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Considers the success of the Leader‐Member exchange (LMX) model tested over various populations. States that it has not been tested in the selection of employees for international assignments. Attempts to use this model to explain why females may not be selected or offered these roles. Concludes that initial results suggest that LMX quality may play a major role in international assignment selection and provides some implications for future research.

Recent research findings have indicated that host country cultural sanctions and dual‐career couple restrictions may not be such powerful determinants of women′s participation in international management as previously thought. Examines the complex dynamics between formal and informal organizational policies and practices and their impact on women′s perceptions of probable success in obtaining international management positions. Suggests that home country organizations may play a critical role in determining the level of participation. Points to a need for further research in this area.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which – and how – female expatriate role models support women to take up expatriate assignments in the male-dominated oil and gas industry.

The research uses data from a census survey of female expatriates supported by semi-structured interviews with a stratified sample of the survey respondents, triangulated with interviews with human resource (HR) professionals and analysis of organizational policy relevant to expatriation.

Potential assignees value the information that women role models can provide on living in challenging, masculine locations. Role models are particularly important to women undertaking unaccompanied assignments and also when assignment periods exceed traditional lengths. Current female expatriates do not view themselves as role models, despite HR professionals recognizing their value in inspiring women's expatriation.

This research was set in a sector with very few female expatriate role models. Further research is needed to understand the influence of role models on women's expatriation in different sectors and organizations with greater female role model representation.

Training for current assignees, time to be set aside within work duties and communications links to enable current and returned female expatriates to connect with potential assignees are needed to widen expatriate gender diversity.

This research contributes to theory by linking the importance of role models to women's career stages. It proposes a new theoretical contribution by linking role model importance to the types of assignments women undertake. Practical suggestions for organizations are given to widen expatriate gender diversity via support for role models.

The purpose of this study is to examine what job-related training interventions female expatriates seek and can access in order to build necessary knowledge and skills to progress into further career-enhancing expatriate positions.

This study uses a cross-sectional qualitative research approach, drawing upon semi-structured interviews in respect of organisational training practice with 26 current female expatriates and nine human resource, international assignments and training managers in two oil and gas exploration firms.

Budgets, time and travel restrictions and competitive business pressures constrain on-the-job training provision for expatriates. Assignees require specific knowledge and skills ahead of appointment to subsequent expatriate positions. HR personnel believe training provides appropriate knowledge and capability development, supporting women expatriates' career ambitions. Women assignees view training available within their current roles as insufficient or irrelevant to building human capital for future expatriate posts.

Longitudinal research across a wider spectrum of industries is needed to help understand the effects of training interventions on women's access to future career-enhancing expatriation and senior management/leadership positions.

Organisations should ensure relevant technical skills training, clear responsibility for training provision, transparent and fair training allocation, positive communication regarding human capital outcomes and an inclusive culture that promotes expatriate gender diversity.

Set within the framework of human capital theory, this study identifies the challenges that female expatriates experience when seeking relevant job-related training to further their expatriate careers. It identifies clear mismatches between the views of HR and female assignees in relation to the value of job-related training offered and women's access to it.

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.

Drawing upon compensating differentials, equity theory, and the psychological contract, women’s voices illustrate how organisational policy dissemination, implementation and change can lead to unintended assignee dissatisfaction with reward. Implications arise for organisational justice which can affect women’s future expatriation decisions. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A qualitative case study methodology was employed. Reward policies for long-term international assignments (IAs) were analysed. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted confidentially with 21 female long-term assignees selected using stratified sampling, and with two managers responsible for international reward policy design/implementation.

Policy transparency is required. Women perceive inequity when allowances based on grade are distorted by family status. Women in dual career/co-working couples expect reward to reflect their expatriate status. Reward inequity is reported linked to specific home/host country transfers. Policy change reducing housing and children’s education are major causes of reward dissatisfaction.

This case study research was cross-sectional and set within one industry. It addressed reward outcomes only for long-term IAs from the perspectives of women who had accepted expatriation in two oil and gas firms.

Reward policy should be transparent. Practitioners might consider the inter-relationship between policy elements depending on grade and accompanied status, location pairings, and the effects of policy content delivery to dual career/co-working couples.

This paper advances the field of IA reward by examining compensating differentials, equity and the psychological contract and takes these forward via implications for organisational justice. It identifies reward elements that support women’s expatriation and address their low share of expatriate roles, thereby fostering gender diversity. Future research themes are presented.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of organisational performance and development review policy and practice on women’s access to international careers via long-term expatriate assignments in the oil and gas industry, with a specific focus on women’s perceptions of procedural justice.

A qualitative cross-sectional case study research design is used to analyse performance and development review, and international assignment policies in two firms, together with in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 14 Human Resource policy custodians and 21 female long-term current assignees.

