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1 – 10 of 386Pooja B. Vijayakumar and Christopher J. L. Cunningham
Globalization has led to individuals working and living outside their native country. The purpose of this paper is to examine relationship between motives for expatriation and…
Abstract
Purpose
Globalization has led to individuals working and living outside their native country. The purpose of this paper is to examine relationship between motives for expatriation and cross-cultural adjustment in Indian expatriates working in the US information technology (IT) industry. Additionally, the moderating effects of self-initiated expatriates (SIE) and organizational expatriates (OE) on the relationship between motives for expatriation and cross-cultural adjustment were studied. Also, existing measures in this area of research were analyzed to improve validity and utility for future studies. Participants responded to questions via an internet survey.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were gathered from 336 Indian IT professionals working in America. The authors evaluated the psychometric quality of reasons for expatriation and cross-cultural adjustment measures by considering various fit statistics, modification indices and rational judgment based on item content. The authors used a maximum likelihood extraction method with an oblique rotation (Geomin) for these factor analyses, given the theoretically and empirically supported relationship between the subdimensions of both measures. Using these purified measures, a hierarchical regression analyses procedure was used to test the hypothesized relationships. A computational tool called PROCESS was used to test the hypothesized moderating effect of expatriate type on the relationship between motives for expatriation and cross-cultural adjustment.
Findings
Preliminary factor analytic work suggested modifications to the reasons for expatriation measure used to quantify participants’ motives for expatriation. Using this revised measure, those with stronger financial (mercenary) motives for expatriation also reported less positive cultural adjustment, while those with stronger exploratory motives for expatriation reported more positive cultural adjustment. Some evidence was also observed for a weak, but notable moderating effect of expatriate type (SIE vs OE) on the relationship between expatriation motives and cultural adjustment.
Originality/value
This study presents a revised measure of expatriation motives, as well as expanded theoretical and empirical evidence base to help future researchers working with expatriates. The findings may be also helpful to organizations and consultants who work to prepare expatriates for their assignments, especially when these expatriates are Indian professionals preparing to work in the USA.
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Tania Nery-Kjerfve and Daiane Polesello
Extant expatriate literature largely adopts a global north/western focus and expatriate-centric approach in investigating spousal/partners’ motives for supporting expatriation…
Abstract
Purpose
Extant expatriate literature largely adopts a global north/western focus and expatriate-centric approach in investigating spousal/partners’ motives for supporting expatriation. Contrastingly, this study focuses on the lived experiences of dual-career female partners from an emerging global south economy and a patriarchal society as it relates to motives for supporting a partner’s international assignment (IA) to a developed country.
Design/methodology/approach
This investigation adopts a hermeneutic interpretive phenomenology research design. Twelve career-oriented female partners from an emerging global south economy (Brazil) who supported a partner’s IA to a developed country (USA) participated in this study. The data included semi-structured interviews and field notes.
Findings
The study indicates that societal constraints, gendered career experiences and career and life stage reasons influenced women’s decision to engage in career opt out and/or interruption in support of their partners' IA. Further, patriarchal long-lasting structures and ideologies shaped women’s career experiences; women perceived IAs as a means of acquiring embodied and institutionalized cosmopolitan capital for themselves and their families in order to gain a better position in a transnational/globalized world.
Research limitations/implications
Although the sample size of this study is appropriate for the methodological choice adopted, future studies should include more participants and address different socioeconomic, political and cultural contexts.
Originality/value
This study highlights dual-career female partners' lived experiences in an emerging global south economy and a patriarchal society as it relates to motives for supporting IAs.
