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The purpose of this paper is to explore the SIE experiences of women over 50, its drivers, nature and outcomes.

The paper draws on participant data from in-depth life story interviews with 21 women who had undertaken SIE from New Zealand and later returned. From this sample two subgroups (aid volunteers and contract carers) are utilized as “vignette” exemplars, and common factors elicited.

SIE provided a desirable liberation from pressing mid-life issues. It was transformational for all participants, sometimes through serendipitous career development, but more commonly, after return, through personal development, changes in values, decreased emphasis on paid work, and simpler lifestyle.

The small sample size and qualitative methodology make the study exploratory rather than definitive and the specific location and small sample size limit transferability. The snowballing recruitment method may have disproportionately encouraged similar, and positively disposed, participants.

The availability and special characteristics of this expatriate and repatriate group for potential employing organizations are considered, as are the gains in human capital and individual well-being to society as a whole. The women studied provide excellent role models for older women considering independent overseas travel and employment.

By focusing on older women, this study extends the boundaries of the SIE literature. The findings highlight the limitations of work-centric theories of SIE, careers and older workers, the non-linear nature of women’s careers and the heterogeneity of later life pathways. The study is also original in demonstrating major positive transformational effects of expatriation on all its participants.

This paper aims to introduce a collection of papers about careers in cross‐cultural perspective, which contributes to the growing body of literature that addresses careers from different locations around the world.

Introduces the topic, providing some background and discussion of the main concepts.

Briefly introduces the papers and their main findings – differences and similarities among careers and career attributes in different cultural and national contexts.

Contextualizes the issue and extends the overall knowledge in the topic.

“OE” is overseas experience – periods of “working holiday” undertaken by young people autonomously exploring other countries and cultures. This paper investigates OE and considers its effect on career development. OE is a world‐wide phenomenon, but has special significance in Australia and New Zealand, where it is undertaken as a “rite of passage” by many young people. The paper reports results from an interview study of 50 OEs undertaken by young New Zealanders. It focuses on predisposing personal and situational factors prompting OE, the unplanned and improvisational nature of OE, the main forms of OE, and its apparent consequences for personal development and subsequent careers. The evidence suggests that OE brings benefits but that the process is complex and unpredictable because of confounding forces such as non‐career travel agendas and personal relationships. The special value of OE to careers in current conditions requiring greater self‐direction, flexibility and internationalisation is emphasised.

This paper aims to study careers across cultures, distinguishing among international career, cross‐cultural and globalization perspectives.

The conceptual development is based on a review of four empirical papers in this special issue with a focus on “Careers in cross‐cultural perspective” and other recent research in this area.

Work on international careers has traditionally looked at careers that cross national boundaries, such as those involving expatriate career assignments or self‐initiated international careers. Research into cross‐cultural careers reflects the primary work of this special issue's articles, primarily by looking at differences between two or more cultures. Career research into globalization is more recent and more tentative. It covers how careers interact with the economic, political, social and environmental changes commonly associated with the term globalization.

The proposed framework is a reflection of current theoretical and empirical debates.

The framework offers new guidance for both interpreting existing and developing new research.

The purpose of this paper is to provide new information about overseas volunteer development workers undertaking projects in underdeveloped countries, specifically, their backgrounds, personalities, values and previous experience, motivations, experiences, learning and “transformation” gained, and possible impact on further career; the degree of fit of experiences to the archetypal “hero's adventure”.

The paper presents a longitudinal study of a cohort of 48 New Zealand volunteers starting work on NZ aid organisation Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA) assignments in 2001. This included structured interviews and administration of the NEO‐ PR personality inventory and the Schein Career orientation Inventory pre‐departure and on return and an e‐mail survey halfway through the assignment. Data analysis was largely qualitative using NVivo software.

Volunteers had high levels of openness and agreeableness, and career anchors of dedication to a cause and pure challenge. The majority of volunteers fitted the main characteristics of the “hero's adventure” model, duplicating results for business expatriates by Osland and academic expatriates by Richardson. Key features were motivations of adventure and altruism, descriptions of trials and tribulations during the project, feelings of success, new skill and personal transformations in identity and values.