Women assignees do not see performance and development reviews as effective mechanisms to access expatriate roles. Nonetheless, women use these procedures while also operating within senior male networks to signal their desire to expatriate.

This study identifies differences between organisational policy objectives and policy implementation, and female assignees’ experiences and expectations of accessing expatriate roles. Women’s perceptions of organisational justice are not harmed because women place more emphasis on process and conversations than on policy. Research propositions are suggested extending organisational justice theory.

Clear articulation of performance and development review processes aids organisational succession planning. Formalised, transparent expatriate career management supports women’s access to expatriation. The roles of key personnel in determining access to expatriate career paths require clarification.

This paper extends our knowledge of women’s organisationally assigned expatriate careers and perceptions of procedural justice. Women use performance and development reviews to access expatriate opportunities. Employer action aligned to policy intent could help increase female expatriate participation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how decisions to undertake organisationally assigned expatriation are influenced by employers’ international assignment (IA) compensation and benefits policies, seen through the lens of female expatriate breadwinners working in the male-dominated oil and gas exploration and production industry.

A triangulated qualitative research approach draws upon: policy analysis in two oil and gas firms; interviews with two IAs Managers in Human Resources; and in-depth interviews with 26 female expatriates with experience of a variety of assignment types.

The paper identifies premiums that uplift salary, housing quality, access to healthcare, travel and leave arrangements, dual careers and children’s education as women’s main deal makers.

Longitudinal studies and comparisons of men’s and women’s views on policy aspects that support assignment acceptance and cause assignment rejection are needed across a range of industries.

Housing quality is a key factor in women’s assignment acceptance. Good communication prior to expatriation can help build confidence in healthcare provision. Employers should consider how travel and leave policy can be implemented flexibly. Assistance with seeking work visas for partners and coordinating dual career couples’ assignments can facilitate female expatriation.

This paper provides new knowledge on how the content of organisations’ international compensation and benefits policies influences female expatriate breadwinners’ assignment acceptance set within the theoretical framework of compensating differentials. It proposes a model to depict financial and non-financial deal makers to women’s assignment acceptance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how female expatriates interpret the effectiveness of practical implementation of equality/diversity policies, trusting this to support their expatriate careers.

A cross-sectional, qualitative research approach draws upon in-depth semi-structured interviews with 14 human resources equality/diversity policy implementers and 26 current female expatriates in two oil and gas firms.

Early-career stage female expatriates believe that equality/diversity policy implementation will support their international careers. At the most senior levels, women expatriates highlight unequal treatment breaching their trust in delivery of equality/diversity principles to support their expatriate career progression.

Longitudinal research is needed to assess how early-career women expatriates' willingness to trust in organisational equality/diversity principles alters as their careers progress, and the effects of any changing trust relations on their contributions to organisational strategic objectives. Larger senior female expatriate samples are needed to research links between trust relations and turnover.

Organisations must weigh up benefits from using transparent expatriate selection processes versus less formal mechanisms, if informal processes are not to undermine espoused equality interventions. Unconscious bias training should form part of wide-ranging programmes to tackle discrimination. Senior managerial action with embedded accountability is needed.

Exploring the rhetoric and reality of equality/diversity policy implementation on women comprising a minority expatriate group, this research demonstrates women expatriates' early-career trust in gender equality falls away as they first recognise and then accept diminishing female expatriate senior grade representation and the implications for their expatriate careers. Should turnover result, this could detrimentally affect organisational expatriate gender diversity objectives.

The purpose of this paper is to report on trends in the deployment of minority expatriates, review organisational interventions to increase expatriate diversity and to consider the challenges facing employers in widening expatriate diversity through a review of practitioner publications published by relocation management companies/consultancies.

A review of 109 practitioner publications on organisational international assignment policy and practice was conducted to identify trends across three decades in minority expatriation and employer interventions to widen expatriate diversity.

Practitioner publications record percentage female expatriate participation and expatriate age profiles. While expatriate diversity challenges are reported, employer interventions focus on supporting women and LGBTQ+ assignees but with little detail on their outcomes. There is little emphasis on ethnicity/race, religion, disability, pregnancy/maternity, intersectionality of diversity characteristics and inclusion.

Practitioner publications consulted were primarily Western-focused, with access to a “complete” publications record precluded. Academic research that compares employer policy on diversity interventions with how it is implemented is needed.

A stronger focus on supporting the full range of expatriate diversity attributes and intersectionality is required, explaining how challenges have been addressed and inclusion achieved.

Analysis of employer interventions could assist organisations to widen expatriate diversity and inclusion, and minorities to access international careers.

This review of practitioner data reveals trends in the deployment of minority expatriates, interventions taken by employers and challenges they perceive in widening expatriate diversity, providing a unique perspective and enriching our understanding of academic expatriate diversity research. Path-dependent organisational action may hinder employers' future focus on diversity, inclusion and intersectionality.