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International human resource management research has only recently started to recognize the many millions of people who engage with the international labor market as low-skilled…
Abstract
Purpose
International human resource management research has only recently started to recognize the many millions of people who engage with the international labor market as low-skilled self-initiated expatriates. In contrast to company-assigned expatriates, they predominantly come from less-developed countries (often from rural areas) and independently decide to pursue an international career. The aim of this study is apply an expatriate-centered perspective and explore how expatriates at the base of the pyramid perceive the conditions of their international employment.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is based on a qualitative study among self-initiated expatriates in the tourism and hospitality industry in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Findings
Two theoretical categories that reflect the evaluation of expatriate employment were identified, namely the social comparison with friends and family who stayed at home as well as with other expatriates and locals and the temporal comparison to the situation before the expatriation and the prospective situation after the expatriation. Both categories largely differ from the concepts and categories prevalent in the expatriate literature.
Research limitations/implications
The study contributes to the understanding of the temporal and transitory dimensions of expatriation, which have been barely addressed in the academic literature. It shows that self-initiated expatriation often represents a break in the professional and personal biography. It is less perceived as linear continuation of a steadily advancing career path than a restart or springboard to the future. The results are situated in the tourism and hospitality sector in the UAE and cannot be generalized to other countries and industries.
Practical implications
The study emphasizes the relevance of social inclusion, equal opportunities, a safe work environment and a relaxed corporate culture for expatriates at the base of the pyramid.
Originality/value
While research about self-initiated expatriates usually compares them with company-backed assignees, this comparison is not salient in the narratives of the interviewees in this study. Instead, low-skilled self-initiated expatriates predominately compare their current foreign assignment with the situation in their home country. This social comparison reflects their perceived reality of life better than a fictional comparison with highly skilled and company-assigned expatriates that is prevalent in the academic expatriation literature. By emphasizing an expatriate-centered perspective, the study supports and extends Piore's (1979) application of segmented labor market theory.
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Employees’ readiness to relocate abroad plays a crucial role for the success or failure of expatriate assignments. Hence, companies should consider employees’ international…
Abstract
Purpose
Employees’ readiness to relocate abroad plays a crucial role for the success or failure of expatriate assignments. Hence, companies should consider employees’ international relocation mobility readiness (IRMR) when selecting candidates for international postings. However, past research has conceptualized and measured IRMR heterogeneously, hampering the interpretation and comparability of IRMR research results. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to provide a new conceptualization of IRMR and to give recommendations for its measurement.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the business, psychological and sociological literature, this paper reviews and categorizes how IRMR has been conceptualized and measured. To structure the findings, a directed content analysis was applied. The sample comprises 88 journal articles.
Findings
The results reveal that studies seldom provide a conceptualization of IRMR. While the authors often find a misfit between the studies’ explicit conceptualization and the actual measurement of IRMR, most scales actually measure willingness (i.e. usually a predictor of risky and spontaneous behavior).
Research limitations/implications
Based on the results and the Rubicon model of action phases (Heckhausen and Gollwitzer, 1987), the authors recommend future research to conceptualize IRMR as a dynamic multidimensional construct, covering the different phases of an individual’s decision to relocate internationally. Future, IRMR measurements should also cover the complexity of IRMR, e.g. regarding specific location characteristics.
Practical implications
Companies should consider the whole decision-making process regarding IRMR to apply specific measures at the best possible time.
Originality/value
This paper investigates IRMR scales according to their scientific validity and hence provides the basic ground for future scale development studies.
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Through a large‐scale quantitative study, this paper aims to test and extend the qualitative findings of Richardson and McKenna and of Osland on reasons to expatriate and relate…
Abstract
Purpose
Through a large‐scale quantitative study, this paper aims to test and extend the qualitative findings of Richardson and McKenna and of Osland on reasons to expatriate and relate them to work outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
Examining how reasons to expatriate may affect work outcomes, quantitative data was collected from self‐initiated expatriate academics from 60 countries employed in 35 universities in five northern European countries.
Findings
Results mostly indicated support for the proposed hypotheses. The most striking finding was the apparently uniformly destructive influence of behaviour associated with escape from one's previous life as a reason to expatriate on all of the studied work outcomes.