This is a mainly qualitative study of small sample from specific national location. Longer‐term follow‐up needed.

The paper provides valuable information for potential volunteers, for aid organisations selecting and supporting them and potential employers of volunteers.

Volunteer development work is increasingly common, is undertaken by thousands in third‐world countries, and is a potentially life‐changing experience, but research on it is very limited. This is the first in‐depth study, where findings paint a vivid picture of its nature and effects on the individual.

This paper aims to offer a critique, from a career studies perspective, of the common term “human resource management.”

Provides a literature review and critique.

The term “human resource management” is a metaphor that presents employees as passive commodities or assets rather than as active agents, and thereby potentially de‐humanizes them. In an alternative view based on career studies, individual employees are active agents utilizing the resources of employing organizations to pursue personal goals. Alternative terms to “human resource management” are suggested.

There is scope for study of the effects of “human resources” terminology on employees' and others' view of and attitude to the human resource management function.

Examination of “human resources” discourse may promote examination of the implications of current discourse for practice, facilitate moderation of practice, and stimulate the search for new discourse and new practice, by both organizations and individuals.

This paper questions a prevailing and widely accepted form of discourse in management and advocates change.

Explores worker choices to become self‐employed contractors. Adopts a qualitative method and uses data from in‐depth interviews with workers from two contrasting occupational groups. Reveals five sets of factors which appear to be central to worker decision making. Contrasts the perspectives of the workers and draws conclusions relating to the impact of skill and labor market power on the choice of employed/self‐employed status, and subsequent career prospects. Suggests that recent views of “boundaryless careers” are more relevant to highly‐skilled groups of workers, and discusses the tensions between structural forces that constrain individuals’ career autonomy and the desire of many workers to be proactive agents in the construction of their own careers. The findings suggest that a balanced examination of “new careers” should account for the complexity of a new world of work that advantages only some. Argues for greater understanding of the choice between different modes of employment rather than just occupational choice. Finally, suggests that researchers and career practitioners need to be able to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of different modes of employment from a sound knowledge base.

The purpose of this article is to raise awareness of the dynamic character of career and its key attributes, and the embeddedness of their definitions and meanings in national social, political and economic contexts.

Features of three recent distinct social, political and economic situations in Russia are used to explore the meanings of nine key career attributes introduced by the Western career literature.

It was found that in Russia each of the nine key career attributes accommodates a different meaning compared with their original Western meaning, and that these meanings are continuously changing to reflect the current social, political and economic environment. In sum, this exploration revealed a dynamic character to career attributes, and their content changed depending on the underlying context.

Among key research implications are: a possibility of using Western career theories mainly as conceptual frameworks for studying careers in other countries; that current social, political and economic contexts need to be taken into consideration when studying careers in a particular country; and the “intelligent career” concept can be used to study careers in various cultural contexts, and to examine the interdependence between career and a national culture.

This paper examines the extent to which Western career concepts may be used to study careers in various countries around the globe. It notes the dynamic character of career and its related career attitudes. This paper also makes suggestions on how the “intelligent career” concept can be used for exploring career meanings in a particular national setting. Finally, this paper looks at specifics of careers in Russia, which are still underrepresented in the literature.

Most research in managerial effectiveness, or competence, focuses upon personal attributes of the individual. This understates the impact of context, which can assist or hinder job performance. A national (New Zealand) survey assessed the impact of 16 environmental variables, four management development variables and two variables reflecting personal skills and abilities, on the ability to be effective as a manager. Analysis revealed eight factors explaining the majority of perceived management effectiveness. The results suggest that support in a variety of forms is a key influence on the ability to be effective as a manager, with particular emphasis on the role of supervisors and subordinates, as well as organisational culture. Organisational level and organisational size interacted with contextual factors. The overall results suggest that, like other employees, managers are more likely to see both their success and hindrances as a function of their environment.