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The particular focus of this paper is female expatriates in Europe, which is a relatively under‐researched area. A total of 50 senior female expatriate managers were interviewed, representing a wide range of industry and service sectors. The aims of the paper are to highlight a number of critical factors which are necessary for successful female expatriate assignments. The results of the study show that female expatriates are disadvantaged in their careers because of the lack of organizational support which is readily available to their male counterparts. This lack of organizational support, together with the invisible barriers which constitute the glass ceiling, explain the relative scarcity of female expatriate managers.

The relationship between foreign assignment and career development has been stated to be unclear, and further research has been called for with regard to career challenges and career management programmes of expatriates. Furthermore, today an extensive proportion of marriages are dual‐career partnerships with both partners employed, and thus a need to take this into account has been stressed in expatriate literature. The present study covers these issues based on the experiences of about 300 Finnish expatriates. Career arrangements after repatriation was a very prominent concern among expatriates. On the other hand, the results also indicate that career‐related support practices were not very common in this sample, but there was clear inconsistency between perceived necessity and actual use of these programmes. Dual‐career couples’ career considerations played a central role as in the case of expatriates. However, dual‐career support was not commonly available although it was again seen as necessary.

Most of the fast‐growing literature on business expatriates has focused on organizational expatriates (OEs) who have been assigned by their parent companies to the foreign location. However, there is much less research on self‐initiated expatriates (SIE), who themselves have decided to expatriate to work abroad. The purpose of this paper is to provide knowledge on this under‐researched group of expatriates.

A questionnaire was directed electronically towards SIE academics in universities in the Nordic countries and in The Netherlands.

The current study examines marital status, gender and work outcomes of SIEs, and specifically whether there is a moderating effect of gender. Results showed, as expected, a positive association between being married and work effectiveness as well as with work performance but, surprisingly, there was no moderating effect of gender on these positive relationships.

Results indicate that organizations recruiting SIEs in the host country location may want to prefer married expatriates over their unmarried counterparts in the anticipation for them to achieve better work outcomes. However, there should be no distinguishing between men or women in the recruitment process.

This paper contributes to the understanding of the similarities and differences between OEs and SIEs.

This study examines the adjustment process and the adaptability of the Chinese migrant spouses’ in Auckland, New Zealand. A total of 97 spouses participated in a survey from a random sample of 200. The results suggest that both anticipatory and in‐country experiences are relevant to adjustment. The results of the study, specifically suggest that the adjustment process experienced by the Chinese spouses in the New Zealand environment is based on a number of factors such as (1) the amount of information and knowledge of New Zealand they have prior to arrival in New Zealand, (2) the backgrounds of the spouses, (3) their experiences prior to and on arrival in New Zealand, and (4) their ability to cope in the new environment.

Identifies a number of critical spouse/partner preparation and adjustment factors derived from a larger study that examined the expatriate career management practices of 20 Australian business enterprises with a physical presence in the East‐Asian business region. Addresses concerns expressed by Adler (1991) that attention to the needs of an accompanying spouse is at best only having a neutral impact on spouse adjustment. That is, organizations have largely failed to assist spouses in establishing what Adler (1991) described as “a meaningful portable life”. Reviews spouse/partner preparation and adjustment from the views expressed by Australian business executives, expatriate and repatriates involved in business operations in East‐Asia. The views of spouses and partners were not gathered in this study. Results point to the need for re‐assessment of existing spouse/partner preparation and adjustment. While results are tentative, evidence from this study confirms the need for more attention by Australian organizations to spouse/partner preparation and adjustment, with particular attention to the development of business environment awareness and empathy which may assist in advancing Adler’s concept of “a meaningful portable life”.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a model regarding adolescent adjustment issues overseas.

Using previous literature on expatriate adjustment and in‐depth interviews with students currently living abroad, a model of expatriate teens' adjustment is developed.