Research limitations/implications
The self‐developed scales measuring reasons for self‐initiated expatriates to expatriate may have been inadequate to capture all relevant aspects of their behavioural intentions and the data from the retrospective type of questioning regarding the original reasons to expatriate may have been biased by memory effects.
Practical implications
Any organization recruiting self‐initiated expatriates may want to inquire about the reasons for them to expatriate. Although there may be a plethora of other requirements on job applicants, the findings of this study may be used as contributing to additional hiring criteria.
Originality/value
Most of the fast growing literature on business expatriates has focused on organizational expatriates who have been assigned by their parent companies to the foreign location. However, there is much less research on self‐initiated expatriates, who themselves have decided to expatriate to work abroad.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the motives of female childless self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) in deciding to work abroad, so far under-researched.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the motives of female childless self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) in deciding to work abroad, so far under-researched.
Design/methodology/approach
The study departs from prior research in using a new methodological approach, i.e. the analysis of online diaries (blogs) to explore the motives of a specific population to relocate.
Findings
The emergent model of motivations is based upon four main dimensions that emerged from the socially constructed experience of these single childless female SIEs: escape as main motivation, confrontation to reality, identity reconstruction and purpose of expatriation.
Originality/value
The findings reveal new elements of motivations to move abroad such as the complete absence of the notion of career from the blog posts, replaced, however, by a feminist and existentialist reflection.
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Abraham J. Oberholster, Ruth Clarke, Mike Bendixen and Barbara Dastoor
The purpose of this exploratory, empirical study is to identify motivations for expatriation among religious and humanitarian (R&H) workers.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this exploratory, empirical study is to identify motivations for expatriation among religious and humanitarian (R&H) workers.
Design/methodology/approach
A sample of 158 active expatriate Christian R&H workers from 25 countries, representing 48 international organizations, completed a survey with 45 reasons for expatriation, derived from literature on corporate expatriation, international volunteering, and international migration. Data analysis includes factor analysis and cluster analysis.
Findings
In total, eight latent motivation factors were found: career development; economics; international experience; escapism; altruism; outsider support; family life; and location. Workers in the not‐for‐profit sector are primarily motivated by altruism, and thus integrate organizational mission with personal purpose in their decision to work abroad. Using cluster analysis, four groups of humanitarian and religious workers in the Christian sub‐sector were identified: Caring Missionary; Focused Worker; Self‐Directed Careerist; and International Family Custodian. Workers from developed versus developing countries exhibit different motivators.
Practical implications
The findings provide insight into differences between developed versus developing country workers and between R&H workers. Recognizing the differences in motivation can assist international human resource managers in the effective recruitment, selection, training and development, career management, and support and encouragement of non‐profit organizations (NPO) expatriates. The authors provide propositions to be tested based on the application of self‐determination theory to expatriate motivation.
Originality/value
This exploratory, empirical study of Christian R&H workers extends the organizational and country context and builds on motivation for expatriation research to include this sub‐sector of workers from both developed and developing countries operating in global organizations. The findings provide new insights into motivation for expatriation and lead to propositions for future research.
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Aziz Madi, Abdelrahim Alsoussi and Omar M. Shubailat
This research aims to replicate the work of Oberholster et al. (2013) on expatriation motivation through a generalization and extension replication. Additionally, it aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
This research aims to replicate the work of Oberholster et al. (2013) on expatriation motivation through a generalization and extension replication. Additionally, it aims to contribute to the Self-Initiated Expatriates (SIEs) literature by studying the Basic Psychological Needs (BPNs) of SIEs as proposed by the Self-Determination Theory (SDT).
Design/methodology/approach
This research used Latent Class Analysis (LCA) with covariate estimation to create five clusters based on survey data from 179 SIEs. Additionally, the replication procedure followed recommendations by Dau et al. (2022) to produce a constructive replication.
Findings
Besides validating clusters in the original study, one new cluster was found. Furthermore, identifying the BPNs of the clusters helped in understanding the mechanism that motivates them.
