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International assignments are not just opportunities for career advancement but also for personal growth and exploration. This paper, by capturing the changing expectations and success parameters across the assignments, is a timely and relevant resource for individuals navigating the complexities of international careers. In addition, the paper aims to help organizations build policies for enabling successful assignments for international assignees and managers.

Our research took a unique two-pronged approach to understanding the success parameters of international assignments. We first interviewed 16 managers to understand the success parameters they set for expatriates. Then, we interviewed 19 international assignees to explore their choices and how they defined success in their international experiences.

Our comprehensive research, based on 35 interviews with international assignees and their supervisors, reveals that an assignment's success evolves with different stages of the assignment, over the assignments that the assignees choose, and varies according to the intent of the mobility.

This paper makes a significant contribution to the field of cross-cultural management and international assignments. By discussing the evolving definition of success across various international assignments, it not only provides valuable insights for expatriates in their international careers but also to managers to build aligned policies and practices.

Integrating anxiety and uncertainty management (AUM) theory and theory of organizing, this study aims to contribute to the knowledge management literature by examining the interdependent and bidirectional nature of knowledge transfer between expatriates and host country nationals (HCNs). Specifically, the authors investigate how receivers’ cognitive response to senders’ behaviors during their interactions becomes an important conduit between senders’ behaviors and the successful transfer of knowledge.

The authors used the actor partner interdependence model to analyze data from 107 expatriate-HCN dyads. The authors collected the responses of these expatriate-HCN dyads in Shanghai, Taipei, Hong Kong, Vietnam, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and India.

Receivers’ interaction anxiety and uncertainty, as a response to senders’ relationship building behaviors, mediate the relationship between senders’ relationship building behaviors and successful knowledge transfer. When senders are expatriates, senders’ communication patience and relationship building behaviors interact to reduce the direct and indirect effects of both receivers’ interaction anxiety and uncertainty. However, when senders are HCNs, the moderation and moderated mediation models are not supported.

The study contributes to the knowledge management literature by investigating knowledge transfer between expatriates and HCNs using an interpersonal cross-cultural communication lens. The authors make refinements to AUM theory by going beyond the sender role to highlighting the interdependence between senders and receivers in the management of anxiety and uncertainty which, in turn, influences the effectiveness of cross-cultural communication. The study is also unique in that the authors underscore an important yet understudied construct, communication patience, in the successful transfer of knowledge.

While the expatriation literature has explored cultural adjustment in considerable depth, it has largely overlooked the influence of cultural diversity in an expatriate’s home country. This study aims to address this shortcoming by investigating how home-country cultural diversity affects expatriate adjustment.

This study adopts a qualitative, inductive approach based on semi-structured interviews with a small number of Malaysian managers on international assignment in the Greater Brisbane area of Queensland, Australia.

The two key and related observations from the interviews are that, firstly, the existence of sizeable and profoundly distinct ethnic groups in an expatriate’s home country serves as an aid to successful adjustment, as it enhances cross-cultural understanding and communicative skills. Secondly, the positive effects of home-country cultural diversity are particularly felt by expatriates from ethnic minority groups in the home country due to their in-group and out-group interactions at home as well as their additional linguistic arsenal.

Multiculturalism is a polarising and contentious topic in the public debate in many countries around the world, frequently used for differing political purposes. But in a globalising world, it is unlikely to disappear any time soon, making it imperative for academic research to develop a better understanding of the phenomenon, from as many angles as possible, including from an international business perspective.

This study addresses an under-researched topic, namely how cultural diversity within an expatriate’s home country impacts adjustment. From the findings, this study also introduces a theoretical model for use in future research.

Drawing on the whole-life perspective of career development and the conservation of resources theory, the authors consider whether self-initiated expatriates' (SIEs’) cultural intelligence (CQ) is a general, cross-domain resource that helps SIEs gain resources in the work and nonwork domains. The authors contend that CQ will be associated with greater levels of organizational and community embeddedness, which in turn will facilitate their career satisfaction. The authors also propose the role of perceived host country community diversity climate as an environmental condition that, when low, strengthens the relationships between CQ and organizational and community embeddedness.