Interviews found that although some issues of adolescent adjustment are similar to expatriate and spouse issues, several were unique. In addition, the interviews suggested that the effective adjustment of the adolescent might lead the expatriate to stay abroad longer than originally planned.

Small sample size and limited generalizability form the main limitations of the exercise.

Effective predeparture training for all family members is imperative for expatriate success.

The papers represent the first comprehensive look at the issues that affect the adjustment of expatriate teens.

This article describes findings from a Catalyst study that explored why there are so few women with global assignments. The study reveals several prevailing assumptions in corporate and professional America about women’s willingness and ability to relocate. One of the most pervasive is that dual‐career issues hinder women’s ability to relocate internationally. This assumption is applied universally to women regardless of personal situation and discounts how men are also in dual‐career relationships. Furthermore, the study provides recommendations for employers to support dual‐career couples relocating globally, thereby increasing the likelihood that assignment offers will be accepted and the assignment completed successfully.

The context in which careers are being played out has changed and is constantly changing, both in domestic employment settings and more particularly in global business environments. Such international business environments highlight career choices often hidden in domestic situations. It is here that the balance between family and career become tangible. The career costs and benefits of taking an overseas assignment for both partners become open to question. This article considers the situation of the accompanying partner and considers their relationship to the expatriate employing organisation. It considers organisations offering career development resources to partners to support their job search abroad. Such provision has often been adopted in response to practical mobility problems on an ad hoc basis. This article looks at how underlying theory may offer guidance to companies offering such provision.

The International Human Resource Management literature has paid less attention to the selection of expatriates and the decision-making criteria with regard to such selection, than to issues relating to expatriates’ role, performance, adjustment, success, and failure. Yet, before expatriates commence their assignments, they need to be selected. The purpose of this book chapter is to provide an overview of issues related specifically to expatriate selection. In particular, the chapter traces the chronological development of selection over the last five decades or so, from prior to 1970 until present. The chapter subsequently identifies five expatriate selection criteria that have been applied in regard to traditional international assignments, but are also relevant to alternative assignments.

We begin by reviewing expatriate selection historically and its position within expatriate management based on changing business environments. Then, drawing from over five decades of literature on international assignments, we identify and discuss five organizational, individual, and contextual level criteria for selecting expatriates.

Emphasis on different issues tends to characterize expatriate selection during the various decades since the literature has taken up the topic. The chapter describes those issues, following a chronological perspective. In addition, the chapter organizes the various selection criteria in five clusters: organization philosophy, technical competence, relational abilities, personal characteristics, and spouse and family situation.

While there are studies on expatriate selection, there is more to be understood with regard to the topic. Provided all other expatriation phases are subsequent, if selection is not understood in detail, the foundations of studying phases and processes that take place once expatriates are selected may not be sound. While the scholarly conversations of other expatriate-related issues should continue, the international human resource management literature can absorb more analyses on selection. A better understanding of expatriate selection will assist its better management. The chapter provides a basis for human resource management professionals to be able to map the various criteria for selection, and decide, under particular circumstances, which ones to prioritize and why.

The chapter brings clarity to a topic that has remained less researched when compared to other areas of interest related to expatriates and their international assignments by tracing the historical development of this important phase of the expatriation process. In addition, the chapter organizes a number of selection criteria along five core areas and discusses each of them to gain insights that help explain expatriate selection in greater detail.

This study used a sample of 190 expatriates who worked for five multi‐national corporations to test part of a model of adjustment developed by Black, Mendenhall, and Oddou. The model is based on the theory that high levels of uncertainty lead to lower levels of adjustment. The study found that several variables—premove attitudes toward an international move, job satisfaction, role novelty, management's views on the effect of an international assignment on one's career, assurance of a job upon return, the cultural toughness of the host country, and the spouses' adjustment—were significant predictors of the expatriates' general adjustment, showing support for Black, Mendenhall, and Oddou's model. Findings from the study suggest that organizations could have a positive impact on assignment completion and expatriates' adjustment by assessing their organizations' positions and policies related to these variables.