Global managers: career orientation, career tracks, life‐style implications and career commitment

Development of career capital during expatriation: partners' perspectives

Purpose

The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the effects of expatriation on the development of career capital among the partners of expatriates.

Design/methodology/approach

The study draws on in-depth interviews with 30 Finnish partners of expatriates.

Findings

The results reflect the various learning experiences reported by partners of expatriates that developed their career capital during expatriation. The learning experiences related to the experience of living abroad itself and to the specific activities undertaken when abroad. The extent to which partners developed knowing-why, knowing-how and knowing-whom career capital was found to partly reflect their situation abroad as stay-at-home partners or as employees in less-demanding or more-demanding jobs. Though the experiences were developmental for all partners as have been reported among expatriates, the authors also identified several aspects in which partners' experiences differed from the typical developmental experiences of expatriates.

Practical implications

The results also highlight the influence of initiative, an active role and career self-management skills in partners' career capital development.

Originality/value

This paper advances the understanding of how expatriation affects expatriate partners' career capital, a topic that has not previously been studied in-depth.

Two decades of research into SIEs and what do we know? A systematic review of the most influential literature and a proposed research agenda

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.

Open strategy: what is the impact of national culture?

Purpose

This paper aims to argue that national cultural context variables influence open strategy formation processes. This study suggests that country-specific differences may influence open strategy, a form of strategic decision-making and present propositions linking national culture dimensions, national trust orientation and open strategy.

Design/methodology/approach

The conceptual framework links the literature on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions to the open strategy paradigm. This paper adopts a contingency approach linking national culture to open strategy.

Findings

The theoretical arguments demonstrate that uncertainty avoidance, time orientation, power distance, individualism versus collectivism and national trust culture all have a moderating influence on the antecedents and outcomes of open strategy. The findings extend the external validity of the open strategy paradigm and show that a culture-bound explanation of open strategy may be useful to the understanding of open strategy.

Practical implications

The findings highlight the challenges and opportunities that managers face when they adopt open strategy processes in multinational settings and across different cultures. Managers need to be aware that national cultural variables affect how employees behave and how they are likely to act when faced with opportunities for inclusion, shared decision-making and transparency. The findings suggest that training employees ahead of time on the cultural effects of their behavior may aid the successful adoption of open strategy in different cultures.

Originality/value

This manuscript to our knowledge, maybe one of the first to make a direct link between openness and national cultural values. In the process, the conceptual framework extends research on the role of context on openness, as well as research at the nexus of cross-cultural issues and strategic decision-making.

Influence of Informal Relationships on Expatriate Career Performance in China: The Moderating Role of Cultural Intelligence

Pursuing an international career in China can be risky particularly when there is a lack of informal relationships and knowledge of the socio-cultural environment of the country. Drawing from social capital theory of career success and intelligence theory, this study investigates the influence of expatriate manager-local subordinate guanxi on expatriate managers’ career performance and the contingency role of cultural intelligence. Using multi-source data from a sample (N = 154) of expatriate managers in China, our results show that expatriate manager-local subordinate guanxi positively influences expatriate career performance, and that this relationship is positively moderated by expatriates’ cultural intelligence. The broader theoretical and practical implications of the findings for international careers are fully discussed.

Unlocking inhibitors to women's expatriate careers: can job-related training provide a key?

Purpose

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.

Design/methodology/approach

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.

Findings

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.

Research limitations/implications

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.

Practical implications

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.

Originality/value

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.

Re-entry Adjustment and Job Embeddedness: The Mediating Role of Professional Identity in Indonesian Returnees

The present study examined the relationship between difficulty in re-entry adjustment and job embeddedness, considering the mediating role of sense of professional identity. The online data on demographic characteristics, difficulty on re-entry adjustment, sense of professional identity, and job embeddedness were collected from 178 Indonesian returnees from multiple organizations. The results showed that difficulty in re-entry adjustment was a significant predictor of a sense of professional identity; a sense of professional identity was a significant predictor of job embeddedness. Furthermore, sense of professional identity is an effective mediating variable, bridging the relationship between post-return conditions to the home country and work atmosphere. Finally, the key finding of this study was that sense of professional identity mediated the effect of difficulty in re-entry adjustment on job embeddedness. The theoretical and practical implications, study limitations, and future research needs of our findings are noted.

Global careers in the Arabian Gulf

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a better understanding of expatriation, both firm-initiated and self-initiated. The authors identified factors influencing the motives of expatriates to locate to the Arabian Gulf, and possible factors that may influence their decision to remain.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a qualitative approach, the authors conducted 123 semi-structured interviews with expatriates in the United Arab Emirates, from various backgrounds. These interviews are analyzed based on the thematic analytic approach.

Findings

The authors identified four clusters of reasoning for global assignments to the Gulf and the outcomes of the expatriation. Remuneration was the main motivator cited for the move, but an obstacle for returning to the home country. For Westerners, the second most important factor was career opportunities, whereas for expatriates from Muslim countries it was cultural fit.

Practical implications

The findings may be a valuable source of reference for individuals and for policy makers, employers, HR practitioners, and career counselors to provide an understanding of expatriation in emerging economies.

Originality/value

The paper uses evidence from the Gulf to bridge the gap between current knowledge of expatriation and the context of emerging economies.

A comparison of intra- and inter-organizational global careers

Purpose

– Although research has shown differences between self-initiated experiences and expatriation, this differentiation has rarely been made when it comes to more long-term global careers. The purpose of this paper is to identify similarities and differences between repeat expatriates and international itinerants in their career paths, subjective experiences, and narratives of how they relate to their context.

Design/methodology/approach

– A narrative approach was used and interviews were conducted with ten repeat expatriates and ten international itinerants. The career paths of the 20 Swedish global careerists and how they narrate their careers are analyzed, and the two types of global careerists are compared.

Findings

– Results show that the repeat expatriates and international itinerants differ in their subjective experiences of global careers, and how they narrate them. Three broad domains are identified that integrate a range of issues that are important for global careerists. These domains are the organization and career domain, the country and culture domain, and the family, communities, and networks domain. The repeat expatriates and international itinerants differ in how they relate to these and what is important to them.

Practical implications

– The differences found have implications for organizations in terms of recruitment, management, and retention of a global talent pool.

Originality/value

– This research contributes to the understanding of subjective experiences of global careers and integrates a range of aspects in the context of global careerists that are important to them. Moreover, it contributes to the understanding of global careers by differentiating between those with intra- and inter-organizational global careers.

Die Bedeutung internationaler Erfahrungen für den Karriereerfolg von Führungskräften

Die langfristigen Auswirkungen internationaler Einsätze von Führungskräften auf deren Karrieren sind bislang kaum empirisch untersucht worden und die wenigen vorliegenden Ergebnisse sind widersprüchlich. Ziel dieser Studie ist deshalb die empirische Untersuchung der Auswirkungen internationaler Erfahrungen auf den Karriereerfolg von Führungskräften anhand eines Vergleichs von Führungskräften mit und ohne internationale Erfahrungen.

Es zeigt sich, dass internationale Erfahrungen zu einem höheren subjektiven Karriereerfolg (gemessen über die Karrierezufriedenheit) und auch zu einem höheren objektiven Karriereerfolg (gemessen über Einkommen, Anzahl unterstellter Mitarbeiter und Hierarchieebene) führen. Weiterhin kann ein positiver Einfluss bestimmter Funktionsbereiche und der Bedeutung der Auslandsgesellschaft auf den Karriereerfolg durch internationale Tätigkeiten gezeigt werden.