Research limitations/implications
By studying the BPNs as per the SDT, this research contributes to our understanding of the psychological factors that shape expatriates' motivations and experiences. This can inform the knowledge developed in the international mobility theories and the models related to SIEs' psychological well-being.
Practical implications
Building on the results of this research, organizations can tailor recruiting and retaining strategies to the specific BPNs of different SIEs groups. Organizations can motivate SIEs, enhance their job satisfaction and loyalty, predict their success, and support their psychological well-being.
Originality/value
A generalization and extension replication value lies in testing the validity and reliability of previous findings in new contexts. The originality in this research stems from its utilization of the BPNs from SDT to explain SIEs' motivation and evaluate their psychological well-being.
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The main objective of this paper is twofold: to analyse the progress of a research stream concerning expatriate academics in the last four decades and to make recommendations for…
Abstract
Purpose
The main objective of this paper is twofold: to analyse the progress of a research stream concerning expatriate academics in the last four decades and to make recommendations for further studies in this field.
Design/methodology/approach
In this study, the systematic literature review (SLR) concerning expatriate academics was applied. The search embraced the period from 1980–2022. The review was performed in two interdisciplinary electronic databases: Web of Science and Scopus. The selection process of papers was conducted in steps, as recommended by the PRISMA protocol. The total pool of articles received after the exclusion criteria was 110. The content of each paper was thus extracted and categorised in Excel file: author, year of publication, tittle of article, journal, theory applied, research method, sample size, country/field of investigation.
Findings
For almost three decades this topic was almost absent in the literature of the subject. The most active publication period started from 2009 and since then there have been two “waves” of published articles devoted to expatriate academics: 2009–2014 and 2017–2021. The significant number of studies appeared in Journal of Global Mobility followed by Personnel Review, IJHRM, Higher Education. The thematic analysis revealed six themes which have been already researched on expatriates academics: (1) motives, (2) adjustment, (3) job factors and work outcomes, (4) academic missions, (5) academic career, (6) women and men in academia.
Practical implications
Practitioners and university management might find this article useful as the article allows to manage this pool of international academics more efficiently with mutual benefits for expatriates and organisations. This study may assist the university authorities to develop systemic approach to attract foreign academics; adjust the same in work and culture domain through effective training; support in organisational, financial and career field; create the performance criteria of expatriate work related to three missions: research, teaching and service; introduce metrics and indicators to evaluate the contribution and work outcomes of foreign scientists into the host university.
Originality/value
This review shows that there are many new perspectives and models through which the academic expatriation can be analysed. This paper gives an insight into the academic literature on academics expatriates. The paper is innovative and has contributed to research by doing an SLR in a new area (academic expats) and tackling all the areas that has been covered by academic research so far. New research directions have been recommended for future research, to open the field further.
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Chris Brewster, Vesa Suutari and Marie-France Waxin
This paper aims: to undertake a systematic literature review on SIEs, examining twenty years of literature published between 2000 and 2020, focusing on the most-cited empirical…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims: to undertake a systematic literature review on SIEs, examining twenty years of literature published between 2000 and 2020, focusing on the most-cited empirical work in the field; to analyse the topics covered by these studies; and to propose a research agenda.
Design/methodology/approach
We conducted a systematic literature review, identifying the 20 most-cited empirical articles through citation analysis during the period and, because citations accrue over time, the six most-cited empirical articles of the last three years. We then used content analysis to examine the main themes they address and identify the research gaps.
Findings
The most common themes addressed in the SIE literature are: analysis of the types and distinctions of SIEs, motivation to undertake self-initiated expatriation, SIEs' adjustment to the new country, and SIEs' careers and outcomes.
Originality/value
This paper provides a first opportunity to look back at 20 years of research into a relatively new topic, highlighting the main research themes and knowledge gaps, and setting directions for future research. The paper expands knowledge on SIEs, assisting SIE scholars and IHRM practitioners to develop a global, critical understanding of SIEs' issues, and hopefully energising future research in this field.
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