faculty with data that allow them to analyze the ways in which their assessment choices influence educational equity. To contextualize our work in this area we summarize institutional and faculty freedoms and discuss areas of conflict. We then describe ways to reduce areas of conflict by creating a culture of inquiry that centers around consideration of data and opportunities to modify assessments to increase educational equity.

The purpose of this paper is to provide new information about overseas volunteer development workers undertaking projects in underdeveloped countries, specifically, their backgrounds, personalities, values and previous experience, motivations, experiences, learning and “transformation” gained, and possible impact on further career; the degree of fit of experiences to the archetypal “hero's adventure”.

The paper presents a longitudinal study of a cohort of 48 New Zealand volunteers starting work on NZ aid organisation Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA) assignments in 2001. This included structured interviews and administration of the NEO‐ PR personality inventory and the Schein Career orientation Inventory pre‐departure and on return and an e‐mail survey halfway through the assignment. Data analysis was largely qualitative using NVivo software.

Volunteers had high levels of openness and agreeableness, and career anchors of dedication to a cause and pure challenge. The majority of volunteers fitted the main characteristics of the “hero's adventure” model, duplicating results for business expatriates by Osland and academic expatriates by Richardson. Key features were motivations of adventure and altruism, descriptions of trials and tribulations during the project, feelings of success, new skill and personal transformations in identity and values.

This is a mainly qualitative study of small sample from specific national location. Longer‐term follow‐up needed.

The paper provides valuable information for potential volunteers, for aid organisations selecting and supporting them and potential employers of volunteers.

Volunteer development work is increasingly common, is undertaken by thousands in third‐world countries, and is a potentially life‐changing experience, but research on it is very limited. This is the first in‐depth study, where findings paint a vivid picture of its nature and effects on the individual.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which a destination's security level affects the relationship between personality traits and individuals' expatriation willingness.

The authors apply an experimental vignette methodology using a 2 × 1 between subjects-design with two destinations characterized by different security levels (dangerous vs. safe) among 278 participants (students and employees). Partial least squares multigroup analysis (PLS-MGA) was employed to test the hypotheses.

The findings indicate that different personality variables appear to impact individuals' expatriation willingness depending on the security level of a destination: emotionality and conscientiousness predicted expatriation willingness to dangerous environments, whereas openness to experience predicted expatriation willingness to safe environments. The personality traits of honesty–humility, extraversion and agreeableness were not found to influence expatriation willingness in either scenario.

The study discusses a set of practical recommendations for the selection and the management of eligible individuals who are willing to expatriate to dangerous locations.

The study is among the first to examine the influence of personality on expatriation willingness in safe and dangerous environments at the same time. It advances prior research by providing a more nuanced understanding of the context-specific effects of personality on expatriation willingness.

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the levels of cultural intelligence (CQ) of principals and teachers influence Latino students’ achievement. The study first tested the applicability of Ang and Van Dyne’s (2008) Cultural Intelligence Questionnaire (CQS) for the measurement of principals and teachers’ CQ levels by construct validating this instrument. Later, it investigated whether the CQ levels of principals and teachers explain the achievement levels of Latino students in mathematics and language arts.

A naturalistic relational research design was used to study the relationships between the study variables. Participants included a cluster random sample of 86 principals and 311 teachers in a southern state. The convergent validation was used to establish the construct validity of the CQS by correlating CQS subscale scores with several measures of principal and teacher multicultural exposure. A series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted to investigate the association between the principal and teacher CQS subscale scores and the Latino student achievement scores on state standardized tests.

The four-factor structure of the CQS scale was found to be valid in the educational settings. Principals’ level of CQ significantly predicted Latino students’ achievement scores of eight grade math and eight grade language arts. On the contrary to the expectations, there was no evidence to suggest that teacher-level CQ as measured by the CQS is predictive of Latino student achievement. Further analyses showed that multicultural exposures of teachers, such as being multilingual and visiting other countries, significantly predicted Latino students’ language arts performance.

This study has policy and research implications toward understanding and eliminating achievement gaps of Latino student populations. It sheds empirical light on whether this gap can be explained with the multicultural intelligence levels of principals and teachers, the two most influential actors in schools. By construct validating CQS, the study methodologically contributed to the pertinent educational research, which lacks instruments for the measurement of CQ levels of educational workforce.

