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Extensive research has demonstrated the influence of job resources on mitigating the impact of high job demands on individual well-being. Still, little is known about how individuals use job resources to cope. This study advances job demands-resources (JD-R) theory by investigating the process of job resource utilization from a coping perspective.

This study is based on in-depth interviews with 32 Chinese senior executives using a Critical Incident Technique (CIT) for data collection and thematic analysis for data analysis.

Data analysis reveals a 2x2 matrix model of resource utilization, highlighting the relevance of internal and external job resources in coping and resource creation.

The findings suggest that work stress intervention should look beyond the organizational domain and assist senior executives in exploring and developing external resources for coping. Additionally, organizations should equip senior executives with sufficient support to create new job resources that effectively manage complicated job demands.

The results of this study extend the understanding of job resources by distinguishing internal and external job resources. It also provides a dynamic view of resource utilization, emphasizing the role of job crafting in creating adaptable job resources to meet job demands.

A “living” wage (LW) is conventionally defined as enabling meaningful participation in society above subsistence through, for example, recreation, supporting a family, and savings. There is increasing debate over LWs due to growing inequality, rising living costs and welfare reform but this remains largely framed by the econometric cost-benefit parameters that apply to minimum wage regulation. The capabilities approach advocated by Sen (1999) offers a different perspective that is inclusive of choice, contingencies and the inter-connections between quality of (paid) work and private life. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The paper adopts this framework and utilises a qualitative exploration of the narratives of 606 New Zealand employees to understand perceived wage effectiveness. The results suggest that a focus on a specific LW rate might be conceptually limiting, in comparison to a LW range.

First, the findings indicate that there is a pivot range in which people move from self-assessed “survival” to “decent” income. Second, a LW may have more than a simply monetary effect in better meeting employees’ living costs; it can also improve well-being through subjective perceptions of valued freedoms to do with job satisfaction, equity and security.

The results thus draw attention to a wider notion of a LW in terms of personal and family well-being, utilising a capabilities approach, with implications for organisational practice, policy and theory concerning sustainable livelihood and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

While there is a burgeoning literature on self-initiated expatriates (SIEs), the emphasis has been on expatriation not repatriation. The purpose of this paper therefore is to explore how repatriating SIEs perceive the experience of repatriation compared with their pre-repatriation expectations. Further, we examine the seminal work of Black et al. (1992) in the light of current day realities.

This qualitative research draws on interviews with SIE New Zealanders returning home. It is an exploratory longitudinal study, based on interview data collected prior to (n = 32), and after (n = 27) repatriation, comparing expectations and experiences of repatriation.

Findings show that there is a strong level of congruence between the expectations of the return and their experience of repatriation. This congruence eases the transition and mitigates the impact of reverse culture shock. We revise Black et al.'s framework of repatriation adjustment to more accurately reflect the expectations and experiences of repatriating SIEs, recognising the importance of individual agency and the impact of today's technological advances on repatriation.

The contributions of this paper include clarification of repatriating SIEs. Further, through the revision of the framework, we identify new areas of research that would aid our understanding of repatriating SIEs and lead to the development of a more detailed model. We highlight the interplay between variables showing how these might mitigate the shock of repatriation.

Repatriation is an under-researched phase of the SIE, and this study provides empirical data that contributes to our understanding of the construct. Black et al.'s framework of repatriation adjustment is revised in the context of contemporary SIE, highlighting the holistic nature of self-initiated expatriation and repatriation, viewing the events not as discrete, but as a continuum of time.

The existing expatriation literature confirms that international assignments (IAs) are an essential tool for developing international talent and global managers but relevant studies are conducted mainly in western developed contexts and neglect the effects on individuals from less developed countries such as China. This paper explores the concept of career and symbolic capital in Chinese multinational company context. It investigates the value of IAs by exploring the relationships between career capital and symbolic capital.

Twenty-eight semi-structured interviews with Chinese expatriates were conducted.

Results suggest that the value of individual career capital from IAs depends on the contexts and how different parties perceive the value. A model comprising individual, organisational and social dimensions are proposed along with mediating factors that affect the effectiveness of value transfer between career capital and symbolic capital. Implications are rehearsed, exposing areas for further research.

This paper contributes to the literature by investigating the notion of career in an important but under-researched sample: Chinese expatriates. It helps to gain a better understanding on Chinese multinational companies and their employees.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the dynamic nature of boundaryless careers of Chinese early career corporate expatriates. It also investigates the demographic and contextual factors influencing individual perceived career mobility.

Qualitative, semi-structured interviews with 31 Chinese corporate expatriates were conducted and a template analysis approach was used to analyze the data.

Results suggest that Chinese early career corporate expatriates’ perceptions of boundaries as facilitating or limiting career mobility change over time. Changing boundary properties are found to be linked to the salience of Chinese cultural values, demographics and career/life stages. Based on expatriates’ narratives, this study highlights how these demographic and contextual factors shape domains of career boundarylessness.

Using an under-researched sample of Chinese corporate expatriates, this paper contributes to the conceptualization of boundaryless careers identifying the changing nature of the boundaries that facilitate or restrict mobility over time. The study calls for the use of combined, multi-dimensional approaches incorporating individual agency, organizational and cultural factors to understand individual career development.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relevance of personal and organisational factors contributing to workplace stress among Chinese migrants in New Zealand.

The study is based on surveys of 88 participants using the theoretical model of person-environment fit.

The results reveal that perceived fit of organisational factors has a significant impact on workplace stress outcomes including emotional well-being, work-related health, job performance and intention to quit. Further analysis also shows that personal factors, some as a result of acculturation, play a moderating effect on the perceived relationship between the organisation and workplace stress. Education, advanced language skills and building networks in the new community are all important factors to minimise stress.

From an organisational perspective, the study highlights the importance of understanding the factors that cause workplace stress, especially with a culturally diverse working population. This cross-sectional study could be furthered through the use of alternative cultural samples, and through the development of a longitudinal design. In short, this study of the work stress of Chinese migrants in New Zealand contributes to the field of knowledge providing exploratory insights for work stress research in human resource management.

The purpose of this paper is to create a usable life forecast model for consumable parts using neural network approach. It focuses on a consumable probe card used in the semiconductor wafer testing operation. Referring to the relevant resources and the semiconductor testing operation, a fundamental concept is built to develop a probe card management system.

A neural network analysis software package, Q‐net2000, is applied in this study. In this case, there is one hidden layer and the neural network learning rates and momentum are set to 0.1 and 0.7. Forecast the usable life by inputting the initial values of the neural network variables into a back‐propagation neural network.

In this system, the first thing is to collect the production, maintenance and repair data, and then analyze those data by using a neural network methodology to effectively forecast a probe card's usable life. Those data are integrated to derive an optimum timing of placing a probe card order using an inventory control technique. Finally, the actual production data of a company are used to verify the feasibility of this research.

The results presented are based on a representative expendable probe card manufacturing process in the Taiwan industry, a range of alternative scenarios and changes to the process design can be investigated using the simulation model.

For the semiconductor industry, the research supports the introduction on lifecycle forecast technology for expendable probe card manufacturing process.

The paper proposes a neural network forecast analysis to solve the case company's current management problem of determining the life cycle of probe cards in an earlier time.