The authors examine the study hypotheses based on two distinct samples of SIEs (Sample 1: 169 Asian SIE professionals; Study 2: 147 SIE academics).

SIEs' CQ positively relates to their organizational and community embeddedness, which in turn is associated with greater levels of career satisfaction. The authors also find that SIEs with high CQ are more likely to experience community embeddedness and career satisfaction when they perceive that the host country community diversity climate is low.

First, this study goes beyond existing literature that rarely examines nonwork inputs to SIE career success. Second, extending previous CQ research with a strong organizational focus, the authors investigated how CQ influences SIEs' work and nonwork embeddedness. Third, the authors found that the absence of a peripheral ecological condition, perceived host country community diversity climate, may strengthen the direct relationship between CQ and embeddedness and the indirect relationship between CQ and career satisfaction.

The international mentoring literature predominantly features traditional company-assigned expatriates as protégés overlooking other types of global talent, such as immigrants, refugees, and international graduates, who may help organizations gain long-term IHRM competitive advantages. We integrate multidisciplinary research to better understand the role of mentoring as a global talent management tool, identify research gaps, and propose future research directions.

We draw on an integrative review of 71 academic journal articles published between 1999 and 2024 to explore the role of mentoring in managing global talent (i.e. expatriates, immigrants, refugees, and international students and graduates).

We found that research has identified and examined relationships between various antecedents and outcomes of mentoring but mainly treating mentoring as a talent development tool. Less is known about the role of mentoring as a recruitment and selection tool in the pre-employment context. Mentoring is an important HRM tool that contributes to managing a global talent pool and developing existing employees.

The review contributes to a better understanding of the characteristics and processes involved in mentoring in a global context by proposing a framework that incorporates antecedents of mentoring, characteristics of the mentoring process, and mentoring outcomes. It highlights the value of mentoring as a recruitment and selection tool supporting global talent management and identifies avenues for future research.

This paper aims to explore the Spanish Self-Initiated Expats’ (SIEs) motivations and factors involved in the choice of the host destination.

Through an exploratory and qualitative study, drawing upon SIE literature on motivations and careers, 22 Spanish SIEs were interviewed in a semi-structured way.

Most SIEs clearly detailed the line of reasoning behind the host destination choice (specific destination); a second group considered a limited number of potential countries to relocate to (alternative destinations), and the smallest one did not choose a specific location. Career motivations were the most mentioned ones and different degrees of career planning were found: those with a very defined career planning process relied upon one potential destination, while those with a less defined one considered several alternative host destinations. The European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students experience was one of the most mentioned factors influencing the choice of the host destination, which may be common to other European Union (EU) nationals. As to the limiting ones, the visa requirements outside the EU were identified. Other factors were particular to Spain, such as the perceived need for English proficiency for a successful global career and the degrees of career planning.

These findings may assist Talent Management Managers to align organizational strategies with SIEs motivations. They may also help future Spanish and European SIEs in their individual career management process.

This study contributes to a better understanding of the expatriation motivations and factors influencing the destination location of Spanish SIEs, adding to the SIE and global career literature.

This study aims to address this unexplored influence of international assignment types on the development, transfer and utilization of career capital by assigned repatriates from host to home country. In response to existing literature gap, it aligns with the need for qualitative case studies that delve into threats to the self-reinforcement of repatriates' career capital.

By mean of a qualitative case study, this paper deepens understanding of linkages and processes in career capital development and clarify the interplay between individual interpretations of career actions and the organizational context in which they unfold. Nineteen qualitative interviews with assigned repatriates explored the impact of exposure to new career contexts.

This study provides valuable insights into the complex dynamics of career capital development and transfer during international assignments. It elucidates the impact of career context on assigned repatriates' career capital, emphasizing challenges in career capital generation, dispersion and absorption within multinational enterprises. It contributes to understanding the complexities of (new) managerial capacity development by revealing varied effects that international assignments can exert on individuals' immediate competencies and career capital.

If the assigned expatriate/repatriate’s understanding of the firm’s assignment motive, and their own motive (understanding/reason) for the assignment corresponds then expectations of outcomes can be better managed. Organizations otherwise run the risk of perpetuating inequities in the career development opportunities of employees.