The purpose of this exploratory research is to understand how women have accessed male-dominated oil and gas international rotational assignments and why they believe these roles to be professionally worthwhile.

This cross-sectional qualitative study is based on semi-structured interviews and correspondence with female international rotational assignees, and interviews with HR professionals involved in selection and deployment for such assignments.

HR personnel stereotype women as unsuitable for international rotational assignments. Women must be exceptionally determined and/or circumvent selection processes to access such roles. Women value the professional and personal development gained from international rotational assignments which helps them widen their occupational skills capacity.

To extend these findings, larger samples of female international rotational assignees and research in a wider range of industries are required. Longitudinal studies could further our understanding of women’s career progression building upon their international rotational assignment experience.

To reduce stereotyping of women's perceived unsuitability, greater understanding of international rotational assignment roles/environments is required by managers involved in selection. Transparent selection processes are required to support diversity. Greater interest in the work performed by international rotational assignees will raise their profile and assist with wider labour market opportunities.

Organisational representatives unintentionally reinforce occupational segregation by stereotyping women as less appropriate workers than men for international rotational assignments.

This research hears women's voices as they begin to make inroads into the masculine world of oil and gas international rotational assignments. Research propositions and recommendations for practice are suggested to assist in breaking down male monopoly in this context.

The purpose of this paper is to show how the use of reflective research journals to assess students on a Stage One information literacy (IL) module can offer unparalleled insight into the complex information research processes and subjective learning experiences that lie behind the production of an academic essay.

Research journals created by 109 students over the course of a Stage One IL module were analysed qualitatively to reveal an iterative, problem‐strewn process, mostly culminating in deep satisfaction at the eventual production of an acceptable academic essay. Quotations from the journals are included to bring the students' experiences vividly to life.

Students' experiences of research are discussed under three key themes: Problems and Challenges; Enjoyment and Pride; and Learning Experience. Analysis showed that while problems were inevitable, students mostly considered the process to have been a useful and worthwhile learning experience.

Research journals offer an alternative mode of assessment which may be adopted by IL instructors wishing to focus on the students' subjective experience of “becoming information literate”. Traditional, quantitative forms of assessment do not offer the same insight into the actual process of doing research, instead focusing on what the students say they know, rather than demonstrate it performatively.

To date, few papers have reported the use of research journals to assess an IL programme, and it remains a novel assessment method in this context. This paper describes the advantages and pitfalls of using the method with Stage One students, and places its use within the general context of assessment practices for IL.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between satisfaction with learning environment and student effort, both in class and with homework assignments.

The authors use data from a nationwide and compulsory survey to analyze the relationship between learning environment and student effort. The survey covers all students attending the seventh (last year of primary school) and tenth (last year of lower secondary school) grades in Norwegian compulsory education. Since the survey has been conducted every year since 2006/2007, we can apply panel data methods to reduce the potential for omitted variable problems.

Student satisfaction with teacher guidance, materials and social environment plays an important role in stimulating effort both in class and with homework. Satisfaction with physical work conditions is of less importance, but does stimulate in-class effort among the younger students. Heterogeneity across the genders for tenth graders is also observed. In particular, bullying and satisfaction with teacher guidance are more important determinants for males’ than for females’ effort.

The results indicate that school managers should focus attention on improving not only the quality of teachers and teaching materials, but also the social environment at the school in order to stimulate more student effort.

The results contribute to the literature studying student effort and educational outcomes by providing information on how different school factors affect student effort.

The paper seeks to develop a detailed understanding of expatriate return on investment.

The paper draws on research by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Cranfield School of Management, UK, which tracked 3,450 expatriates over an average of three years. The nine multinational organizations taking part in the research employ more than 500,000 people in total.

The paper reveals that companies that send employees on international assignments are failing to capitalize on this investment and losing talented staff through inadequate arrangements for repatriation and professional development.

The paper lists ten ways for companies to improve the effectiveness of international assignments.

The paper helps organizations to maximize their investment in foreign postings.