Studies on career capital emphasize its qualities or examine different globally mobile employee types. Yet there's a gap in understanding how the type of assignment impacts career capital development, transfer and utilization. This research fills this void by investigating the international transfer of career capital from host to home country specifically for assigned repatriates.

The expatriation literature (a substantial domain of the International HRM literature) has not paid sufficient attention to the phenomenon of work engagement, which is essential for expatriate success. Equally, research on work engagement in Organizational Behavior, although extensive and mature, has neglected the context of expatriation. Our study bridges the two literature streams to examine the antecedents of expatriates’ work engagement within the distinct context of international assignments.

Through e-interviews with 27 Nordic assigned expatriates in 16 host countries, we delineate and organize antecedents of assigned expatriates’ work engagement in a framework.

We identify two clusters of antecedents – general and specific – characteristic of expatriate settings (e.g. distance to headquarters, pride in being chosen, culture, fewer distractions, success in a foreign context, adjustment, location, and language). We decompose each cluster into contextual and job-related antecedents leading to absorption, dedication, and vigor as three components of work engagement. We depict and organize the relationships in a framework.

Our qualitative study connects two bodies of literature that have remained largely independent of each other. In doing this, we contribute to the expatriate literature by presenting a comprehensive picture of antecedents to work engagement and the engagement literature by exploring engagement in a new occupational work setting, namely international assignments.

Scholars acknowledge that trust relationships between expatriates and host nationals are important; however, previous research has demonstrated that one’s culture affects how individuals define trust, which can influence how trust is developed between expatriates and host nationals. In addition, trust can affect communication between expatriates and host nationals in many ways. Therefore, this study examined how US host nationals and Japanese expatriates conceptualized trust in the workplace as well as how trust affected their daily communication.

A total of 32 participants (16 US Americans and 16 Japanese) working in a multinational manufacturing company participated in semi-structured, individual interviews. A modified version of constant comparative analysis was employed to analyze the data.

Both groups of participants identified competence and skills, teamwork and collaboration, and open/honest communication as defining features of trust in the workplace, although there were some explanations regarding trust that were influenced by participants’ culture. Further, trust between US host nationals and Japanese expatriates affected their communication strategies, such as information flow and mentoring communication.

This study contributes to literature on the relationships between expatriates and host nationals by providing a culturally nuanced understanding of trust in the workplace. Additionally, findings from this study offer practical recommendations for multinational corporations for how to socialize and train their employees to enhance their work experience with one another.

This paper presents insights on expatriates in Africa and sets out a research agenda for Africa’s expatriation. The objective of the paper is to provide background and context on expatriation in Africa and to stimulate and guide further research in this important area.

The reviewed papers were drawn from journals and other sources that reported on expatriation to/from African countries. It also incorporates an array of literature on contextual African issues, exploring conceptually how these relate to expatriation.

The review confirmed that there is little research on the topic, particularly with respect to outward expatriation and the studies that exist are one of a kind and stand alone. There has been no attempt to build systematic theory or develop a wholistic picture. This means that the field is wide open for more research. The data provide a picture of the current expatriate situation, including numbers, demographics, host/home locations, success rates and so on, and are provide a basis for further research developing and testing hypotheses regarding individual, organizational and country/national characteristics and how these influence and relate to expatriate experiences and outcomes. Researchers can also draw on the existing expatriation literature from around the world for replication studies to identify uniquely African issues as well as similarities with other locations. As Selmer (2016) noted, replication research is widely used in the sciences and is at the core of the scientific method and thus should be considered for expatriation research.

Limited previous research means there is a need for further research.

Expatriation is a critical aspect of companies operating internationally and companies are increasingly interested in doing business in African countries. Africa's economic growth and development are strong and foreign direct investment (FDI) into Africa is growing with consequent increases in the number of expatriates going to Africa. Understanding expatriation in the African context is thus very important to a variety of companies.

Management literature focusing on Africa is limited and this is true regarding expatriation. This means there is a need for researchers and practitioners to understand expatriation issues in this context, particularly considering economic growth on the continent, increasing interest in doing business there, along with increasing FDI and use of expatriates, as well as the expansion of African companies. This paper provides a research agenda as a guide on which researchers, including those in Africa, can build.